RTMP Server - Monibuca Streaming Media Server

RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) is the most widely used live streaming publishing protocol. Monibuca V6 provides full RTMP publishing and subscribing support, compatible with all major streaming tools.

5-minute RTMP server setup

1. Start Monibuca with Docker (ports 1935 and 8180) — see Quick Start
2. Publish test:

ffmpeg -re -i demo.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test

3. Play test: ffplay rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test
4. Admin: http://localhost:8180/admin/

Basic Information

Property	Value
Default Port	1935
Transport Layer	TCP
Publish	✅ Supported
Subscribe	✅ Supported
Latency	1-3 seconds
Config section	rtmp

Configuration

Enable plugin

The plugin is included in official binaries; configure it in config.yaml:

Configuration File

rtmp:
  enable: true
  tcp:
    listen_addr: ":1935"
  chunk_size: 4096

Option	Type	Default	Description
enable	bool	true	Whether to enable the RTMP plugin
tcp.listen_addr	string	":1935"	Listen address
chunk_size	u32	4096	RTMP Chunk size (1-65536)

Tip

chunk_size supports runtime hot-reload — no service restart required to adjust.

Publishing

Publishing with FFmpeg

# Publish a local file
ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test

# Publish camera feed
ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -c:v libx264 -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/live/camera

# Publish with specific encoding parameters
ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 \
  -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 2000k \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
  -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test

Publishing with OBS

1. Open OBS, go to Settings → Stream
2. Select Custom for the service
3. Fill in:
   • Server: rtmp://your-server-ip:1935/live
   • Stream Key: test (i.e., the stream name)
4. Click Start Streaming

Stream Path Format

RTMP URL format: rtmp://host:port/{app}/{stream}

• app: Application name (e.g., live)
• stream: Stream name (e.g., test)
• The full stream path is: {app}/{stream}, i.e., live/test

Subscribing

Subscribing with FFplay

ffplay rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test

Subscribing with VLC

1. Open VLC, select Media → Open Network Stream
2. Enter URL: rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test
3. Click Play

Recording with FFmpeg

# Subscribe and save as MP4
ffmpeg -i rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test -c copy output.mp4

# Subscribe and re-publish to another server
ffmpeg -i rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test -c copy -f flv rtmp://other-server/live/test

Cross-Protocol Subscribing

After publishing via RTMP, you can subscribe to the same stream using other protocols:

# RTMP publish
ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/live/test

# HTTP-FLV subscribe
ffplay http://localhost:8080/flv/live/test.flv

# HLS subscribe
ffplay http://localhost:8080/hls/live/test/index.m3u8

FAQ

Port Already in Use

If port 1935 is already in use, you can change the listen address:

rtmp:
  tcp:
    listen_addr: ":1936"

Reconnection After Disconnect

The RTMP plugin supports reconnection after the publisher disconnects. A new publishing connection automatically replaces the old publisher, and subscribers seamlessly switch to the new stream data.