What is OvenMediaEngine used for?

OvenMediaEngine is a live streaming server delivering sub-second latency video to large audiences over WebRTC and Low Latency HLS. It is a good fit for interactive live broadcasts needing low latency and converting RTMP or SRT feeds for browser playback.

Is OvenMediaEngine open source?

Yes. OvenMediaEngine is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OvenMediaLabs/OvenMediaEngine and is written mainly in C++.

Is OvenMediaEngine free?

Yes. OvenMediaEngine is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $100 per seat per month.

Can I self-host OvenMediaEngine?

Yes. OvenMediaEngine can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is OvenMediaEngine an alternative to?

OvenMediaEngine is an open-source alternative to Mux, Dacast and Wowza. Other open-source alternatives to Mux include Ant Media Server and SRS.

Is OvenMediaEngine actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to OvenMediaEngine was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.21.0, published on 13 August 2026. The project has 3.3k stars on GitHub.

OvenMediaEngine: open-source alternative to Mux, Dacast

About OvenMediaEngine

OvenMediaEngine, or OME, is a streaming server built for live video with sub-second latency. It can deliver high-definition streams to very large audiences using Low Latency HLS and WebRTC. The project also lists a hosted demo service, OvenSpace, built with OvenMediaEngine, OvenPlayer and OvenLiveKit, with its source available for implementation examples.

On the input side, OME accepts pushed streams over WebRTC, WHIP, SRT, RTMP, Enhanced RTMP and MPEG-2 TS over UDP, and it can pull streams over RTSP and OVT. An embedded live transcoder produces adaptive bitrate renditions with codecs including VP8, H.264, AV1 and, with hardware, H.265. Viewers receive output over LLHLS and WebRTC, and legacy HLS and SRT output are also supported.

Further capabilities include scheduled channels for pre-recorded live programming, multiplex channels, DVR-style live rewind, dumping streams for video on demand, timed ID3v2 metadata, WebVTT subtitles and DRM with Widevine, FairPlay and PlayReady. An embedded TURN server and WebSocket signalling server support WebRTC. It is written in C++ and licensed under AGPL-3.0.

Key features

Sub-second latency over WebRTC and LLHLS
Ingest via WebRTC, WHIP, SRT, RTMP and RTSP
Embedded adaptive bitrate live transcoder
DVR live rewind and dump for video on demand
DRM with Widevine, FairPlay and PlayReady
Embedded TURN and signalling server for WebRTC
Scheduled and multiplex channels

Good fit for

→Interactive live broadcasts needing low latency
→Converting RTMP or SRT feeds for browser playback

Built with: C++
Tags: live-streaming; webrtc; llhls; low-latency; rtmp; srt; streaming-server; transcoding

OvenMediaEngine: questions and answers

What is OvenMediaEngine used for?: OvenMediaEngine is a live streaming server delivering sub-second latency video to large audiences over WebRTC and Low Latency HLS. It is a good fit for interactive live broadcasts needing low latency and converting RTMP or SRT feeds for browser playback.
Is OvenMediaEngine open source?: Yes. OvenMediaEngine is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OvenMediaLabs/OvenMediaEngine and is written mainly in C++.
Is OvenMediaEngine free?: Yes. OvenMediaEngine is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $100 per seat per month.
Can I self-host OvenMediaEngine?: Yes. OvenMediaEngine can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is OvenMediaEngine an alternative to?: OvenMediaEngine is an open-source alternative to Mux, Dacast and Wowza. Other open-source alternatives to Mux include Ant Media Server and SRS.
Is OvenMediaEngine actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to OvenMediaEngine was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.21.0, published on 13 August 2026. The project has 3.3k stars on GitHub.