Simulcast (restream) videos
Simulcasting lets you forward your live stream to third-party platforms such as YouTube Live and Facebook Live. To begin simulcasting, select an input and add one or more Outputs.
Add an Output using the API
Add an Output to start retransmitting live video. You can add or remove Outputs at any time during a broadcast to start and stop retransmitting.
Requestcurl -X POST \
--data '{"url": "rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2","streamKey": "<redacted>"}' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<ACCOUNT_ID>/stream/live_inputs/<INPUT_UID>/outputsResponse{ "result": { "uid": "6f8339ed45fe87daa8e7f0fe4e4ef776", "url": "rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2", "streamKey": "<redacted>" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": []
}
Control when you start and stop simulcasting
You can enable and disable individual live outputs via the API or Stream dashboard, allowing you to:
- Start a live stream, but wait to start simulcasting to YouTube and Twitch until right before the content begins.
- Stop simulcasting before the live stream ends, to encourage viewers to transition from a third-party service like YouTube or Twitch to a direct live stream.
- Give your own users manual control over when they go live to specific simulcasting destinations.
When a live output is disabled, video is not simulcast to the live output, even when actively streaming to the corresponding live input.
By default, all live outputs are enabled.
Enable outputs from the dashboard:
- From Live Inputs in the Cloudflare dashboard, select an input from the list.
- Under Outputs > Enabled, set the toggle to enabled or disabled.
Manage outputs
| Command | Method | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|
| List outputs | GET | accounts/:account_identifier/stream/live_inputs |
| Delete outputs | DELETE | accounts/:account_identifier/stream/live_inputs/:live_input_identifier |
If the associated live input is already retransmitting to this output when you make the DELETE request, that output will be disconnected within 30 seconds.