What is RTMPS and Why is it Important to Secure Streaming?

The technology behind live streaming has evolved significantly in recent years. Adobe’s Flash, a popular video player for decades, is now obsolete. Broadcasters now use the ultra-compatible HTML5 video player to deliver content to viewers.

Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) is a protocol that has remained important in the live streaming process throughout its evolution. There is one variation of this video streaming protocol that is becoming more and more popular.

RTMPS is a secure variation of RTMP that adds an extra layer of protection through SSL/TLS encryption. RTMPS streaming is now widely adopted by broadcasters seeking to protect their content while maintaining low-latency delivery.

This post will cover everything you need to know about RTMPS and its role in live streaming. We will start by discussing the history and uses of RTMP properly before discussing the ins and outs of RTMPS.

Table of Contents

• RTMP: The History of the Real-Time Messaging Protocol
• How RTMP Streaming Works
• The RTMP Connection
• RTMP Security and Modern Concerns
• What is RTMPS?
• Is RTMPS Still Relevant with SRT, HLS, and WebRTC
• Other Tools for Secure Streaming: AI-Supported RTMPS Applications
• What’s New with RTMPS
• Other RTMP Variations
• Other Tools for Secure Streaming
• RTMP vs. RTSP: Understanding the Difference
• RTMP Ingest on Dacast
• FAQs
• Conclusion

RTMP: The History of the Real-Time Messaging Protocol

Live streaming has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years, and the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) has played a foundational role throughout this evolution.

RTMP Origins

RTMP was originally developed by Macromedia in 2002 to support the delivery of rich multimedia content over the Internet. When Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, the protocol was integrated into the Adobe ecosystem, where it became a key part of online video delivery.

RTMP’s primary function was to stream video and audio content from hosting servers to the Adobe Flash Player, a technology that dominated online media for over a decade. This use case became known as RTMP delivery or RTMP streaming.

Flash Dependency and Mobile Limitations

For years, RTMP streaming was the go-to solution for broadcasters, offering stable performance and reliable playback via Flash. However, the protocol had one major shortcoming: incompatibility with mobile devices.As smartphone adoption soared, this became a critical issue. According to 2025 data from Statista, mobile devices now account for over 60% of global internet traffic, up from 58.5% in 2023. This shift made Flash’s limitations more glaring, as mobile users were increasingly unable to access video content delivered via RTMP and Flash.

Apple addressed this problem by creating the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, which was optimized for mobile compatibility and worked seamlessly with the HTML5 video player. Over time, HLS replaced RTMP for final video delivery, especially as Flash was deprecated and officially discontinued by Adobe in 2020.

RTMP Ingest: How RTMP Survived

Despite the decline of Flash, RTMP didn’t disappear. Instead, it found a new role as a transport method for sending video content from encoders to video platforms, a process known as RTMP ingest.

Today, RTMP ingest remains a standard in live streaming workflows. It is favored by broadcasters because it supports low-latency streaming, integrates with most streaming software (like OBS Studio), and is cost-effective due to widely available RTMP-compatible encoders.

In fact, RTMP remains one of the most efficient protocols for ingesting video streams, especially in workflows that prioritize speed over perfect security or modern encryption.

RTMP Encoding

Choosing and configuring an RTMP encoder is an essential step in the live streaming process. While it can seem overwhelming at first, the good news is that modern tools have made this process more accessible and user-friendly than ever.

Why Encoder Choice Matters

An encoder converts raw video files into digital formats suitable for transmission. If you’re using a platform like Dacast that supports RTMP ingest, choosing a capable and compatible RTMP encoder is crucial for smooth, professional-quality live streams.

Top RTMP Encoders in 2025

Here are some of the best encoders widely used by streamers and broadcasters today:

• OBS Studio (Free, open-source, cross-platform)
• Wirecast (Professional-grade software)
• VidBlasterX (Modular and flexible)
• vMix (Feature-rich, live mixing software)
• Teradek (Hardware encoder, mobile-friendly)
• TriCaster (Enterprise-level hardware solution)

Why We Recommend OBS Studio? Because it’s open-source, frequently updated, and supports OBS RTMPS streaming. It continues to be a leading choice in 2025, especially for those seeking high-quality, cost-effective, and secure live streams. This is what makes it ideal for secure live streaming over SSL/TLS encrypted channels.

The additional advantages of OBS Studio include:

• Custom OBS version for Dacast users
• Broad compatibility with streaming platforms
• Plugins for AI filters, noise reduction, and mobile streaming enhancements
• Support for both RTMP and RTMPS protocols

For more information on streaming with OBS Studio on Dacast, please check out our dedicated guides for macOS and Windows users.

How RTMP Streaming Works

RTMP is a TCP-based protocol used for real-time audio, video, and data transmission. It works by creating a persistent connection between an RTMP-compatible client and server, allowing content to be delivered smoothly and quickly.

RTMP breaks video content into smaller fragments to make it easier to transmit the data. Audio is generally split into 64 bytes and video into 128 bytes. The actual size of the fragments may vary depending on encoder settings and content type. This approach allows video and audio to be transmitted continuously, maintaining low latency and high stream quality.

How the RTMP Connection Works

With RTMP, a communication pathway is established between the client and the server, called the connection set-up. An RTMP connection setup involves three core steps:

1. The Handshake

The handshake is a very straightforward process where the client and server begin by exchanging three packets:

• The client initiates the handshake and specifies the RTMP version
• The server responds, acknowledging the version and sending random bytes
• The client returns its own data, completing the exchange
  

Once this handshake completes, a connection is successfully established.

2. The Connection

Using Action Message Format (AMF) encoding, the client and server begin exchanging metadata. This includes information such as:

• Set Peer Bandwidth
• Window Acknowledgement Size

These settings help ensure the stream can be transmitted efficiently based on network conditions.

3. The Stream

The streaming begins once the connection is configured. RTMP-specific commands are used to transmit audio, video, and control data. All of this happens behind the scenes, managed by your streaming software and encoder.

RTMP Security and Modern Concerns

While RTMP offers speed and simplicity, it lacks native encryption, which is a growing concern in a landscape increasingly focused on live stream security protocols. This is where RTMP vs RTMPS becomes an important discussion. RTMPS offers a secure alternative that encrypts the stream via SSL/TLS, protecting against interception, spoofing, or packet sniffing

What is RTMPS?

RTMPS is a secure variation of RTMP that transmits audio, video, and data over TLS (Transport Layer Security) or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. This ensures that no unauthorized entity can intercept or manipulate the stream, which is a critical concern for modern broadcasting over public or unsecured networks.

RTMPS is especially valuable for:

• Mobile streamers using public Wi-Fi
• Enterprise broadcasters handling confidential content
• Social platforms managing large-scale public engagement
  

The RTMPS protocol is a direct evolution of RTMP, designed to maintain compatibility while enforcing security through encrypted transmission.

Broadcasters prefer RTMPS in many situations because of its added security. RTMPS streaming helps keep your videos secure. It’s something that takes priority when it comes to broadcasting content to many viewers.

Streaming Protocol Comparison: RTMP vs. RTMPS vs. HLS 

RTMP vs. RTMPS

To better understand the key differences between RTMP vs RTMPS, here is a brief overview

RTMPS is essentially RTMP with an added layer of encryption for secure streaming. The most noticeable difference for broadcasters is that the stream URL begins with ‘rtmps://’ instead of ‘rtmp://’, signaling that the stream is encrypted using SSL/TLS protocols.

Functionally, the RTMPS protocol operates much like standard RTMP. It supports the same workflows, including RTMP ingest for video input and HLS delivery for playback, making it a seamless upgrade in terms of infrastructure—if your tools support it.

However, RTMPS compatibility still varies across encoding tools, mobile streaming apps, and some online video platforms. While adoption has grown significantly, particularly in mobile and enterprise use cases, gaps remain. 

If you prefer to use RTMPS over RTMP, it is essential that all of your tools are compatible and that your settings are properly configured.

RTMPS Compatibility

Despite its security advantages, RTMPS streaming solutions have not been universally adopted. However, RTMPS support has grown substantially:

RTMPS for Mobile Streaming

Mobile streamers often broadcast over public Wi-Fi or cellular networks, which are notoriously insecure. These environments are ripe for man-in-the-middle attacks, IP sniffing, or packet tampering.

RTMPS streaming addresses this by encrypting both metadata and media streams, significantly reducing the risk of interception.

Facebook Live was one of the first major platforms to mandate RTMPS for all live streams back in 2018. It was a strategic move to protect users broadcasting over public networks. Other platforms have been slower to follow:

Industry experts predict that all major streaming platforms will support or require RTMPS by 2026. This is especially true as secure streaming in 2025 becomes a regulatory expectation in sectors like finance, education, and healthcare.

Challenges When Using RTMPS

While RTMPS brings vital security enhancements, it’s not entirely frictionless. Some of the integration issues include the following:

• OBS Studio: Smooth integration, but users must manually enter rtmps:// URL
• vMix: May require custom configuration; not all presets support RTMPS by default
• Cloud encoders: Some restrict RTMPS for non-premium accounts

In terms of the compatibility gaps, we have to stress that some older encoders and budget mobile apps do not support RTMPS. There is also inconsistent error handling if endpoints reject RTMP but don’t fall back to RTMPS.

If you are looking for a mobile live streaming app to broadcast from your iPhone, we highly recommend choosing one that supports RTMPS. However, before switching to RTMPS, ensure all your workflow components (encoder, CDN, streaming platform) support it. Otherwise, you may face stream failures or dropped connections.

Is RTMPS Still Relevant with SRT, HLS, and WebRTC

This question is fair with modern streaming protocols like SRT, HLS, and WebRTC gaining traction. The answer depends on your use case.

RTMPS vs. SRT

SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) has become a go-to protocol for high-performance streaming over public networks. This is due to its advanced features like packet loss recovery, jitter correction, and adaptive bitrate streaming.

However, SRT requires more setup complexity and higher CPU usage than RTMPS. For broadcasters needing simple, secure live streaming with minimal configuration, RTMPS remains easier to deploy, especially when using standard encoders and streaming platforms.

Key trade-off:

• RTMPS offers basic encryption (SSL/TLS) for secure streams but lacks the error correction built into SRT
• Choose RTMPS for simpler, secure streams on stable networks
• Choose SRT for broadcasting over unreliable or high-latency networks where packet loss is a concern

RTMPS vs. WebRTC

WebRTC is designed for ultra-low-latency, peer-to-peer communication, making it ideal for use cases like real-time video conferencing, live interviews, and interactive streaming applications. Its primary strength lies in delivering near-instantaneous video and audio, which is critical for two-way communication. 

However, WebRTC comes with some notable trade-offs. It faces scalability challenges when broadcasting to large audiences and requires a more complex server-side infrastructure. At the same time, it’s generally less compatible with traditional encoders and content delivery networks (CDNs). 

On the other hand, RTMPS integrates seamlessly with established RTMP-based streaming workflows, including RTMP ingest combined with HLS delivery for playback. This makes RTMPS a better fit for live events, one-to-many broadcasts, and mobile streaming over public Wi-Fi or LTE. It’s where secure and scalable delivery is more important than ultra-low latency.

When to Choose RTMPS 

RTMPS may not be the most advanced protocol in 2025. However, it remains a practical and widely supported option for secure, scalable live streaming, especially in hybrid RTMP + HLS workflows. It still holds strong in many real-world scenarios:

• You’re streaming over a public network (e.g., at a live event or using mobile data)
• Your encoder supports RTMP but not SRT or WebRTC
• You want secure live streaming without a complex setup
• You’re using platforms like OBS Studio, vMix, or Dacast that offer RTMPS compatibility
• You prioritize compatibility with cloud CDNs and live stream recording tools

Other Tools for Secure Streaming: AI-Supported RTMPS Applications

Emerging AI in video streaming technology is playing a critical role in boosting both security and performance. Here are some of the most impactful AI-powered tools and techniques now being integrated with RTMPS workflows.

AI-Based Packet Inspection

Advanced deep learning models can now analyze RTMPS stream packets in real time to detect anomalies such as unusual data patterns, jitter, or packet tampering. This allows platforms to flag and halt potential threats before they disrupt the broadcast.

Predictive Analytics for IP Spoofing Detection

AI-driven behavioral analysis is being used to detect spoofed IP addresses or unauthorized access attempts. This protects RTMPS servers from man-in-the-middle attacks and ensures a more secure live streaming experience.

AI-Assisted Adaptive Bitrate and Encryption Over Mobile

New AI-assisted adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithms are optimizing RTMPS streaming solutions by dynamically adjusting quality while maintaining encryption integrity. This is especially useful for secure mobile live stream protocol needs over unstable public LTE or Wi-Fi networks.

What’s New with RTMPS

There are advancements that reinforce RTMPS as not just a legacy upgrade, but a live stream security protocol fit for the AI-driven, mobile-first, and globally distributed future of content delivery. Here are the most important innovations shaping the RTMPS protocol

AI-Powered Threat Detection

Real-time AI-powered firewalls and smart analytics systems are now embedded into many RTMPS servers and CDNs. These systems help automatically identify malicious actors, unusual login attempts, or packet injection efforts.

RTMPS and Edge Computing for Secure Last-Mile Delivery

RTMPS is being tightly integrated with edge computing platforms to reduce latency and secure the last-mile delivery of streams. This approach ensures better performance and protection near the viewer’s device, especially when streaming over public networks.

Multi-CDN and AI-Powered Routing

In high-scale broadcasting, RTMPS is being combined with multi-CDN delivery and AI-routing logic to detect congestion, reroute traffic, and reduce packet loss. This results in better uptime and quality of service.

Adoption by Major Platforms

While Facebook Live led the way with early RTMPS adoption, new security concerns have prompted trials and protocol updates from other major platforms. As of 2025, TikTok and Twitch have both tested RTMPS support in select regions, especially for enterprise and verified users. This trend reflects growing confidence in RTMPS streaming as a secure alternative to legacy protocols.

Other RTMP Variations

While RTMPS streaming has become increasingly popular for secure transmissions, it’s just one of several RTMP protocol variants. Each serves a unique role in live streaming workflows, depending on security needs, network conditions, and use cases.

Let’s take a quick look at the other variations and their uses.

RTMP Proper

Also referred to as standard RTMP or “RTMP proper,” this is the original version of the protocol developed by Macromedia in the early 2000s. It operates over TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and was initially used to deliver live and on-demand video to Adobe Flash Player.

Despite its reliability and low latency, RTMP proper lacks modern security standards, making it vulnerable to eavesdropping or hijacking on unsecured networks. This vulnerability ultimately led to the development of RTMPS and other secure alternatives.

RTMPE: Encrypted but Legacy

RTMPE (Real-Time Messaging Protocol Encrypted) introduced basic encryption based on Adobe’s proprietary standards. It is simpler to implement than RTMPS but lacks the more robust TLS/SSL protection RTMPS offers. As a result, RTMPE has largely fallen out of favor and is considered outdated for secure streaming in 2025.

RTMPT: Firewall Bypass

RTMPT wraps RTMP data within HTTP requests to sneak past firewalls that might block standard RTMP ports. While effective in legacy environments, it introduces additional overhead and latency, and is rarely used in modern deployments where RTMPS or HLS is more viable.

RTMFP: Peer-to-Peer Power

RTMFP (Real-Time Media Flow Protocol) was designed for P2P video streaming and real-time communication. It offers significant bandwidth efficiency for apps like Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Snapchat by enabling direct connections between users. However, it’s generally not used for large-scale, one-to-many streaming scenarios.

Other Tools for Secure Streaming

While RTMPS protocol is a solid foundation for encrypted video streaming, modern broadcasters are layering additional security technologies to protect both live and on-demand content. These tools help safeguard content libraries, viewer data, and broadcasting environments:

• Password protection
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) for OVP logins
• AES encryption for data at rest
• Tokenized security to control session access
• Geo/IP restrictions to limit regional access
• Domain whitelisting to prevent content scraping

Combining these tools with RTMPS forms a multi-layered defense strategy essential for secure streaming, especially across public and mobile networks.

RTMP vs. RTSP: Understanding the Difference

While their acronyms look similar, RTMP and RTSP serve entirely different purposes:

• RTMP (including RTMPS) is a media transport protocol that carries video/audio data between the encoder and streaming server.
• RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) is a control protocol used to transmit commands like “Play,” “Pause,” and “Stop” between the media player and streaming server.

RTSP is often found in IP cameras and surveillance setups, whereas RTMP is standard in real-time broadcasting workflows. There is no direct link between RTSP and RTMPS, and they are not interchangeable.

RTMP Ingest on Dacast

Dacast employs RTMP ingest to receive video content from your encoder, which is then converted and delivered to viewers via HLS through an HTML5 video player. This hybrid approach combines the reliability of RTMP with the flexibility and scalability of HLS delivery.

This architecture supports critical broadcast requirements, including:

• Multi-bitrate streaming for adaptive quality
• Low-latency transport from encoder to platform
• Broad encoder compatibility (OBS, Wirecast, vMix, etc.)
• High video quality, even under fluctuating network conditions

Why Use RTMPS with Dacast?

Dacast stands out among video platforms for its strong support of RTMPS streaming, which provides an encrypted alternative to standard RTMP. By leveraging SSL/TLS encryption, RTMPS protects the transmission of video content between your encoder and Dacast’s ingest servers.

Here’s why Dacast is a smart choice for broadcasters prioritizing secure streaming:

• Mobile-First Security: Dacast’s infrastructure is optimized for mobile-first workflows. Since mobile streaming often occurs on public Wi-Fi or cellular networks, the RTMPS protocol helps mitigate risks from packet sniffing, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other vulnerabilities.
• OBS Custom Build for RTMPS: Dacast offers a customized OBS Studio build that supports RTMPS ingest, pre-configured for quick setup. This eliminates the need for advanced technical configuration and ensures a secure, seamless streaming experience—even for beginners.
• Tokenized Access and Advanced Controls: In addition to RTMPS protocol security benefits, Dacast allows for tokenized security, geographic/IP restrictions, and AES-level content encryption. This layered protection ensures both transport-level and access-level security for your streams.

The bottom line is that Dacast is a future-ready solution for RTMPS streaming in both enterprise and independent broadcast scenarios. It’s the number one choice if you’re looking for a platform that enables encrypted video delivery from mobile or desktop, supports OBS RTMPS, and prioritizes data integrity during streaming over public networks.

FAQs

1. What is RTMPS Live streaming?

RTMPS live streaming is a variation of RTMP that adds SSL/TLS encryption to secure the video stream, making it suitable for broadcasting over public networks. It helps protect live streams from unauthorized access and ensures data privacy. RTMPS is commonly used by broadcasters to add a layer of security to their live video content.

2. What is the difference between RTMP and RTMPS?

The main difference between RTMP and RTMPS is that RTMPS includes an added layer of security using SSL/TLS encryption, which helps protect video streams from unauthorized interception. RTMPS is essentially the secure version of RTMP, offering enhanced security for live streaming over public networks.

3. How do I get an RTMPS stream?

To get an RTMPS stream, you need a streaming service provider and an encoder that both support RTMPS. Set up your encoder with an RTMPS URL and stream key provided by the streaming platform, such as Dacast, and configure your settings for secure streaming. Once connected, your stream will be encrypted and ready for secure broadcasting.

4. How is RTMPS better for streaming?

RTMPS is better for streaming because it adds SSL/TLS encryption, which ensures that the video stream is secure and protected from unauthorized access. This extra layer of security is crucial when streaming over public networks, providing greater privacy for both broadcasters and viewers. It helps prevent unauthorized interception and enhances the overall security of the live streaming process.

5. How does RTMPS streaming work?

RTMPS streaming works by adding SSL/TLS encryption to the RTMP protocol to create a secure connection between the encoder and the server. This encryption ensures that video, audio, and data are transmitted securely, protecting the stream from unauthorized interception. The process involves establishing a secure connection and then transmitting the live stream data using RTMPS URLs.

6. What is the difference between RTMP and RTMPS?

RTMPS is a more secure version of the RTMP protocol, which uses added encryption to ensure that your stream remains secure in transmission. The difference between RTMP and RTMPS is that RTMPS adds SSL/TLS encryption to the standard RTMP protocol, providing an extra layer of security for live streaming. This makes RTMPS more suitable for secure streaming over public networks. While RTMP uses “rtmp://,” RTMPS uses “rtmps://” to indicate a secure connection.

7. Is RTMPS still used in 2025?

Yes, RTMPS remains widely used for secure live streaming, especially on mobile networks and platforms that prioritize encryption.

8. What platforms support RTMPS streaming today?

Platforms like Dacast, Facebook Live, and Twitch (beta/test environments) support RTMPS, along with many encoders including OBS, vMix, and Wirecast.

9. Does RTMPS affect live stream latency?

Minimal. RTMPS adds slight overhead due to encryption, but latency remains low—typically under 5 seconds depending on network conditions.

10. How does RTMPS compare to SRT in terms of security?

Both offer encryption, but SRT includes error correction and is better for unstable networks. RTMPS is simpler to set up and ideal for mobile or browser-based workflows.

Conclusion

RTMPS is a valuable protocol for broadcasters looking to protect their streams from external threats. Functionally, it operates almost identically to RTMP proper but includes an added layer of SSL/TLS encryption for enhanced security. While RTMPS still faces some compatibility limitations across certain encoders and platforms, its strong security benefits make it increasingly relevant, especially as secure live streaming becomes a higher priority across industries.

This protocol is particularly beneficial for RTMPS streaming from mobile devices over public networks. Here, additional protection is essential to prevent interception or unauthorized access.

When using a streaming platform like Dacast, RTMPS integrates seamlessly with our standard RTMP ingest setup. This ensures you can stream securely without sacrificing quality or performance.

If you have questions about RTMPS, encoder configuration, or anything related to live streaming security, don’t hesitate to reach out to our technical support team. A knowledgeable team member will assist you and direct you to the most relevant resources.

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