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Streaming Server with NGINX and nginx-rtmp-module

Build your own HLS and VoD streaming server from scratch using NGINX compiled with the nginx-rtmp-module on Ubuntu 16.04.

$ ~ 2 min read
nginxrtmpstreaminghlsvodtutorialself-hosted

Introduction

Most people stream via Twitch or YouTube, but running your own RTMP server gives you full control — multicast support, multiple destinations, and no platform dependency.

This guide sets up an RTMP streaming server on Ubuntu 16.04 using NGINX compiled with the nginx-rtmp-module.

What is RTMP?

Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) was developed by Macromedia for streaming to Adobe Flash. It’s a TCP-based, stateful protocol — unlike HTTP which is stateless.

RTMP advantages over HTTP:

  • Multicast support
  • Security via TLS/SSL or RTMPE
  • Instant seeking on long content
  • Automatic reconnect on network drops

Step 1 — Install NGINX Dependencies

sudo apt install build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev libssl-dev

Step 2 — Clone nginx-rtmp-module

git clone https://github.com/sergey-dryabzhinsky/nginx-rtmp-module.git

Step 3 — Download and Compile NGINX

wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.14.2.tar.gz
tar -xf nginx-1.14.2.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.14.2

./configure --with-http_ssl_module --add-module=../nginx-rtmp-module
make -j $(nproc)
sudo make install

Start the server:

sudo /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx

Step 4 — Configure NGINX RTMP

Edit /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf and add the following outside the http {} block:

rtmp {
    server {
        listen 1935;
        chunk_size 4096;
        max_connections 100;
        ping 30s;

        application my_live {
            live on;
            hls on;
            hls_path /tmp/hls;
            hls_fragment 3s;
            hls_playlist_length 60s;

            # Disable RTMP playback, use HLS only
            deny play all;
        }

        application vod {
            play /usr/local/nginx/rtmp;
        }
    }
}

Create the VoD directory and place your .mp4 files there:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/nginx/rtmp

RTMP VoD directory setup

Reload NGINX:

sudo /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload

Step 5 — Testing

First, verify the server is reachable:

Ping test to streaming server

VoD playback — open VLC and use the network stream URL:

rtmp://YOUR_SERVER_IP/vod/your_video.mp4

Live streaming — use OBS Studio or ffmpeg to push a stream:

ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://YOUR_SERVER_IP/my_live/stream_key

Then pull the HLS stream in VLC:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/hls/stream_key.m3u8

Next Steps

  • Add authentication with on_publish callback
  • Configure HTTPS for the HLS endpoint
  • Set up transcoding with ffmpeg for multiple quality levels
  • Use nginx-rtmp-module’s built-in statistics page at /stat

RTMP streaming is surprisingly lightweight — it runs comfortably on a Raspberry Pi for small audiences.

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