Live Streaming Server – How to Build One, and Should You Do It?

Taking a DIY approach to streaming and setting up your own live streaming server and streaming process may sound like a simple way to broadcast. The idea of everything getting done in-house and on your own terms can be incredibly appealing. Plus, you get to save money on private video streaming services. Right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, rolling out your own live streaming server has several serious drawbacks.

Many of these drawbacks are specific to issues that arise while streaming video. For example, system admins familiar with standard web content may not be equipped to deal with the common challenges and requirements for streaming live content. Building a live streaming server and supporting it can require different skill sets. 

Think of setting up and maintaining your own media streaming server as making dinner from scratch. You have to make a list, go to the store and buy all the ingredients. Then you come home, chop everything up, follow the recipe, and hopefully, it’s a success and tastes great. It’s a satisfying feeling, but it takes so much time and energy. Plus, there’s always a higher chance of messing it up.

On the other hand, using live video streaming platforms or dedicated media streaming servers is like buying a semi-cooked meal kit from the grocery store. Media streaming server software makes the video streaming process simpler. Imagine putting together that same healthy, home-cooked meal on busy weeknights, But in a quarter of the time and with much less effort.

So what do a meal kit and a live-streaming platform have in common? They both handle some of the work for you to focus on more important jobs. In the case of broadcasters, that’s creating engaging video content, be it on-demand videos or live video streaming.

If you’re still curious about what it takes, we’ll give you the rundown on how to build your own video streaming server. Then we will highlight some risks and pitfalls of creating and operating your own live stream server and provide alternatives to self-hosting video.

What is a Video Streaming Server?

A video streaming server is a web server with built-in RTSP functionality designed to provide live or on-demand video to internet-enabled devices.

With video streaming software, the video has to be encoded and converted into a data format. Then, the information must be sent as a data stream from your origin server to your viewer’s computer.

With cloud based server streaming, the viewer doesn’t need to store the video file on their computer on their hard drive. Instead, the cloud server delivers data as they can stream and watch the video while the file is in progress.