OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is an open source app for Windows, macOS and Linux that enables you to configure video and audio to be broadcast live on the internet using the RTMPS streaming protocol.
OBS is a powerful app that provides huge flexibility and customization, giving you the ability to define exactly what you want to broadcast.
You can define many different sources, audio inputs, scenes and transitions - with a full suite of filters and plug-ins providing the ability to define professional-grade streams.
Setting up OBS scenes and other features is beyond the scope of this document, for more information on how to use OBS, please visit the OBS help portal.
Device(s): Desktop only to broadcast the livestream
Roles / Permissions: Livestreamer
Configuring OBS for broadcasting to Workvivo
- To go live on Workvivo from OBS, you will need to configure your broadcast.
- First, press the “Settings” button in OBS and click the “Output” option on the left navigation bar.
- With the “Output Mode” set to “Simple”, make sure that the “Video Bitrate” option in the “Streaming” section is set to 8500 Kbps (or lower). If you set this to a higher value, the livestream will not work and you will get an error when you try to broadcast.
- If you are using the Advanced output mode, it is recommended to use a “Keyframe Interval” value of 2 (you can use 1 also, but you may be more likely to encounter issues). If you set this to a different value, you will likely have higher end-to-end latency on your stream (i.e. over 5 seconds).
- You should also set the “CPU Usage Preset” to “veryfast” and from “Tune” select “zerolatency”.
You can customize the resolution and frame-rate of your broadcast under the “Video” option on the left-hand side. The Base (Canvas) Resolution defines the size of the area OBS will provide for each scene. The Output (Scaled) Resolution defines the actual resolution that will be broadcast.
If you are using a high speed network, we recommend using 1920x1080 for both of these options. If you are planning on screen-sharing or using motion video, we recommend increasing the FPS value to 60. This will ensure that viewers with high bandwidth can view the highest quality stream on Workvivo.
Workvivo uses 'adaptive bitrate streaming' to automatically switch between different resolutions for viewers depending on their network conditions at any given moment in time.
Going live on Workvivo from OBS
In OBS settings, click on the “Stream” option on the left-hand menu and configure the following settings:
- Select “Custom” from the “Service” drop-down
- Enter the “RTMPS URL” from Workvivo into the “Server” field
- Enter the “Stream Key” from Workvivo into the “Stream Key” field
- Note: Do not close this window in Workvivo until your broadcast has commenced, otherwise you will cancel the livestream
- Leave the “Use authentication” checkbox unchecked
To go live on Workvivo, click the “Start Streaming” button in OBS. When you’re live, the button will change to “Stop Streaming” and you’ll see a green box in the bottom-right of the OBS screen, also displaying the bitrate of the broadcast, as shown in the screenshot below.
Within a few seconds, the current OBS scene will be live on Workvivo and the host UI will update to show the stream.
OBS is a great app for managing your broadcasts. Pair it with something like an “Elgato Stream Deck” to make it even easier to swap between different OBS scenes to deliver highly professional streams to your Workvivo audience.
Ending the Stream
To end the stream, press the “Stop Streaming” button in OBS. The Workvivo livestream will end automatically.
Alternatively, you can end the stream using the “End Stream” button in Workvivo when viewing the livestream as a host. Note that while this will stop the broadcast, OBS will still show a “Stop Streaming” button until you press it or until OBS stops trying to reconnect. You’ll know that the stream is no longer as the bandwidth will be 0 kb/s, and you’ll see a message “Disconnected, reconnecting in X second(s)” in the status bar, as shown below.
Livestream Playback Experience
Please note: The following immersive playback experience only applies to RTMPS Livestreams. It does not apply to mobile playback, livestreams attached to events, or any Native livestreams.
When your Livestream ends, the playback recording will be posted to the activity feed and will be visible to everyone in your original Livestream audience. As shown below, you can clearly see a count of ‘Live Reactions’ and ‘Live Chat Messages’ on the activity feed item. These counts refer to engagement during the actual livestream itself, as opposed to reactions and comments on the activity feed item that come in after the livestream has ended. You can also easily access Livestream analytics via the ‘Analytics’ button (more on analytics below).
Click on the preview thumbnail to open the full livestream player experience shown below. This URL is the same as the URL from when the stream was live, so if a user clicks on a notification after the livestream has ended they will be brought straight into the playback experience. You can also see the livestream title, description, and quick action ‘copy URL’ button within the playback experience. Reactions appear in sync with the live event itself, at the exact same time they would have appeared in the live event itself. This gives a more real-time feel when watching the livestream recording.
The messaging on the right hand side is split into ‘Livestream Chat’ and ‘Comments’. ‘Livestream Chat’ contains all the messages that were posted during the live event. ‘Comments’ contains all the comments that were posted on the Livestream after it ended, either via the activity feed update or within this new messaging panel.
Similar to reactions, the Livestream Chat messages appear in sync with the live event itself. This gives the user more context into what livestream chat messages were referring to within the stream itself. Users also have the option to view a flat list of all livestream chat messages by disabling the ‘replay chat in sync with livestream’ toggle. We also now automatically hyperlink any URLs that have been posed in the livestream chat.
The ‘Comments’ section within the playback experience now supports images, GIFs, Replies/Threading, Likes, @ Mentions, Delete (for comment author), and Reporting.
Livestream Analytics
Analytics are available on third-party livestream recordings. Simply click the ‘View Livestream Analytics’ button below the Livestream recording on the activity feed to access the analytics modal.
The following metrics are provided in Livestream Analytics;
- Livestream Duration: The total length of time the livestream was broadcasted.
- Unique Viewers: The count of individual viewers who watched the livestream at least once.
- Peak Viewers: The highest number of concurrent viewers reached during the livestream.
- Peak Time: The specific moment during the livestream when it had the highest number of concurrent viewers.
- Total View Time: The cumulative amount of time viewers spent watching the livestream.
- Avg. View Time: The average duration that each viewer spent watching the livestream.
- Reactions: The total number of reactions sent by viewers during the livestream.
- Chat Messages: The total number of chat message sent by viewers during the livestream.
- Unique Chatters: The count of individual viewers who sent a chat message at least once during the livestream.
- Avg. Framerate: The average frames per second (fps) of the video stream.
- Avg. Video Bitrate: The average data rate at which video content was transmitted in megabits per second (Mbps).
- Avg. Audio Bitrate: The average data rate at which audio content was transmitted in kilobits per second (Kbps).
- Concurrent Views: The total number of viewers watching the livestream simultaneously at any given moment.
- Live Delivered Time: The total duration of the livestream that was successfully delivered to viewers in real-time.
- Live Delivered Time by Country: The distribution of live delivered time among different countries.
- Ingest Framerate: The average frames per second (fps) of the video input source before encoding and transmission.
- Ingest Audio Bitrate: The average data rate (kbps) at which the audio input source was transmitted before encoding.
- Ingest Video Bitrate: The average data rate (Mbps) at which the video input source was transmitted before encoding.
- Keyframe Interval: The interval at which keyframes (complete video frames) are sent in the video stream, which affects video quality and compression efficiency.
- Live Input Time: The total duration of the livestream from its inception to its completion, including any pre-stream setup or delays.
- Recorded Time: The duration for which the livestream was recorded for on-demand viewing after the live broadcast ended.
Learn about best practices for Setting up and Hosting a Livestream