Posted on Jun 12

Pure PHP RTMP Server & FLV2MP4: No FFmpeg

#architecture #networking #php #showdev

RTMP Server

A lightweight RTMP live streaming server written in pure PHP, with no third-party streaming service dependencies. Deploy your private live streaming platform out of the box.
Automatically enables epoll event-driven I/O on Linux, easily handling 20,000+ concurrent connections in a single process. Falls back to select mode on Windows for compatibility.

🏗️ System Architecture

                                                    【Publishing】OBS/FFmpeg
                                                         │
                                       RTMP Push(1935)  /  HTTP-FLV Push(8501)
                                                         │
                                                         ▼
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                                                      RTMP Origin Server (Core)                                                   ║
║                                                                                                                                    ║
║  📥 Stream Ingest   RTMP / HTTP-FLV dual-protocol publishing, link authentication                                                 ║
║  🔄 Protocol Conv   RTMP / HTTP-FLV → HTTP-FLV / WebSocket-FLV / HLS / fMP4 / MP4                                                  ║
║  💾 Live Recording  ┌──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐                                                                  ║
║                     │  FLV Record  │  fMP4 Segs   │  HLS Segs    │  Three independent parallel tasks                                ║
║                     │  (real-time) │  (real-time) │  (real-time) │                                                                    ║
║                     └──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘                                                                  ║
║  📤 Live Output     HTTP-FLV(8501) / WebSocket-FLV / HLS Live / fMP4 Live                                                          ║
║  📦 VOD Production  fMP4 segments generated in real-time → auto-merged into complete MP4 after stream ends                          ║
║  📁 Static Serving  Origin server built-in HTTP service (port 80), direct static file access (for low-concurrency scenarios)        ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
│
┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
│                       │                       │
▼                       ▼                       ▼
HTTP-FLV(8501)          HLS(TS/m3u8)           fMP4(segments)
Real-time Stream        Static Files            Static Files
│                       │                       │
│                       │                       │
▼                       ▼                       ▼
┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  FLV Gateway    │     │            Static File Gateway Cluster           │
│    Cluster      │     │         🎯 Hosting: HLS / fMP4 / MP4 / FLV / Web│
│                 │     │                                                 │
│  ┌───────────┐  │     │  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐   │
│  │  Tier 1   │  │     │  │  Node 1   │  │  Node 2   │  │  Node 3   │   │
│  │  (8080)   │  │     │  │  (8100)   │  │  (8101)   │  │  (8102)   │   │
│  └─────┬─────┘  │     │  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘   │
│        │        │     │        │              │              │         │
│  ┌─────┴─────┐  │     │        ▼              ▼              ▼         │
│  ▼     ▼     ▼  │     │   ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐│     │   │              Clients               │    │
│ │Sub│ │Sub│ │Sub││     │   │   HLS Player / MSE Player / VOD / ffplay │    │
│ │GW │ │GW │ │GW ││     │   └──────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘│     │                                                 │
│   │     │     │  │     └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│   ▼     ▼     ▼  │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │   Clients    │ │
│ │ FLV Player / ffplay │
│ └──────────────┘ │
└─────────────────┘

Architecture Overview

Origin Server: The sole stream production node, supporting RTMP and HTTP-FLV dual-protocol publishing. Handles ingest, multi-protocol repackaging. FLV recording, fMP4 segmentation, and HLS segmentation run as three fully independent parallel tasks with zero blocking.
Origin Static Capability: The origin server includes a built-in HTTP service (default port 80) for direct static file access. No additional gateway deployment needed for low-concurrency scenarios — ready to use out of the box.
Live Recording Mechanism:
- FLV Recording: Saves raw streams in real-time, producing a complete FLV file after the stream ends
- fMP4 Segmentation: Generates audio/video fMP4 segments in real-time (supports both merged and separate segment formats), auto-merged into a complete MP4 after the stream ends
- HLS Segmentation: Generates TS segments + m3u8 index in real-time (mobile compatible)
- Independent Toggles: Each recording task can be independently enabled/disabled in server.php
FLV Live Gateway Cluster: A pure stream relay service. Pulls HTTP-FLV streams from upstream, caches GOP keyframes for instant playback on new connections, and distributes to end clients or downstream gateways.
- Unlimited Cascade: Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Tier 3 → ... → Clients
- Horizontal Scaling: Deploy multiple gateway instances at the same tier, distribute traffic via load balancing
- Linux epoll High Performance: Single process handles 20,000+ concurrent connections, Windows falls back to select model
Static File Gateway Cluster (Recommended): Lightweight HTTP static file server, unified hosting for all static resources.
- Supported Protocols: HLS (.m3u8/.ts), fMP4 (.m4s/.mp4), MP4 VOD files, FLV recording files, Web player pages
- Horizontal Scaling: Deploy multiple gateway instances at the same tier, linearly increasing concurrency capacity
- Vertical Scaling: Multi-tier traffic distribution via reverse proxies such as Nginx
- Linux epoll High Performance: Single process handles 20,000+ concurrent connections, Windows falls back to select model
- Best Practice: Point HLS/fMP4/MP4 playback paths to this gateway cluster for static resource read-write separation
Deployment Recommendations:
- Low Concurrency (< 500 concurrent): Use the origin server's built-in HTTP service directly, no additional gateways needed
- Medium Concurrency (500 – 5,000 concurrent):
- Origin + single-tier gateway cluster (FLV Gateway or Static File Gateway)
- A single gateway process is usually sufficient, no multi-instance needed
- High Concurrency (> 5,000 concurrent):
- Origin focuses on "publishing, protocol conversion, live recording"
- FLV Gateway Multi-tier Cluster: Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Clients
- Static File Gateway Multi-tier Cluster: Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Clients
- Each tier supports horizontal scaling, linearly increasing concurrency capacity

✨ Features

🎥 Dual-Protocol Publishing: Full implementation of standard RTMP push/pull + HTTP-FLV push/pull, compatible with mainstream streaming tools
📡 HTTP-FLV / WebSocket-FLV: Low-latency browser streaming solution, supports direct playback via ffplay and other players
🧩 HLS Auto-Segmentation: Real-time m3u8 + TS generation, full platform mobile compatibility
📦 fMP4 Real-time Segmentation + Auto-Merge: Generates fMP4 segments in real-time during live streaming, auto-merged into complete MP4 after stream ends
🎬 Dual fMP4 Format Support: Supports both merged audio/video segments and separate audio/video segments
💾 FLV Independent Recording: Saves raw FLV streams in real-time, decoupled from fMP4/MP4
🎛️ Independent Task Toggles: FLV recording, fMP4 segmentation, and HLS segmentation can each be independently enabled/disabled
🖥️ Built-in Multiple Web Players: Ready to use out of the box, supports FLV/HLS/MP4/Merged fMP4/Separate fMP4 playback
🚀 Cascading FLV Streaming Gateway: Unlimited tier relay, GOP-cached instant startup, auto-reconnect on stream loss, designed for high-concurrency live scenarios
📁 Static File Gateway: Unified hosting for HLS/fMP4/MP4 recorded resources and playback pages, designed for high-concurrency VOD scenarios
🎞️ Cross-Platform Playback Compatibility: Supports ffplay, VLC, browsers, mobile players, and other mainstream playback terminals
🐳 Docker One-Click Deployment: Quickly spin up a test environment
⚡ Native Pure PHP Implementation: No third-party streaming software dependencies

📋 Requirements

PHP >= 8.1 (CLI mode only)
Required extension: sockets
Recommended extension: event (significantly improves concurrency on Linux by automatically enabling epoll)

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install

composer create-project xiaosongshu/rtmp_server

2. Configure Recording Toggles (`server.php`)

// Three independent recording task toggles, enable/disable as needed
define('FLV_TO_RECORD', true);   // Enable real-time FLV raw file recording
define('FLV_TO_MP4', true);      // Enable real-time fMP4 segmentation and MP4 merging
define('FLV_TO_HLS', true);      // Enable real-time HLS (TS) segmentation

3. Start Origin Server

php server.php

4. Access Playback (use origin directly for low-concurrency scenarios)

# Player page access (origin built-in HTTP service)
http://127.0.0.1/index.html      # FLV live page
http://127.0.0.1/play.html       # HLS live page
http://127.0.0.1/mp4.html        # MP4 VOD page
http://127.0.0.1/play_merge.html # fMP4 segment VOD page (supports merged/separate formats)

5. Medium/High Concurrency: Deploy Static File Gateway Cluster (Recommended)

Use Case: High-concurrency access for HLS(.ts/.m3u8), fMP4(.m4s/.mp4), MP4 VOD files, and Web pages.
A single gateway process on Linux handles 20,000+ connections. For higher loads, scale horizontally with multiple instances.

# Start single instance (handles high concurrency directly under epoll)
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100

# 【Horizontal Scaling】Multi-instance deployment (for extreme concurrency or multi-server load balancing)
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8101
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8102

# Linux/macOS background running
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100 > /dev/null 2>&1 &

# Vertical Scaling: Multi-tier distribution via Nginx reverse proxy
# Tier 1 Nginx -> Tier 2 fileGateway (8100/8101/8102) -> Tier 3 fileGateway ...

Access examples (via Static File Gateway):

http://127.0.0.1:8100/play.html       # Access HLS player page via gateway
http://127.0.0.1:8100/hls/live/stream/index.m3u8  # Access HLS stream via gateway

6. Medium/High Concurrency: Deploy FLV Live Gateway Cluster

A single FLV gateway process on Linux stably supports nearly 20,000 concurrent viewers.

# Tier 1 Gateway: Pull from origin
php flvGateway.php 8080 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501

# Horizontal Scaling: Deploy multiple instances at the same tier
php flvGateway.php 8081 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501
php flvGateway.php 8082 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501

# Vertical Scaling: Multi-tier cascade
php flvGateway.php 8080 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501      # Tier 1
php flvGateway.php 8081 http://127.0.0.1:8080       # Tier 2 (pulls from Tier 1)
php flvGateway.php 8082 http://127.0.0.1:8081       # Tier 3 (pulls from Tier 2)

7. Stop Service

OS	Command
Windows	`Ctrl + C`
Linux/macOS	`kill -9 PID`

🔧 Port Configuration (Modify in `server.php`)

Port	Protocol	Purpose
1935	RTMP	RTMP publishing and playback
8501	HTTP/WebSocket	HTTP-FLV publishing/playback / WS-FLV live streaming
80	HTTP	Static file service + Web player pages

🚀 FLV Streaming Gateway (High-Concurrency Live Distribution)

Gateway Introduction

A lightweight stream distribution component supporting unlimited cascade deployment. Pulls HTTP-FLV from upstream origin/gateway, caches stream headers and GOP keyframes for instant startup on new connections, and replicates stream data to downstream clients or sub-gateways. Designed for medium to high-concurrency live scenarios, supports both horizontal and vertical scaling.

Gateway Core Capabilities

📡 Multi-stream concurrent relay in a single instance, handling different channel distributions simultaneously
🔄 Unlimited cascade, Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Tier 3 chained expansion
⚡ GOP pre-caching, no keyframe wait for new connections, instant playback
🔁 Automatic reconnection on upstream stream loss, transparent to end users
📊 Built-in runtime statistics, outputs viewer count and traffic every 10 seconds
🚀 Horizontal Scaling: Add gateway processes/instances at the same tier, linearly increasing concurrency
🚀 Vertical Scaling: Multi-tier cascade, distributing single-point pressure
🧠 Adaptive I/O: Linux auto-enables epoll, single process 20,000+ concurrent; Windows falls back to select for compatibility

FLV Gateway Startup Commands

# 【Horizontal Scaling】Single tier, multiple instances
php flvGateway.php 8080 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501
php flvGateway.php 8081 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501
php flvGateway.php 8082 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501

# 【Vertical Scaling】Multi-tier cascade
php flvGateway.php 8080 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501      # Tier 1
php flvGateway.php 8081 http://127.0.0.1:8080       # Tier 2
php flvGateway.php 8082 http://127.0.0.1:8081       # Tier 3

# 【Combined Scaling】Multi-tier + multi-instance per tier
# Tier 1 Gateway Cluster
php flvGateway.php 8080 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501
php flvGateway.php 8081 http://ORIGIN_IP:8501
# Tier 2 Gateway Cluster (pulls from Tier 1)
php flvGateway.php 8180 http://127.0.0.1:8080
php flvGateway.php 8181 http://127.0.0.1:8081

Gateway Playback URL Format

http://GATEWAY_IP:PORT/{app}/{channel}.flv

Example:

# Tier 1 Gateway
http://127.0.0.1:8080/live/stream.flv
# Tier 2 Gateway
http://127.0.0.1:8081/live/stream.flv

Debug Logging

Add $gateway->debug = true; in the gateway startup script to enable full detailed runtime logs.

📁 Static File Gateway `fileGateway.php` (High-Concurrency VOD Resource Hosting)

Gateway Introduction

A lightweight HTTP static file server for unified hosting of all static resources. This is the recommended playback method for file-based protocols such as HLS, fMP4, and MP4. Supports horizontal and vertical scaling to handle large-scale VOD concurrency.

Core Capabilities

📁 Unified hosting for all static resources (recorded files + playback pages)
🔗 Horizontal Scaling: Multi-instance deployment with load-balanced traffic distribution
🔗 Vertical Scaling: Multi-tier cascade (e.g., Nginx + fileGateway + backend storage)
📊 Built-in access logs for statistical analysis
🚀 Pure PHP implementation, lightweight with no dependencies
🧠 Adaptive I/O: Linux epoll, single process 20,000+ concurrent; Windows select compatible
💡 Best Practice: Point HLS/fMP4/MP4 playback paths to this gateway cluster, letting the origin server focus solely on writing files — achieving read-write separation

Startup Commands (Multi-process/Multi-instance Distribution)

# Basic startup (host current directory, port 8100)
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100

# 【Horizontal Scaling】Multi-instance deployment
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8101
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8102

# Linux/macOS background multi-instance
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8100 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8101 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
php fileGateway.php 0.0.0.0 8102 > /dev/null 2>&1 &

Nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration Example

upstream filegateway_cluster {
    # Horizontal Scaling: multiple fileGateway instances
    server 127.0.0.1:8100;
    server 127.0.0.1:8101;
    server 127.0.0.1:8102;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name media.example.com;

    location ~* \.(m3u8|ts|mp4|m4s|flv|html|css|js)$ {
        proxy_pass http://filegateway_cluster;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Access URL Format

http://GATEWAY_IP:PORT/{relative_file_path}

Example:

# Web player pages (accessed via static gateway)
http://127.0.0.1:8100/index.html      # FLV live page
http://127.0.0.1:8100/play.html       # HLS live page
http://127.0.0.1:8100/mp4.html        # MP4 VOD page
http://127.0.0.1:8100/video.html      # FLV VOD page
http://127.0.0.1:8100/play_merge.html # fMP4 segment VOD page

# Recorded resource access
http://127.0.0.1:8100/hls/live/stream/index.m3u8
http://127.0.0.1:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_merge/init.mp4
http://127.0.0.1:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_merge/stream_full.mp4
http://127.0.0.1:8100/flv/live/stream/20240101_120000.flv

📡 Publishing Guide

The project supports both RTMP and HTTP-FLV mainstream publishing protocols, compatible with OBS, FFmpeg, and various streaming tools.

1. RTMP Publishing

URL Format

rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/{app}/{channel}

app: e.g., live
channel: e.g., stream
Only alphanumeric characters supported

Publishing Examples

OBS Studio
1. Download and install OBS Studio
2. Settings → Stream → Server: rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/live
3. Stream Key: stream
4. Start Streaming
FFmpeg Loop Publishing

ffmpeg -re -stream_loop -1 -i "video.mp4" -vcodec h264 -acodec aac -f flv rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/live/stream

2. HTTP-FLV Publishing

URL Format

http://127.0.0.1:8501/{app}/{channel}

app and channel follow the same rules as RTMP, alphanumeric only

Publishing Examples (FFmpeg)

# Local FLV file publishing
ffmpeg -re -i test.flv -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -f flv http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream

# Local MP4 file loop publishing
ffmpeg -re -stream_loop -1 -i video.mp4 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -f flv http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream

You can also use the built-in client pusher provided by this project (FLV/MP4 static files only):

php pusher.php test.flv http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream 1.0 --no-reconnect

php pusher.php test.mp4 http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream 1.0 --no-reconnect

📺 Playback URL Summary & Tools

Live Streaming URLs

Protocol	URL	Description	Distribution Recommendation
RTMP	`rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/live/stream`	Native RTMP players, ffplay supported	Direct from origin
HTTP-FLV	`http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream.flv`	Low-latency browser playback, ffplay	Distribute via FLV Gateway Cluster
WebSocket-FLV	`ws://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream.flv`	WebSocket streaming playback	Distribute via FLV Gateway Cluster
HLS	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/hls/live/stream/index.m3u8`	Preferred for Android/iOS mobile	Must distribute via fileGateway

VOD Playback URLs (After Recording Completes)

File Type	Access URL (must go through fileGateway)	Description
Merged MP4 VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_merge/stream_full.mp4`
Merged fMP4 Segment VOD (MSE)	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_merge/init.mp4`
Separate Audio/Video fMP4 VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_separate/audio_init.mp4`
Raw FLV VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/flv/live/stream/20240101_120000.flv`

For high-concurrency scenarios: You must use the Static File Gateway Cluster (e.g., 127.0.0.1:8100/8101/8102), distributing traffic via load balancing to achieve static resource read-write separation.

Web Player Pages

Page Purpose	Access URL (recommended via fileGateway)	Description
FLV Live Playback	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/index.html`	HTTP-FLV low-latency live
HLS Live Playback	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/play.html`	HLS mobile-compatible live
Merged MP4 VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/mp4.html`	Complete MP4 file VOD
Raw FLV VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/video.html`	FLV native file VOD
fMP4 Segment VOD	`http://{fileGateway_IP}:8100/play_merge.html`	Supports both merged and separate segment playback

Command-Line Playback Tools (ffplay)

The project is fully compatible with ffplay player, can directly pull various stream URLs:

# Play RTMP stream
ffplay rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/live/stream

# Play origin HTTP-FLV stream
ffplay http://127.0.0.1:8501/live/stream.flv

# Play FLV gateway relayed stream
ffplay http://127.0.0.1:8080/live/stream.flv

# Play HLS stream
ffplay http://127.0.0.1:8100/hls/live/stream/index.m3u8

# Play VOD FLV/MP4 files
ffplay http://127.0.0.1:8100/flv/live/stream/20240101_120000.flv
ffplay http://127.0.0.1:8100/mp4/live/stream/output_merge/stream_full.mp4

💾 Live Recording Details

Recording Mechanism (Three Independent Parallel Tasks)

When publishing begins, the origin server simultaneously starts three independent parallel recording tasks with zero blocking:

                    ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │        RTMP / HTTP-FLV Dual-Protocol Ingest     │
                    └─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                                          │
                    ┌─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┐
                    │                     │                           │
                    ▼                     ▼                           ▼
            ┌───────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐           ┌───────────────┐
            │ FLV Recording │     │ fMP4 Segments │           │ HLS Segments  │
            │  (real-time)  │     │  (real-time)  │           │  (real-time)  │
            └───────┬───────┘     └───────┬───────┘           └───────┬───────┘
                    │                     │                           │
                    ▼                     ▼                           ▼
            ┌───────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐           ┌───────────────┐
            │ Complete FLV  │     │ fMP4 Segments │           │ TS Segments   │
            │ (stream ends) │     │  (during live)│           │ + m3u8 index  │
            └───────────────┘     └───────┬───────┘           └───────────────┘
                                          │
                                          │ Auto-merge after stream ends
                                          ▼
                                    ┌───────────────┐
                                    │ Complete MP4  │
                                    │ (VOD playback)│
                                    └───────────────┘

Task Independence

Recording Task	Real-time	Output	Purpose	Toggle
FLV Record	Yes	Complete FLV file	Raw format backup, VLC/ffplay	`FLV_TO_RECORD`
fMP4 Segs	Yes	fMP4 segments → merged MP4	Browser MSE playback, VOD	`FLV_TO_MP4`
HLS Segs	Yes	TS segments + m3u8	Mobile compatibility, HLS live	`FLV_TO_HLS`

📁 Project Directory Structure

rtmp_server/
├── flv/                              # FLV raw recording files (FLV_TO_RECORD)
├── mp4/                              # MP4/fMP4 transcoded output (FLV_TO_MP4)
├── hls/                              # HLS TS segments + m3u8 index (FLV_TO_HLS)
├── MediaServer/                      # RTMP core protocol, publish/play session logic
├── Root/                             # Low-level async I/O, Socket event-driven (includes epoll adaptive)
├── SabreAMF/                         # AMF0/AMF3 codec
├── server.php                        # Origin server entry point
├── fileGateway.php                   # Static file gateway (epoll supported, 20k+ concurrent)
├── flvGateway.php                    # FLV live gateway (epoll supported, 20k+ concurrent)
├── pusher.php                        # FLV Static File Push Client
├── *.html                            # Web player pages
└── README.md

📈 Concurrency Performance Benchmarks

All tests below were conducted in the same Docker container environment with ulimit -n 65535, using the same stress test script with 20,000 concurrent clients, each pulling streams for 5 seconds.

Origin Server (RTMP Origin)

Current container pids.max: unknown
Starting batch: 1000 clients (total 20 batches)
All clients started, waiting for completion...

===== Results =====
Success: 17,330
Failed: 2,670

FLV Live Gateway

Current container pids.max: unknown
Starting batch: 1000 clients (total 20 batches)
All clients started, waiting for completion...

===== Results =====
Success: 19,923
Failed: 77

Static File Gateway

Concurrency: 20,000
Duration per client: 5s
Batch size: 1000

===== Results =====
Success: 20,000
Failed: 0

Notes:

The origin server handles RTMP/HTTP-FLV dual-protocol publishing, multi-protocol repackaging, and other business logic, yet a single process still stably achieves 17,330 successful connections. Minor failures are due to instantaneous port collisions during testing.

FLV Gateway, focused purely on stream relay, achieves a 99.6% success rate (19,923/20,000), approaching the single-machine TCP port pool limit.

Static File Gateway is extremely lightweight, achieving 20,000 concurrent connections with zero failures.

All components adapt to the operating system: epoll is automatically enabled on Linux, breaking through the traditional select 1024 limit.

❓ FAQ

1. How can a single process support 20,000+ concurrent connections?

Linux: When the server detects the event extension is installed, it automatically enables the epoll event-driven model, no longer constrained by the traditional select 1024 file descriptor limit. A single process easily handles 20,000+ connections.
Windows: Since the event extension is unavailable, it automatically falls back to select model, with limited connections per process (~256). Deploying multiple instances is recommended.
Performance Test: In a Docker container (ulimit -n 65535), the Static File Gateway achieved 20,000 concurrent with zero failures, FLV Gateway achieved 99.6% success rate.

2. How can gateways support even higher concurrency?

Scaling Method	Description	Example
Single Process High Performance	Linux epoll mode, single process handles 20k+	One fileGateway process handles 20,000 static requests
Horizontal Scaling	Multiple instances at the same tier, load balanced	3 fileGateway instances → 60,000+ concurrent
Vertical Scaling	Multi-tier cascade	Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Tier 3...
Combined Scaling	Horizontal + Vertical combined	3 instances per tier × 3 tiers = theoretically 180,000+ concurrent

3. When do I need to deploy gateways?

Concurrency Scenario	Deployment Plan
Low (< 500)	Origin server only, built-in HTTP service directly exposed
Medium (500 – 5,000)	Origin + single-tier gateway (1-2 instances)
High (> 5,000)	Origin + multi-tier gateway cluster (each tier horizontally scalable)

4. What's the difference between FLV Gateway and Static File Gateway?

Gateway Type	Purpose	Resource Types Handled	Scaling Method
FLV Live Gateway	Live stream distribution	HTTP-FLV real-time streams	Horizontal + Vertical, cascade supported
Static File Gateway	Static resource hosting	HLS/fMP4/MP4/FLV static files + Web pages	Horizontal + Vertical, can integrate with Nginx

5. How to verify gateway concurrency capacity?

# Use built-in stress test script (20,000 concurrent)
sh play.sh

# Or use ab (Apache Bench) to test Static File Gateway
ab -n 10000 -c 500 http://127.0.0.1:8100/index.html

# Use wrk to test FLV Gateway
wrk -t4 -c1000 -d30s http://127.0.0.1:8080/live/stream.flv

Toolkit

The protocol conversion functionality of this project has been extracted into a standalone toolkit xiaosongshu/flv2mp4, available at https://github.com/2723659854/flv2mp4. It supports FLV, MP4, HLS transcoding, FLV and File gateways, as well as an FLV static file push client.

📄 License

This project is limited to learning and technical research use. Commercial deployment risks are borne by the user.

⚠️ Disclaimer

Some open-source code originates from the open-source community. If copyright is involved, please contact the author for removal.
This project is fully open-source and free, intended only for technical exchange.
The author assumes no joint liability for any legal consequences arising from commercial or illegal use by users.

📧 Contact

📬 Email: 2723659854@qq.com
🐙 GitHub: 2723659854

RTMP Server

🏗️ System Architecture

Architecture Overview

✨ Features

📋 Requirements

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install

2. Configure Recording Toggles (server.php)

3. Start Origin Server

4. Access Playback (use origin directly for low-concurrency scenarios)

5. Medium/High Concurrency: Deploy Static File Gateway Cluster (Recommended)

6. Medium/High Concurrency: Deploy FLV Live Gateway Cluster

7. Stop Service

🔧 Port Configuration (Modify in server.php)

🚀 FLV Streaming Gateway (High-Concurrency Live Distribution)

Gateway Introduction

Gateway Core Capabilities

FLV Gateway Startup Commands

Gateway Playback URL Format

Debug Logging

📁 Static File Gateway fileGateway.php (High-Concurrency VOD Resource Hosting)

Gateway Introduction

Core Capabilities

Startup Commands (Multi-process/Multi-instance Distribution)

Nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration Example

Access URL Format

📡 Publishing Guide

1. RTMP Publishing

URL Format

Publishing Examples

2. HTTP-FLV Publishing

URL Format

Publishing Examples (FFmpeg)

📺 Playback URL Summary & Tools

Live Streaming URLs

VOD Playback URLs (After Recording Completes)

Web Player Pages

Command-Line Playback Tools (ffplay)

💾 Live Recording Details

Recording Mechanism (Three Independent Parallel Tasks)

Task Independence

📁 Project Directory Structure

📈 Concurrency Performance Benchmarks

Origin Server (RTMP Origin)

FLV Live Gateway

Static File Gateway

❓ FAQ

1. How can a single process support 20,000+ concurrent connections?

2. How can gateways support even higher concurrency?

3. When do I need to deploy gateways?

4. What's the difference between FLV Gateway and Static File Gateway?

5. How to verify gateway concurrency capacity?

Toolkit

📄 License

⚠️ Disclaimer

📧 Contact

2. Configure Recording Toggles (`server.php`)

🔧 Port Configuration (Modify in `server.php`)

📁 Static File Gateway `fileGateway.php` (High-Concurrency VOD Resource Hosting)