| name | workflow-streaming-distribution |
| description | Deliver live or VOD content over HLS / DASH / RTMP / SRT / WHIP / RIST with adaptive bitrate ladders, DRM (Widevine / PlayReady / FairPlay cbcs), multi-protocol fanout via MediaMTX, and CDN upload (Cloudflare Stream / Mux / Bunny / S3). Use when the user says "stream to HLS", "build an ABR ladder", "add Widevine", "multi-bitrate DASH", "WHIP ingest", "low-latency HLS", "SRT contribution", "stream to multiple platforms", "SFU for WebRTC", or anything involving large-scale distribution. |
| argument-hint | ["source"] |
Workflow — Streaming Distribution
What: Ship live or VOD content out to every playback surface. Package once, protect optionally, deliver everywhere.
Skills used
ffmpeg-streaming, ffmpeg-whip, ffmpeg-rist-zmq, ffmpeg-hwaccel, ffmpeg-drm, media-shaka, media-gpac, mediamtx-server, gstreamer-pipeline, media-cloud-upload, media-batch, ffmpeg-quality, webrtc-spec, webrtc-pion, webrtc-mediasoup, webrtc-livekit, ffmpeg-docs.
Pipeline
Step 1 — Pick contribution protocol
Latency vs. reliability vs. tooling:
| Protocol | Latency | Pros | Cons |
|---|
| WHIP (WebRTC) | sub-second | lowest latency; browser-native | needs HTTPS in prod; ffmpeg 7+ |
| SRT | 120 ms default (tunable) | reliable UDP, forward error recovery | needs port forwarding |
| RTMP | 2–5 s | ubiquitous ingest | TCP, no FEC, aging |
| RIST | low | FEC + ARQ pro contribution | fewer CDN endpoints |
Step 2 — Build the ABR ladder
Use ffmpeg-streaming with the split-scale-encode pattern — one decode, N rate/size variants emitted in parallel. Netflix-style default: 4 video renditions (240p, 480p, 720p, 1080p) + 2 audio tracks (stereo + 5.1). Force keyframe alignment with -g <fps*seg_len>, -keyint_min <fps*seg_len>, -sc_threshold 0.
Step 3 — Package
Canonical target is CMAF (unified fMP4 segments serving both HLS and DASH manifests). Use media-shaka (Shaka Packager) for one-command HLS+DASH output from the same segment set. For pure HLS classic, ffmpeg-streaming's hls muxer works directly.
Step 4 — Optional DRM
- HLS AES-128 — simplest; encrypts segment payload only.
- Widevine / PlayReady / FairPlay unified — CMAF with
cbcs scheme. media-shaka handles the three simultaneously; key server URL in ${user_config.SHAKA_KEY_SERVER_URL}.
- DASH CENC —
ffmpeg-drm or Shaka for ClearKey / Widevine.
Step 5 — Fanout via MediaMTX
The mediamtx-server skill ingests RTMP/SRT/WebRTC and republishes to every other protocol. One YAML → every playback client served.
Step 6 — CDN upload
Use media-cloud-upload: Cloudflare Stream (tus resumable), Mux (token id + secret), Bunny (PUT to storage zone), S3 (aws CLI / rclone). Tokens live in plugin userConfig.
Step 7 — Scale — SFU for large interactive audiences
For bidirectional many-to-many (> ~50 peers), deploy an SFU instead of MediaMTX: webrtc-livekit (Go + JWT minter), webrtc-mediasoup (Node), or webrtc-pion (Go, lower-level).
Variants
- Low-latency HLS (LL-HLS) —
-hls_segment_type fmp4, short -hls_time (1–2 s), -hls_flags +independent_segments+omit_endlist.
- DASH with SegmentTemplate — manifest-side list generation, no explicit segment enum.
- RIST + ZMQ live control — dynamic filter parameter changes at runtime via
ffmpeg-rist-zmq.
- SRT listener mode — receiver listens on a port, sender
?mode=caller.
- Multicast MPEG-TS — LAN distribution, no CDN needed.
Gotchas
- MP4 output needs
-movflags +faststart — second-pass rewrite to move moov atom to front. Required for progressive web playback.
-hls_time is a target, not a guarantee. Keyframe cadence determines actual segment length. Force alignment: -g <fps*seg_len> -keyint_min <fps*seg_len> -sc_threshold 0.independent_segments flag required for CMAF/LL-HLS. ABR switching breaks without it.- HLS AES-128 encrypts segment PAYLOAD only, not the playlist. Protect the key URI via server-side auth.
-hls_key_info_file needs a trailing newline on the IV line. Many editors strip it silently, then decryption fails.- Widevine L1 requires hardware CDM (ChromeOS, Android TEE). Test locally with L3 in Chrome.
- FairPlay uses
cbcs scheme; Widevine/PlayReady default to cenc. For unified CMAF DRM, ALL three use cbcs.
- CMAF audio must be fMP4, not TS. Mixed TS-video + fMP4-audio HLS breaks Safari.
- WHIP in production needs HTTPS. Chrome blocks
getUserMedia over http except on localhost.
- ffmpeg WHIP requires FFmpeg 7+. Older builds silently fail.
- MediaMTX default ports: 1935 RTMP, 8554 RTSP, 8888 HLS, 8889 WebRTC, 8890 SRT, 9997 API. Open all the ones you use.
- MediaMTX
/v3/* Control API needs api: yes in config (off by default).
-re flag reads input at native framerate — essential for live from file; without it ffmpeg reads as fast as possible.-f flv explicit for RTMP — ffmpeg can pick the wrong muxer from the URL alone.- RTMP chunk size default is 128 bytes — for 4K/HEVC ingest use
-rtmp_chunk_size 4096.
- AAC LC floor — 64 k mono, 96 k stereo. Below that, use HE-AAC.
- LiveKit JWT tokens expire (default 6 h). Mint fresh tokens client-side on refresh.
- Pion SFU needs STUN/TURN for NAT traversal. Set
ICEServers in config.
- mediasoup needs Node 18+ and a platform-specific native
mediasoupworker build.
Example — 4-variant CMAF HLS + DASH with unified DRM
Invoke media-shaka to take a single master ProRes/MOV through Shaka Packager with 4 video renditions + AAC stereo + cbcs key rotation, emitting both master.m3u8 and manifest.mpd pointing at the same *.m4s segments. Upload with media-cloud-upload. QC the result with workflow-analysis-quality.
Related
workflow-live-production — where the contribution stream originates.workflow-broadcast-delivery — for broadcast-spec contribution paths.workflow-analysis-quality — VMAF + manifest validation on the encoded output.
