Developer(s) Xiph.Org Foundation Written in C | Development status Active | |
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Initial release 1999; 18 years ago (1999) Stable release 2.4.3 / January 23, 2016; 13 months ago (2016-01-23) Repository github.com/xiph/Icecast-Server | ||
Icecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/January 1999 by Jack Moffitt and Barath Raghavan to provide an open source audio streaming server that anyone could modify, use, and tinker with. Version 2 was started in 2001, a ground-up rewrite aimed at multi-format support (initially targeting Ogg Vorbis) and scalability; this rewrite was released in January 2004.
Technical details
The Icecast server is capable of streaming audio content as Opus or Vorbis over standard HTTP, video as WebM or Theora over HTTP, MP3 over the communications protocol used by SHOUTcast, AAC, and NSV over the SHOUTcast protocol (Theora, AAC, and NSV are only supported in version 2.2.0 and newer).
Icecast requires external programs, called "source clients", to originate the streams, and the Icecast project includes a source client program known as IceS. The source runs typically in the place where the audio is generated (e.g., a studio) and the Icecast server in a place where a lot of bandwidth is available (e.g., a colocation centre). Since version 2.4.0 source clients can use plain HTTP standard PUT requests instead of the custom SOURCE method.