Add RFC: Add simulcasting support to OBS

[obinnaokechukwu]

Summary

Add the ability to simultaneously stream to multiple services (i.e. simulcasting support).

Motivation

The ability to simultaneously stream to multiple services is currently the most requested feature by OBS users [ see 1, 2, and 3 ]. However, this feature has not been implemented in OBS for various historical and technical reasons. Since most streamers need to stream to multiple platforms, several work-arounds have been developed over the years to navigate this limitation of OBS – the most popular workaround being the use of paid third party simulcasting services. This increases complexity (and running cost) for users who are interested in using OBS for simulcasting, especially for those users who do not need the additional features provided by third-party simulcasting platforms.

This RFC proposes a way to add simulcasting support to OBS.

Read RFC

[obinnaokechukwu]

I know this is a detailed RFC, but comments will be appreciated. :)

[mickythekiller]

Technical reason ? I use this plugin without any problem
very good!
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/multiple-rtmp-outputs-plugin.964/

[obinnaokechukwu]

Technical reason ? I use this plugin without any problem
very good!
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/multiple-rtmp-outputs-plugin.964/

Thanks for your response!

As was stated in the RFC, several workarounds have been created to work around OBS' single streaming service limitation over the years. The recently created third-party plugin seems to be yet another attempt at this. It also relies on a brand new settings page, which means it'd have to be upgraded with each upgrade to the way settings are stored in OBS (so it'll likely not work properly when there's a major OBS version upgrade). In fact, I'd argue that its existence underscores the need for simulcasting support feature in the OBS core project.

This is in addition to the fact that having new users install a third party plugin adds some complexity overhead/learning curve for new OBS users. The plugin also works only on windows. One of the unwritten goals of the RFC was to propose a simple interface that does not significantly disrupt the workflow of current OBS users, and I believe I've done just that in the RFC.

While using third-party plugins may be a temporary mitigation, the fact that this is currently the most requested feature by OBS users (and has been so for some time now) is a strong indicator that this feature doesn't belong in a third-party plugin, but in the OBS core project itself.

[Niek]

Completely agree with @obinnaokechukwu, this would be a great addition to have natively in OBS. Streamlabs OBS already has (limited) multistream support and obs-multi-rtmp kind of works - having this natively in OBS would be amazing.

[soredake]

Any progress on this?

[obinnaokechukwu]

Any progress on this?

It is in progress (in a somewhat alpha state). I'm expecting to send out a pull request soon once I finalize some details. Hopefully in the coming months.

[Niek]

@obinnaokechukwu I don't want to clutter this PR with pings, but is there an update yet?

For anyone looking, the current alternatives are:

• obs-multi-rtmp plugin - https://sorayuki.github.io/obs-multi-rtmp/ (kinda buggy)
• restream.io (paid solution, introduces delays)
• Streamlabs OBS (...)

[dodgepong]

Any progress on this?

It is in progress (in a somewhat alpha state). I'm expecting to send out a pull request soon once I finalize some details. Hopefully in the coming months.

We don't recommend working on an RFC's implementation prior to its acceptance, especially when it hasn't been reviewed by a project maintainer yet in any capacity. We may have several significant changes we want to see with your design, or may reject the feature request entirely. We wouldn't want to see you expend a great deal of time and resources implementing something we may not want to merge, or at least not in the form proposed.

[thelaymansterms]

Will this new feature incorporate adding multiple streaming accounts? And if required, would it allow "Event Creation" for Scheduling events to YouTube or Facebook?