This package uses the FFmpeg to package media content for online streaming such as DASH and HLS. You can also use DRM for HLS packaging. There are several options to open a file from clouds and save files to them as well.
- The best way to learn how to use this library is to review the examples and browse the source code.
- For using clouds such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Storage, and a custom cloud, please visit this page.
Contents
- Requirements
- Installation
- Quickstart
- Several Open Source Players
- Contributing and Reporting Bugs
- Credits
- License
-
This version of the package is only compatible with Python 3.6 or higher.
-
To use this package, you need to install the FFmpeg. You will need both FFMpeg and FFProbe binaries to use it.
The latest version of ffmpeg-streaming can be acquired via pip:
pip install python-ffmpeg-video-streaming
There are two ways to open a file:
You can pass a local path of video(or a supported resource) to the method(hls or dash):
video = '/var/www/media/videos/video.mp4'Please see FFmpeg Protocols Documentation for more information about supported resources such as http, ftp, pipe, rtmp and etc.
For example:
video = 'https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH/TO/VIDEO.MP4'You can open a file from a cloud by passing a tuple of cloud configuration to the method.
video = (google_cloud, download_options, None)Please visit this page to see some examples of opening a file from Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Storage, and a custom cloud.
Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), also known as MPEG-DASH, is an adaptive bitrate streaming technique that enables high quality streaming of media content over the Internet delivered from conventional HTTP web servers. Learn more
Create DASH files:
import ffmpeg_streaming
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash(video, adaption='"id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a"')
.format('libx265')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/dash/dash-stream.mpd')
)Generate representations manually:
import ffmpeg_streaming
from ffmpeg_streaming import Representation
r_144p = Representation(width=256, height=144, kilo_bitrate=95)
r_240p = Representation(width=426, height=240, kilo_bitrate=150)
r_360p = Representation(width=640, height=360, kilo_bitrate=276)
r_480p = Representation(width=854, height=480, kilo_bitrate=750)
r_720p = Representation(width=1280, height=720, kilo_bitrate=2048)
r_1080p = Representation(width=1920, height=1080, kilo_bitrate=4096)
r_2k = Representation(width=2560, height=1440, kilo_bitrate=6144)
r_4k = Representation(width=3840, height=2160, kilo_bitrate=17408)
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash(video, adaption='"id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a"')
.format('libx265')
.add_rep(r_144p, r_240p, r_360p, r_480p, r_720p, r_1080p, r_2k, r_4k)
.package('/var/www/media/videos/dash/dash-stream.mpd')
)See DASH examples and DASH options for more information.
HTTP Live Streaming (also known as HLS) is an HTTP-based adaptive bitrate streaming communications protocol implemented by Apple Inc. as part of its QuickTime, Safari, OS X, and iOS software. Client implementations are also available in Microsoft Edge, Firefox and some versions of Google Chrome. Support is widespread in streaming media servers. Learn more
Create HLS files:
import ffmpeg_streaming
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video, hls_time=10, hls_allow_cache=1)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8')
)Generate representations manually:
import ffmpeg_streaming
from ffmpeg_streaming import Representation
r_360p = Representation(width=640, height=360, kilo_bitrate=276)
r_480p = Representation(width=854, height=480, kilo_bitrate=750)
r_720p = Representation(width=1280, height=720, kilo_bitrate=2048)
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video, hls_time=10, hls_allow_cache=1)
.format('libx264')
.add_rep(r_360p, r_480p, r_720p)
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8')
)NOTE: You cannot use HEVC(libx265) and VP9 formats for HLS packaging.
The encryption process requires some kind of secret (key) together with an encryption algorithm. HLS uses AES in cipher block chaining (CBC) mode. This means each block is encrypted using the ciphertext of the preceding block. Learn more
You must specify a path to save a random key to your local machine and also a URL(or a path) to access the key on your website(the key you will save must be accessible from your website). You must pass both these parameters to the encryption method:
The following code generates a key for all TS files in a stream.
import ffmpeg_streaming
#A path you want to save a random key to your server
save_to = '/home/public_html/PATH_TO_KEY_DIRECTORY/random_key.key'
#A URL (or a path) to access the key on your website
url = 'https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH_TO_KEY_DIRECTORY/random_key.key'
# or url = '/PATH_TO_KEY_DIRECTORY/random_key.key'
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video, hls_time=10, hls_allow_cache=1)
.encryption(url, save_to)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep(heights=[480, 360, 240])
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8')
)This technique allows you to encrypt each TS file with a new encryption key. This can improve security and allows for more flexibility. You can also use a different key for each set of segments(e.g. if 10 TS files have been generated then rotate the key) or you can generate a new encryption key at every periodic time(e.g. every 10 seconds).
import tempfile
from os.path import join
from random import randrange
import ffmpeg_streaming
from ffmpeg_streaming.key_info_file import generate_key_info_file
save_to = '/home/public_html/PATH_TO_KEY_DIRECTORY/key_rotation'
url = 'https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH_TO_KEY_DIRECTORY/key_rotation'
key_info_file_path = join(tempfile.gettempdir(), str(randrange(1000, 100000)) + '_py_ff_vi_st.tmp')
k_num = 1
def k_format(name, num):
return str(name) + "_" + str(num)
def progress(per, ffmpeg):
global k_num
if ".ts' for writing" in ffmpeg:
# A new TS file has been created!
generate_key_info_file(k_format(url, k_num), k_format(save_to, k_num), key_info_path=key_info_file_path)
k_num += 1
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video, hls_flags="periodic_rekey")
.encryption(url, save_to, key_info_path=key_info_file_path)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8', progress=progress)
)NOTE: It is very important to protect your key(s) on your website using a token or a session/cookie(It is highly recommended).
NOTE: However HLS supports AES encryption, which you can encrypt your streams, it is not a full DRM solution. If you want to use a full DRM solution, I recommend trying FairPlay Streaming solution which then securely exchange keys, and protect playback on devices.
See HLS examples and HLS options for more information.
You can get realtime information about transcoding by passing a callable method to the package method:
import sys
import ffmpeg_streaming
def progress(percentage, ffmpeg):
# You can update a field in your database or you can log it to a file(e.x. logging.debug(ffmpeg))
# You can also create a socket connection and show a progress bar to users
sys.stdout.write("\rTranscoding...(%s%%)[%s%s]" % (percentage, '#' * percentage, '-' * (100 - percentage)))
sys.stdout.flush()
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8', progress=progress)
)
Show a progress bar using tqdm
import ffmpeg_streaming
from tqdm import tqdm
# initialize the tqdm object
bar = tqdm(total=100)
last_per = 0
def progress(percentage, ffmpeg):
# update the progress bar
global last_per
if last_per != percentage:
bar.update(percentage - last_per)
last_per = percentage
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8', progress=progress)
)
# close the progress bar
bar.close()NOTE: Please see tqdm documentation for more information.
There are two ways to save your files.
You can pass a local path to the package method. If there was no directory in the path, then the package auto makes the directory.
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package('/var/www/media/videos/hls/hls-stream.m3u8', progress=progress)
)It can also be null. The default path to save files is the input path.
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls(video)
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.package(progress=progress)
)NOTE: If you open a file from a cloud and do not pass a path to save the file to your local machine, you will have to pass a local path to the package method.
You can save your files to a cloud by passing a tuple of cloud configuration to the package method.
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash('/var/www/media/video.mkv', adaption='"id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a"')
.format('libx265')
.auto_rep()
.package(clouds=[to_aws_cloud, to_azure_cloud, to_google_cloud],
progress=progress)
)A path can also be passed to save a copy of files to your local machine.
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash('/var/www/media/video.mkv', adaption='"id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a"')
.format('libx265')
.auto_rep()
.package(output='/var/www/media/stream.mpd', clouds=[to_aws_cloud, to_google_cloud],
progress=progress)
)Please visit this page to see some examples of saving files to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Storage, and a custom cloud.
NOTE: This option(Save To Clouds) is only valid for VOD (it does not support live streaming).
Schema: The relation is one-to-many.
You can extract the metadata of the video file using the following code:
from ffmpeg_streaming import FFProbe
ffprobe = FFProbe('/var/www/media/video.mp4')NOTE: You can save these metadata to your database.
See the example for more information.
You can pass a url(or a supported resource like ftp) to live method to upload all the segments files to the HTTP server(or other protocols) using the HTTP PUT method, and update the manifest files every refresh times.
If you want to save stream files to your local machine, please use the package method.
# DASH live
import ffmpeg_streaming
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash('/var/www/media/video.avi', adaption='"id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a"')
.format('libx265')
.auto_rep()
.live('http://YOUR-WEBSITE.COM/live-stream/out.mpd', progress=progress)
)
# HLS live
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls('/var/www/media/video.mp4', master_playlist_path='/var/www/stream/live-master-manifest.m3u8')
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep()
.live('http://YOUR-WEBSITE.COM/live-stream/out.m3u8', progress=progress)
)NOTE: In the HLS method, you must upload the master manifest to the server manually. (Upload the /var/www/stream/live-master-manifest.m3u8 file to the http://YOUR-WEBSITE.COM)
Please see FFmpeg Protocols Documentation for more information.
You can convert your stream to a file or to another stream protocols. You should pass a manifest of a stream to the method:
import ffmpeg_streaming
from ffmpeg_streaming import Representation
r_360p = Representation(width=640, height=360, kilo_bitrate=276)
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.dash('https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH/TO/HLS-MANIFEST.M3U8')
.format('libx265')
.add_rep(r_360p)
.package('/var/www/media/dash-stream.mpd', progress=progress)
)import ffmpeg_streaming
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.hls('https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH/TO/DASH-MANIFEST.MPD')
.format('libx264')
.auto_rep(heights=[360, 240])
.package('/var/www/media/hls-stream.m3u8', progress=progress)
)import ffmpeg_streaming
(
ffmpeg_streaming
.stream2file('https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH/TO/MANIFEST.MPD or M3U8')
.format('libx264')
.save('/var/www/media/new-video.mp4', progress=progress)
)You can use these libraries to play your streams.
- WEB
- DASH and HLS:
- DASH:
- HLS:
- Android
- DASH and HLS:
- IOS
- DASH:
- HLS:
- Windows, Linux, and macOS
- DASH and HLS:
As you may know, IOS does not have native support for DASH. Although there are some libraries such as Viblast and MPEGDASH-iOS-Player to support this technique, I have never tested them. So if you know any IOS player that supports DASH Stream and also works fine, please add it to the above list.
NOTE: You should pass a manifest of stream(e.g. https://www.aminyazdanpanah.com/PATH_TO_STREAM_DIRECTORY/dash-stream.mpd or /PATH_TO_STREAM_DIRECTORY/hls-stream.m3u8 ) to these players.
I'd love your help in improving, correcting, adding to the specification. Please file an issue or submit a pull request.
- Please see Contributing File for more information.
- If you have any questions or you want to report a bug, please just file an issue
- If you discover a security vulnerability within this package, please see SECURITY File for more information.
NOTE: If you have any questions about this package or FFmpeg, please DO NOT send an email to me (or submit the contact form on my website). Emails regarding these issues will be ignored.
The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.