Build a live encoding workflow in Open Source Cloud

This blog will guide you through building a robust live transcoding pipeline using Open Source Cloud’s live streaming solution, Eyevinn Live Encoding, and the different options available for streaming and distributing live content.

As live streaming continues to grow in popularity across various platforms, building a scalable, resilient, and cost-effective architecture is essential for broadcasters and content providers. Whether you’re streaming live sports, news, or entertainment, ensuring that your content reaches audiences globally with minimal latency and interruptions is critical.

Traditionally, setting up such infrastructure has involved high costs, vendor lock-in, and a lack of flexibility. However, with Open Source Cloud, you can build a live streaming architecture that leverages open-source components to offer scalability, resilience, and customization — all at a lower cost.

Live Transcoding and CDN pull stream

In this scenario the CDN pulls the stream from the encoder instance in Open Source Cloud. We strongly recommend to place a CDN origin shield between the CDN distribution nodes and the encoder instance acting as origin.

Live encoding is a critical process in streaming video to a large audience, especially when it comes to real-time events like live sports, news broadcasts, or online webinars. One of the most commonly used protocols for ingesting live video streams is RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). RTMP allows a low-latency, stable connection between the source (such as a live camera feed) and the server responsible for encoding and distribution. Its wide support across different platforms and tools makes RTMP a popular choice for live video ingestion.

Once the RTMP stream is ingested, Eyevinn Live Encoding can be used to encode the live stream into a format suitable for adaptive bitrate streaming. The encoder converts the incoming video feed into multiple streams with different resolutions and bitrates. This is crucial for ensuring smooth playback on various devices and under fluctuating network conditions, as it allows the viewer’s player to switch to the most appropriate stream based on the available bandwidth.

The packaging process segments the encoded streams and generates HLS playlists, which provide instructions to the client player on how to select and play the appropriate segments based on network conditions.

Together, using RTMP for live video ingest, an open-source encoder for transcoding and HLS packaging ensures a robust, scalable, and cost-effective solution for live streaming. This technology stack can be easily adapted to different use cases, providing flexibility and control over the live streaming process while avoiding the licensing fees and limitations of proprietary solutions.

Workflow Diagram

Here is a high-level overview of the live streaming workflow:

Create encoder instance

In the Eyevinn Live Encoding setup secrets and an encoder instance using the web ui.

Video Ingest

Once the instance is up and running you can use the REST API it provides to start and stop the encoder. API documentation is available at https://<instance-url>/api/docs for example https://demo-guide.eyevinn-live-encoding.auto.prod.osaas.io/api/docs

Now you can configure your live production software (for example OBS) to send the RTMP stream to, for example, rtmp://172.232.131.169:10500/live/mysecretkey.

Watch the stream

You can play the HLS stream directly from the origin by opening an HLS capable video player to the address returned by Eyevinn Live Encoding. For example https://demo-guide.eyevinn-live-encoding.auto.prod.osaas.io/origin/hls/index.m3u8.

For more details, please read: https://docs.osaas.io/osaas.wiki/Solution%3A-Live-Transcoding.html

Benefits of Building a Live Streaming Architecture with Open Source Cloud

1. Cost Efficiency: The use of open-source tools like Eyevinn Live Encoding eliminates licensing fees, making this solution highly cost-effective. The cloud-native architecture further reduces operational costs by allowing you to scale resources dynamically, only when needed.
2. Flexibility: Open Source Cloud’s architecture is modular, meaning you can integrate different tools or modify components based on your specific streaming requirements. You are not locked into a single vendor or proprietary solution.
3. Scalability: The cloud-native infrastructure allows for automatic scaling based on traffic demands, ensuring that your streaming service can handle spikes in viewership without impacting the quality of service.
4. Resilience: The architecture is built with high availability in mind. By distributing workloads across multiple instances and using cloud-native CDNs, the system ensures uninterrupted streaming even in the event of a failure.
5. Global Reach: With integrated cloud-native CDNs, your live streams are delivered efficiently to viewers worldwide, minimizing latency and improving the viewer experience.

Conclusion

Building a live streaming architecture using Open Source Cloud provides a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solution for content providers. The architecture leverages open-source tools like Eyevinn Live Encoding for live transcoding, ensuring high-quality streaming across all devices. Its cloud-native design allows for scaling and high resilience, making it ideal for handling large-scale live events or ongoing broadcasts.

Whether you’re streaming a one-time event or running a 24/7 live channel, Open Source Cloud gives you the flexibility to deliver your content reliably, without the cost or constraints of proprietary systems. With the right configuration, you can create a live streaming pipeline that adapts to your specific needs while maintaining a seamless viewer experience.

Magnus Svensson is a Media Solution Specialist and partner at Eyevinn Technology. Eyevinn Technology is the leading independent consulting company specializing in video technology and media distribution.