Icecast

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Icecast

Icecast logo
Basic data

developer Xiph.Org Foundation
Publishing year 1999
Current  version 2.4.4
(October 31, 2018)
operating system Windows , Linux , Mac OS
programming language C.
category Streaming media
License GPL
German speaking No
www.icecast.org

Icecast is free software for streaming servers that enables the transmission of multimedia data.

functionality

Icecast2 server on Windows

With Icecast you can operate your own internet radio or, for example, stream music to your own apartment via WLAN ( jukebox ). The software required is, on the one hand, the Icecast server itself and, on the other hand, a data source ( Source Client , German: Quelle ), for example IceS .

This concept enables enormous flexibility, as other components such as effect generators or equalizers can also be "looped in" if necessary. The source client then delivers the audio / video data to the Icecast server in the formats Ogg Vorbis , Ogg Theora , AAC , AAC + V2 , MP3 or WebM , the Icecast server then forwards the bitstream to the streaming client ; Any streaming-capable player that supports these streaming formats can be used to retrieve the streamed programs .

File formats and platforms

Oddcast, a source client for Windows

The data sources for the Icecast server are called source clients ; In principle, any audio signals can be used as a data source. Source clients are available for all common operating systems, e.g. B. BUTT , Edcast (formerly Oddcast) , SAM 2 and ezstream for Windows , IceS , Muse , Darkice and IceGenerator for Linux and Unix as well Nicecast or muse-osx for Mac OS X . EventSoundControl works across platforms with an integrated jingle and playlist player under Windows , Linux and Mac OS X.

The streaming format is completely independent of the original file format, since the source clients generally recode the data stream to ensure uniform parameterization. This means that a large collection of MP3 files does not necessarily have to be streamed as MP3. A more efficient codec can also be used, which then offers better quality at a lower data rate.

The server application is available for download as a binary package for Windows and as source code .

The popular media players such as Foobar2000 , Winamp , Amarok / Exaile , XMMS and Zinf all support these Icecast streams. Icecast is an HTTP 1.0 compliant server. Streams can easily be integrated in HTML5 <audio> or <video>. The supported streaming format codecs depend on the web browser .

history

The project has been developed since 2001 under the umbrella of the Xiph.Org Foundation . The fundamentally revised version 2 has been further developed since the beginning of 2004. Compared to the 1.x versions, which were only intended for MP3, Icecast 2.x now supports many other formats.

distribution

In May 2010, almost 3000 internet radio stations were using the Icecast server. In November 2012, the directory reported over 14,800 available streams, including over 13,600 in MP3 format, and in November 2014 there were over 24,000 streams (including more than 22,000 in MP3 format).

Alternatives

Other streaming servers with comparable functionality are, for example:

See also

Web links

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  1. ^ In: Free Software Directory .
  2. ^ Xiph.Org-Foundation: Streaming Directory , May 16, 2010.