Audio streaming: Icecast, HLS, MP3

News: HEVC transcoding, SLDP protocol, iOS playback SDK and other must-read news from Q2 of 2017: read them in this newsletter.

Secure Reliable Transport protocol (SRT) is now fully supported in Nimble Streamer. Softvelum has also joined the SRT Alliance to contribute to the community.

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Streaming audio with Icecast, HLS and MP3

Process Icecast/SHOUTcast incoming streams

Icecast or SHOUTcast may be taken as input for further transmuxing

Icecast can be published into Nimble Streamer
Icecast streams may be taken via public HTTP URL.
Multiple incoming Icecast streams can also be used as a fallback for robust streaming.
Output protocols are Icecast itself, RTMP, RTSP, SRT, UDT, MPEG-TS, HLS and MPEG-DASH.
So you can build audio streaming networks on the Internet
Icecast metadata can be appended to any outgoing Icecast stream.
Metadata tags passthrough is supported for incoming streams as well.
Icecast playlists may be used for initial setup.
Set up streams emergency substitution and failover fallback using seamless hot swap.

Audio live transcoding

Nimble Streamer Transcoder supports various scenarios for audio transformation.
Those include transrating to lower bitrate, re-sampling, voiceover, volume control and others.
Icecast can be used as an input for transcoding among other protocols.

The input formats are AAC, MP3, MP2, Speex and PCM G.711 (a-law, μ-law). The outputs are AAC and MP3.

Icecast streaming options

Other existing Nimble Streamer features can be applied to Icecast output.

Use Dispersa streams monitoring to make sure your Icecast or Shoutcast audio is online.
Get variety of reporting features to learn more about your audience.
Paywall framework is applicable for audio streams as well.
Icecast hotlinking protection is also available.
CDN-friendly streaming setup is available for outgoing audio streams.

Make Icecast from RTMP, RTSP, MPEG-TS and SRT

Nimble Streamer allows transmuxing any supported incoming stream audio into Icecast. Read the following tutorials for details:

You may process pulled and published (announced) RTMP and RTSP streams. MPEG-TS is supported via HTTP and UDP.

AAC input and output is supported via all protocols
AC3 and E-AC3 input via MPEG-TS, SRT and RTSP, output via MPEG-TS, SRT, RTSP and HLS
MP3 input and output via all protocols
Speex input and output via RTMP

HLS audio-only streaming

HLS can also be used to deliver audio.

Transmuxing Icecast and Shoutcast to HLS and MPEG2TS streams.
Make MP3 to HLS transmuxing.
Make AAC to HLS transmuxing.
Audio-only HLS is produced to reduce overhead.
Nimble can be set up as HLS re-streaming edge for caching and fail-over.
SSL support

Audio pseudo-streaming

Nimble can used for being the origin for progressive download, no extra software required.
Supported audio formats are mp3, oga, wav
Pseudo-streaming full support using both HTTP Range header and Flash time marks seeking.
Check VOD streaming example using HLS and progressive download
Nimble can be used as re-streaming edge server for pseudo-streaming to make robust delivery.

Paywall capabilities

Nimble supports a variety of features for building paywalls for Icecast and HLS streaming.