Installation

There are several ways to install Owncast. The quick installer below is the easiest and works on most Linux and macOS servers. You can also install manually from a release download, run the container image, or use a one-click install at a hosting provider.

Plugin support requires an Owncast v0.3.0 build

Owncast 0.3.0 features such as plugins are not in a stable release yet. To try them you need a nightly development build, or the container image ghcr.io/owncast/owncast:nightly. The stable release is v0.2.5.

By using the installer you can get up and running in about a minute. However, if you would prefer to download a release manually, use a one-click install at a supported hosting provider, or other methods visit the Installation page to find the installation method that best matches your needs.

Installer

Paste the following into your shell and the installer will download the most recent version of Owncast for your platform. It will also download a copy of ffmpeg if you don't currently have one installed.

curl -s https://owncast.online/install.sh | bash

Note: It is not suggested you run this as root, as you're downloading and running a script off the internet. It's also recommended you inspect the contents of any remote script before executing it.

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See an example of getting running in under a minute.

That's it!

While the above installer will be enough for most people to get up and running quickly, you may want to learn about server configuration, broadcasting, and optional next steps such as SSL proxies and running Owncast as a system service.

Login to the admin and set up your stream

The admin interface can be found by navigating to /admin on your Owncast server (e.g., https://owncast.example.com/admin).

Configuring your broadcasting software to stream to your Owncast server requires you to use the /live endpoint along with providing the stream key. (e.g., rtmp://owncast.example.com/live with stream key abc123). If your software does not allow specifying the stream key separately, you may need to append it to the URL as rtmp://owncast.example.com/live/abc123.

Default credentials

Default	Value
Admin username	admin
Admin password	abc123
Stream key	abc123

These are the default credentials for logging into the Owncast admin interface and streaming to your Owncast server. It is highly recommended that you change these values immediately after your first login to ensure the security of your server.

Next steps

1. Point your broadcasting software at your new server using rtmp://yourserver/live with your stream key. If your software doesn't have a way to specify a stream key use the url rtmp://yourserver/live/streamkey and use your stream key instead.
2. Access your server in your web browser by visiting http://yourserver:8080.
3. You can visit the Admin dashboard at http://yourserver:8080/admin where you can check visitor and server stats, change your stream key, personalize the content displayed on your page, and more. To log in, use the username admin and your admin password (abc123 by default).

Note: Your stream key and admin password both default to abc123, but they are separate settings. The stream key is only used by your broadcasting software to publish video. It is not your admin password.

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Manual Installation

1. Owncast needs ffmpeg installed on your server. The automated installer downloads it for you, but a manual install does not, so install ffmpeg first if you do not already have it.

2. Make a directory to run the service from, and download the release that matches your server from the releases page into that directory. Run uname -m to find your architecture, then pick the matching archive:

   uname -m output	OS	Archive
   x86_64	Linux	owncast-<version>-linux-64bit.zip
   aarch64	Linux	owncast-<version>-linux-arm64.zip
   armv7l	Linux	owncast-<version>-linux-arm7.zip
   i686	Linux	owncast-<version>-linux-32bit.zip
   x86_64	macOS	owncast-<version>-macOS-64bit.zip
   arm64	macOS	owncast-<version>-macOS-arm64.zip

   Raspberry Pi boards are covered by the arm64 and arm7 builds. There is no ARMv6 build, so the original Raspberry Pi and the first Pi Zero are not supported.

3. Unzip the release.

4. Make sure the two ports Owncast uses are reachable from outside your server: 8080 for the web interface and 1935 for RTMP ingest. Open them in your firewall or cloud provider's security rules if needed.

5. Run ./owncast to start the service. This runs Owncast in the foreground. To keep it running in the background and start it on boot, run it as a system service.

6. Visit the admin at /admin to configure your server. Log in with the username admin and your admin password (abc123 by default).

The admin interface can be found by navigating to /admin on your Owncast server (e.g., https://owncast.example.com/admin).

Configuring your broadcasting software to stream to your Owncast server requires you to use the /live endpoint along with providing the stream key. (e.g., rtmp://owncast.example.com/live with stream key abc123). If your software does not allow specifying the stream key separately, you may need to append it to the URL as rtmp://owncast.example.com/live/abc123.

Default credentials

Default	Value
Admin username	admin
Admin password	abc123
Stream key	abc123

These are the default credentials for logging into the Owncast admin interface and streaming to your Owncast server. It is highly recommended that you change these values immediately after your first login to ensure the security of your server.

Next steps

1. Point your broadcasting software at your new server using rtmp://yourserver/live with your stream key. If your software doesn't have a way to specify a stream key use the url rtmp://yourserver/live/streamkey and use your stream key instead.
2. Access your server in your web browser by visiting http://yourserver:8080.
3. You can visit the Admin dashboard at http://yourserver:8080/admin where you can check visitor and server stats, change your stream key, personalize the content displayed on your page, and more. To log in, use the username admin and your admin password (abc123 by default).

Note: Your stream key and admin password both default to abc123, but they are separate settings. The stream key is only used by your broadcasting software to publish video. It is not your admin password.