Live Streaming

Video SDK sessions can be live streamed to an unlimited audience using Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP). This is helpful if you need to scale Video SDK attendees beyond the 1,000 real-time session user limit. For example, you can live stream to YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Twitch, AWS IVS, and other services.

See the following for how to set up a streaming event in a third-party platform and implement a feature to start and stop live streaming of a session using the Video SDK.

Retrieve credentials

Live streaming with SDKs requires the following information from third-party streaming platforms: Stream URL, Stream Key, Broadcast URL. See Live stream to YouTube for an example.

Start live streaming

To start live streaming a session from your app, first obtain an instance of ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper and verify that the current user can start streaming. Then call startLiveStream within ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper to begin live streaming.

// Get the ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper to perform live stream actions.
if let liveStreamHelper = ZMVideoSDK.shared()?.getLiveStreamHelper() {
    // Check if the live stream can start.
    if liveStreamHelper.canStartLiveStream() == ZMVideoSDKErrors_Success {
        // Call startLiveStream to begin the live stream.
        let liveStreamStartReturnValue = lliveStreamHelper.startLiveStream(streamingURL, broadcastUrl: broadcastURL, liveStreamKey: streamingKey)
        switch liveStreamStartReturnValue {
        case ZMVideoSDKErrors_Success:
            // Live stream successfully began.
            break
        case ZMVideoSDKErrors_Meeting_Live_Stream_Error:
            // Live stream could not start.
            break
        default:
            break
        }
    }
}

// Get the ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper to perform live stream actions.
ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper *liveStreamHelper = [[ZMVideoSDK sharedZMVideoSDK] getLiveStreamHelper];
// Check if the live stream can start.
if ([liveStreamHelper canStartLiveStream] == ZMVideoSDKErrors_Success) {
    // Call startLiveStreamWithStreamingURL to begin the live stream.
    ZMVideoSDKErrors liveStreamStartReturnValue = [liveStreamHelper startLiveStream:streamURL broadcastUrl:broadcastURL liveStreamKey:streamingKey];
    switch (liveStreamStartReturnValue) {
        case ZMVideoSDKErrors_Success:
            // Live stream successfully began.
            break;
        case ZMVideoSDKErrors_Meeting_Live_Stream_Error:
            // Live stream could not start.
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}

Stop live streaming

To stop the stream using the SDK, call the stopLiveStream method.

// Get the ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper to perform livestream actions.
if let liveStreamHelper = ZMVideoSDK.shared()?.getLiveStreamHelper() {
    // Call stopLiveStream to stop the live stream.
    liveStreamHelper.stopLiveStream()
}

// Get the ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper to perform livestream actions.
ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper *liveStreamHelper = [[ZMVideoSDK sharedZMVideoSDK] getLiveStreamHelper];
// Call stopLiveStream to stop the live stream.
[liveStreamHelper stopLiveStream];

Listen for updates

After calling the startLiveStream function, listen for updates through your ZMVideoSDKDelegate implementation's onLiveStreamStatusChanged callback.

Get notified when a user starts or stops live streaming

func onLiveStreamStatusChanged(_ liveStreamHelper: ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper!, liveStreamStatus status: ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus) {
    // Use helper to perform live stream actions.
    // Status is the new live stream status.
    switch status {
    case ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus_InProgress:
        print("Live stream now in progress.")
    case ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus_Ended:
        print("Live stream has ended.")
    default:
        print("Live stream status unknown.")
    }
}

- (void)onLiveStreamStatusChanged:(ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamHelper*)liveStreamHelper liveStreamStatus:(ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus)status {
    // Use helper to perform live stream actions.
    // Status is the new live stream status.
    switch (status) {
        case ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus_InProgress:
            NSLog(@"Live stream now in progress.");
            break;
        case ZMVideoSDKLiveStreamStatus_Ended:
            NSLog(@"Live stream has ended.");
        default:
            NSLog(@"Live stream status unknown.");
            break;
    }
}

Live stream to YouTube

For instance, if you want to live stream a session to YouTube, you must enable live streaming on your Google account.

Step 1:

Login to YouTube. Locate the video icon and press "Go Live".

Step 2:

Click the Stream button in the top panel. Note: YouTube Webcam services are not compatible with Zoom SDK.

Step 3:

Fill out the required information and toggle "Schedule for later". If this is not selected, the live stream will start immediately and will not provide setting info.

Step 4:

After creating the stream, the Steam URL and Stream Key will be available.

Step 5:

Click the share button beside your account icon to get the broadcast URL.

Use the YouTube Live Streaming API to automate these steps and get stream information programmatically.