As of May 1st 2019 Facebook Live now requires RTMPS rather than RTMP. We’ve looked at what’s currently working, what needs updating and the workarounds you may need to go live on Facebook if your kit doesn’t support RTMPS. This is a quick summary based on what we have found and not a deep dive into the subject. There have been some important updates since this article was first published. See lines marked Edit throughout this page for details – if you’re aware of further developments we have missed then let us know in the comments below.
Why the change to RTMPS for Facebook Live?
You need two basic pieces of information to send video to a live streaming platform like YouTube or Facebook. These are the server address and the stream key.
Put simply RTMPS is more secure than RTMP. Facebook are first of the major platforms to move to an SSL (secure socket layer) for live streaming . It’s likely that other providers will follow but so far none have announced it.
What Facebook says about RTMPS software and hardware
As of May 1st, 2019, the following software and hardware providers support RTMPS:
- Elemental
- BeLive.tv
- DJI
- EasyLive
- Epiphan
- Haivision
- Grabyo
- LiveU
- LiveStream
- Mevo
- OBS
- Switcher Studio
- Telescope
- Telestream
- Teradek
- Wowza
- XSplit
- FFmpeg
Software Support for RTMPS
Most live streaming software has been updated to support RTMPS including the excellent vMix and open source OBS Studio. Some developers have implemented the change free of charge (OBS Studio is completely free anyway) but others have sneakily baked the feature into the latest version requiring a paid upgrade.
Hardware Support for RTMPS
Some hardware encoders have required a firmware update to support RTMPS. Other hardware encoders appear to be working without the need for a firmware update (yet).
Here’s what we’ve discovered so far, either through our own tests or via manufacturer websites –
Matrox Monarch
We tested our Monarch HD – RTMPS worked fine to FB Live.
Matrox posted the following information on their user forum –
“The latest firmware releases do not include official support for this protocol, but we are planning to add official support in the near future.
In the meantime, we have tested our three current Monarch models (HD/HDX/LCS) with Facebook Live using RTMPS by enabling the ‘Use a secure connection (SSL)’ option within the Facebook Live Video setup page. This generates a ‘RTMPS’ Server URL; which we manually copy/paste into the Monarch encoder settings with the streaming mode remaining set to RTMP. Our test results to date appear normal without issues and we have not received any reported issues from other users who have tested it. “
Magewell UltraStream Pro
Tested and working fine to FB Live – A free firmware update recently added support for RTMPS.
Cerevo LiveShell
LiveShell Pro – Tested and working with RTMPS to FB Live
LiveShell X – Tested and working with RTMPS to FB Live
Cerevo sent us the following information by email –
“We are currently testing RTMPS support and will provide an update at a later date. If you notice any issues when streaming via RTMPS please let us know.”
Teradek Encoders
This is a tricky one – Teradek have published an extensive list of supported and unsupported products with some very specific information relating to serial number ranges. They have confirmed the VidiU and VidiU Pro firmware cannot support RTMPS – at one point the VidiU Pro was going to be supported that has not happened.
Edit: VidiU Pro firmware update 3.1.6 20/5/2019 “Support for RTMPS is limited, recommended for streaming only over Ethernet”
Teradek offer their own cloud based services as a workaround for the unsupported devices. You’ll get bonded connections on some units so it may be something you need anyway.
If you still use the original VidiU device and don’t want to us the Core cloud based service then look at 3rd party restreaming services further down the page.
More detailed info is available at Teradek website
https://support.teradek.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020401634-Facebook-Live-RTMPS-support-on-Teradek-products-and-services
LiveU Solo
These units do have RTMP direct mode but are really intended for “One touch” streaming services via LiveU’s cloud based bonding systems. We couldn’t find any information about RTMPS on LiveUs website or Facebook Page.
Update: LiveU support posted this in mid-May, “You might have heard Facebook will start supporting only RTMPS, or RTMP over TLS, starting on May 1. Solo has supported RTMPS for months – including in Generic destination types and in the dedicated Facebook destination type. So you are fully supported! “
Workarounds for RTMPS if you need it
Restream.io and Castr.io are restreaming services offering RTMPS support. Essentially you send them RTMP from your device and they will forward it via RTMPS to a streaming service including Facebook.
Both Restream.io and Castr.io have free options – however, these may be subject to change and have some limitations. For example Restream.io recently introduced a free Facebook Live option but it ONLY streams to personal profiles and not via RTMPS to a business Page. You’ll need their paid plans to stream via RTMPS. Castr.io might be worth a look if you want a free RTMPS forwarding solution.
Edit – 6th MAY 2019 Castr.io just announced they are migrating to a paid only service. No more free anything other than a 7 day trial.
Vimeo Live Premium is paid service that includes restreaming to additional destinations – we used it with RTMPS to Facebook Live earlier this year and it worked. However, they do re-compress the forwarded stream significantly which results in a very noticeable quality drop. We’ve spoken to Vimeo support about this and are awaiting a fix (if it gets fixed).
Teredek have some interesting cloud services. You don’t need their hardware to use it. Their PAYG Core Cloud TV service is based on bandwidth usage and well worth a look – you aren’t tied into a monthly fee or ongoing commitment.
Edit 2 – There is a temporary extension of support for RTMP as follows.
Facebook have published the following information –
“Live Video streams on Pages and Workplace can use the non-encrypted standard RTMP protocol until November 1st, 2019, after which RTMP will no longer be supported. When starting a live stream, the API response will include an RTMP stream URL which can be used for non-encrypted streaming to our servers. Note that if you are using RTMP and using a persistent stream key, you should reset your persistent key and update any devices that use them or your streams will fail.”
RTMPS isn’t the only thing changing for live streamers on Facebook. As of late May 2019 we are seeing 1080p being rolled out to users.
Hopefully this information is useful. If we’ve missed something out that you think is important or have experience to share, questions to ask etc then please let us know in the comments.