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Glossary

Common terms you will run into around Owncast.

  • RTMP The protocol your broadcast software uses to send video into Owncast.
  • HLS How video reaches viewers, delivered as a playlist plus a series of short segments.
  • Segment A few seconds of video. Players fetch segments in order to play a stream.
  • Transcoding Converting the incoming video into one or more output qualities.
  • Variant One output quality, a mix of resolution and bitrate. Offering several lets a viewer's player pick the best fit.
  • Latency The delay between something happening live and a viewer seeing it.
  • Fediverse The network of independent servers, such as Mastodon, that talk to each other over ActivityPub.
  • ActivityPub The standard Owncast uses so people can follow a stream and receive its posts.
  • Directory The public, opt-in list of live Owncast streams.
  • Chat Owncast's built-in real time chat, delivered over a websocket.
  • Plugin An add-on that extends an Owncast server with custom behavior.
  • Admin The web interface for configuring a running server.
  • Stream key The secret your broadcast software sends to prove it is allowed to stream.