rtmp-rs

Async RTMP server and client library for Rust - Build live video streaming infrastructure with Tokio.

rtmp-rs is an RTMP server library written in Rust, built to handle the messy reality of live streaming. Encoders like OBS and FFmpeg all have their quirks, so rtmp-rs uses lenient parsing to roll with it instead of rejecting non-conforming streams. Late joiners get instant playback with keyframe caching, and smart backpressure handling keeps audio flowing for slow subscribers while selectively dropping video frames. If you're building a streaming service or relay and want RTMP ingest that just works, this might be what you're looking for.

Features

• Async/Await - Built on Tokio for high-performance concurrent connections
• Zero-Copy - Uses bytes::Bytes throughout for efficient memory handling
• Backpressure Handling - Slow subscribers drop video frames while audio keeps flowing, so viewers hear continuous sound instead of staring at a frozen buffer
• Pub/Sub - Stream key routing with full publisher/subscriber support
• Late-Joiner GOP Cache - Buffers keyframes so viewers don't wait for the next IDR frame
• Lenient Parsing - Handles encoder quirks like empty app names and timestamp regression (OBS, Twitch compatible)
• Extensible - Implement the RtmpHandler trait to add custom auth and media processing

Quick Start

1. Add dependency:

cargo add rtmp-rs

2. Create a server:

use rtmp_rs::{RtmpServer, ServerConfig, RtmpHandler, AuthResult};
use rtmp_rs::session::SessionContext;
use rtmp_rs::protocol::message::{ConnectParams, PublishParams};

struct MyHandler;

#[async_trait::async_trait]
impl RtmpHandler for MyHandler {
    async fn on_connect(&self, _ctx: &SessionContext, params: &ConnectParams) -> AuthResult {
        println!("App: {}", params.app);
        AuthResult::Accept
    }

    async fn on_publish(&self, _ctx: &SessionContext, params: &PublishParams) -> AuthResult {
        println!("Stream key: {}", params.stream_key);
        // Add your stream key validation here
        AuthResult::Accept
    }
    
    // See RtmpHandler trait in handler.rs for other available callbacks
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let server = RtmpServer::new(ServerConfig::default(), MyHandler);
    server.run().await?;
    Ok(())
}

3. Stream to it:

# OBS: Server: rtmp://localhost/live  Stream Key: test

# ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost/live/test

Client Example (Pull Stream)

use rtmp_rs::client::{ClientConfig, ClientEvent, RtmpPuller};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let config = ClientConfig::new("rtmp://server/live/stream_key");
    let (puller, mut events) = RtmpPuller::new(config);

    tokio::spawn(async move {
        while let Some(event) = events.recv().await {
            match event {
                ClientEvent::VideoFrame { timestamp, data } => {
                    if data.is_keyframe() {
                        println!("Keyframe at {}ms", timestamp);
                    }
                }
                ClientEvent::AudioFrame { timestamp, .. } => {
                    println!("Audio at {}ms", timestamp);
                }
                ClientEvent::Disconnected => break,
                _ => {}
            }
        }
    });

    puller.start().await?;
    Ok(())
}

Handler Callbacks

The RtmpHandler trait provides hooks into the RTMP lifecycle:

Configuration

use std::time::Duration;
use rtmp_rs::ServerConfig;

let config = ServerConfig::default()
    .bind("0.0.0.0:1935".parse()?)
    .max_connections(1000)
    .chunk_size(4096)
    .connection_timeout(Duration::from_secs(10))
    .idle_timeout(Duration::from_secs(60));

Testing

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Stream with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -re -i test.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost/live/test_key

# Play with ffplay
ffplay rtmp://localhost/live/test_key

AI disclaimer

This repo is a Rust rewrite of my RTMP Go server, which was my first time dabbling in video codecs and streaming. Almost all of the code in this Rust version was written by AI (Claude Opus 4.5).

I recently had an idea that required an RTMP server, so I used it as an excuse to write some Rust and try out some agentic programming. This repo is partly an experiment to see how far I could get by vibecoding the entire thing with Claude Code. The answer? Far!

The whole thing took around 8 hours. It probably could have been faster if I auto-accepted edits without reading the code, but I like to review everything the agent generates. I started with Plan Mode to define the requirements, then moved on to implementation.

That said, there was a tricky timestamp bug that caused audio/video stuttering, and Claude kept hallucinating answers instead of helping. After a deep-dive on my own, I found the root cause. I also noticed some parts of the code that could be improved, but I decided to keep things as-is for now. Any future improvements I'll have Claude handle.

License

Licensed under MIT license