# ireader/media-server

RTSP/RTP/RTMP/FLV/HLS/MPEG-TS/MPEG-PS/MPEG-DASH/MP4/fMP4/MKV/WebM

Repository: https://github.com/ireader/media-server
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/media-server
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: rtp, rtmp, hls, rtsp, m3u, ts, ps, mpeg-dash, mp4, fmp4, flv, sip, mkv, webm, m3u8, sdp
Last push: 2026-05-26T03:38:10+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 70/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 84, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4626, "days_push": 99, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3506, forks 1157 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:07.641247+00:00)

## What it is
A C library suite implementing streaming media protocols and container formats, including RTSP/RTP/RTMP clients and servers, HLS/DASH segmenters, and MP4/FLV/MKV/MPEG-TS readers and writers. It is designed as a modular, embeddable toolkit for building streaming media applications, with cross-compilation support.

## Use cases
- parse and write MP4 and fMP4 files in C
- implement an RTSP server or client
- generate HLS m3u8 playlists and TS segments
- build an RTMP live streaming server
- demux and mux MPEG-TS and MPEG-PS streams
- convert H.264 bitstreams between annex-b and MP4 format
- read and write MKV/WebM files
- implement RTP/RTCP packetization for H.264 and AAC

## When to choose
- you need lightweight C implementations of streaming protocols without heavy dependencies
- you're building a media server, camera, or embedded streaming device and need cross-compilation
- you need fine-grained control over individual protocol components (RTSP, RTP, HLS, MP4) rather than a monolithic framework

## When to avoid
- you want a turnkey streaming media server out of the box - consider ZLMediaKit or similar instead
- your project is C++/higher-level and you prefer a full-featured framework over composable C libraries
- you need codecs themselves - this handles containers and protocols, not encoding/decoding

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: video-processing, audio-processing, streaming, parser, serialization
- domain: media, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: cpp, c, cross-platform, embedded
- tags: rtsp, rtmp, hls, mpeg-dash, mpeg-ts, mp4, fmp4, flv, mkv, webm, rtp, rtcp, sdp, sip, streaming-media, c-library, live-streaming, vod, video, audio, linux

## Member repositories
- ireader/media-server (main) score 70

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:07.641247+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:35:45.645902+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ireader/media-server (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:07.641247+00:00, sha 77b4e77b048e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.