NGINX-RTMP streaming server build & deploy

If you want to run a streaming server without panel software — pure bare-metal RTMP ingest with HLS/DASH output — the open-source NGINX with the RTMP module is the most battle-tested option. It's what most "cheap" CDN providers run under the hood, and it's free.

This guide covers a full NGINX-RTMP build that accepts RTMP input, transcodes (optionally), and outputs HLS for IPTV apps and websites.

1. Server requirements

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• RAM: 4 GB minimum (16 GB if transcoding)
• CPU: 4 vCPU minimum, 8+ for transcoding 1080p streams
• Disk: 50 GB SSD (more if recording HLS to disk for catch-up)
• Bandwidth: Calculate using our bandwidth calculator

2. Install build dependencies

apt update
apt install -y build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev \
  libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libgd-dev libgeoip-dev wget unzip git ffmpeg

3. Build NGINX with the RTMP module

Ubuntu's stock NGINX doesn't include the RTMP module — you must compile from source.

cd /usr/src
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf nginx-1.24.0.tar.gz
git clone https://github.com/arut/nginx-rtmp-module.git
cd nginx-1.24.0
./configure --prefix=/etc/nginx \
  --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx \
  --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf \
  --pid-path=/var/run/nginx.pid \
  --lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock \
  --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log \
  --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --with-http_ssl_module \
  --with-http_v2_module \
  --with-http_realip_module \
  --with-http_stub_status_module \
  --with-http_gzip_static_module \
  --add-module=/usr/src/nginx-rtmp-module
make -j$(nproc)
make install

4. Create a systemd service

Create /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service:

[Unit]
Description=The NGINX HTTP and reverse proxy server
After=syslog.target network-online.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target

[Service]
Type=forking
PIDFile=/var/run/nginx.pid
ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx
ExecReload=/usr/sbin/nginx -s reload
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s QUIT $MAINPID
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable nginx
systemctl start nginx

5. NGINX-RTMP configuration

Replace /etc/nginx/nginx.conf with:

worker_processes auto;
events { worker_connections 4096; }

# RTMP ingest
rtmp {
    server {
        listen 1935;
        chunk_size 4096;

        application live {
            live on;
            record off;

            # Convert RTMP to HLS automatically
            hls on;
            hls_path /var/www/hls;
            hls_fragment 4s;
            hls_playlist_length 60s;
            hls_continuous on;
            hls_cleanup on;

            # Allow only specific IPs to publish
            allow publish 127.0.0.1;
            allow publish YOUR_INGEST_IP;
            deny publish all;

            # Anyone can pull
            allow play all;
        }
    }
}

# HTTP for HLS playback
http {
    include mime.types;
    default_type application/octet-stream;
    sendfile on;
    keepalive_timeout 65;

    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name stream.yourdomain.com;

        location /hls {
            types {
                application/vnd.apple.mpegurl m3u8;
                video/mp2t ts;
            }
            root /var/www;
            add_header Cache-Control no-cache;
            add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin *;
        }

        location /stat {
            rtmp_stat all;
            rtmp_stat_stylesheet stat.xsl;
        }

        location /stat.xsl {
            root /usr/src/nginx-rtmp-module;
        }
    }
}

mkdir -p /var/www/hls
chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/hls
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

6. Open required ports

ufw allow 22/tcp
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw allow 1935/tcp  # RTMP
ufw enable

7. Push your first stream

Using OBS or FFmpeg, push to:

rtmp://your-server-ip/live/STREAM_KEY

FFmpeg example (push a test loop):

ffmpeg -re -stream_loop -1 -i sample.mp4 -c copy -f flv \
  rtmp://your-server-ip/live/test123

Then play HLS at:

http://your-server-ip/hls/test123.m3u8

8. Multi-bitrate transcoding (ABR)

For adaptive bitrate (1080p / 720p / 480p variants from a single source), add an exec directive to spawn FFmpeg per stream:

application live {
    live on;
    exec ffmpeg -i rtmp://localhost/live/$name
        -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 4500k -s 1920x1080 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -f flv rtmp://localhost/show/$name_1080p
        -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 2500k -s 1280x720  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -f flv rtmp://localhost/show/$name_720p
        -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 800k  -s 854x480   -c:a aac -b:a 96k  -f flv rtmp://localhost/show/$name_480p;
}

application show {
    live on;
    hls on;
    hls_path /var/www/hls;
    hls_nested on;
    hls_fragment 4s;
    hls_variant _1080p BANDWIDTH=4500000,RESOLUTION=1920x1080;
    hls_variant _720p  BANDWIDTH=2500000,RESOLUTION=1280x720;
    hls_variant _480p  BANDWIDTH=800000,RESOLUTION=854x480;
}

Warning: transcoding is CPU-heavy. A single 1080p ABR ladder uses ~2 cores. Plan capacity accordingly.

9. SSL for HLS

HLS over plain HTTP is fine for testing but not for production. Use Certbot:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
certbot --nginx -d stream.yourdomain.com

10. Common NGINX-RTMP issues

• RTMP push connects then drops: Almost always firewall — ports 1935 inbound must be open
• HLS plays but shows "buffering" every few seconds: Reduce hls_fragment to 2s and hls_playlist_length to 30s
• Transcoding is slow / stutters: CPU bottleneck; switch libx264 -preset from veryfast to ultrafast, or upgrade to a server with libx264-cuda for GPU encoding
• Latency too high: Lower hls_fragment to 1s, switch to LL-HLS, or use SRT/WebRTC for sub-second use cases