Live streaming technology lets you broadcast, watch, create, and share videos in real-time. All you need to be able to live stream is an internet-enabled device, like a smartphone or tablet, and a platform (such as a website or app) to live stream.
Live Streaming App scenarios
Given this trend’s tremendous opportunities in many fields, live streaming apps are rapidly developing. Depending on the domain, the basic requirements for building a live-streaming app differ as follows:
- Game live streaming app – The picture must be clear and smooth to construct a game live streaming app.
- Entertainment live streaming app – Building an entertainment app requires various interactive functions such as gifts, barrage, and mini-games.
- The shopping live streaming app must provide functions like a shopping cart and live broadcast playback.
- Sports live streaming app – It is necessary to ensure a clear and smooth picture and provide a variety of resolutions for users to choose from.
- Educational live streaming app – Interactive whiteboard, file sharing, screen sharing, and other functions are essential to delivering the best teaching experience to students.
Must-Have Features Of a Live Streaming app
Despite the differences, there are some standard functions that all live streaming apps should have, such as:
- Client join/sign-in – A straightforward enrollment structure for the clients to make a record and sign in to the application with the certification.
- Search – A search box allowing users to search content by topic, popularity, trending, channel, location, or interests.
- Client profile – Show the client’s data and profile picture to companions and subscribers.
- Live streaming – The app’s core permits the client to record and communicate a live stream to individuals who subscribe to their channel or the public.
- Chats – Adding a chat function helps the host communicate with the audience in real time.
Building a live streaming app in different fields will require integrating some unique features. Relevant examples are:
- Screen Sharing – For a game live streaming app, you must share the game screen with the audience through the screen sharing function.
- Host PK – Required for the entertainment live streaming apps. Through the PK between anchors, one can enrich the content of the live-streaming app, enhancing the audience’s enthusiasm by sending gifts.
- Shopping Cart – The live shopping streaming app allows viewers to place orders and purchase products directly in the live streaming room.
- Share whiteboard or file – The education lives streaming app must share various teaching courseware, so providing functions such as shared whiteboard and transferred files to enrich the teaching form is necessary.
What is a Live Streaming SDK?
The Live Streaming App is complex, especially if each function is self-developed. It requires a vast technical team and consumes many human and financial resources.
Many companies encapsulate the standard functions of Live Streaming apps into SDK; thus, developing a Live Streaming app only needs to focus on business interaction development.
Among these functions:
- Express SDK – Audio and video transmission service SDK encapsulate audio and video capture, preprocessing, encoding, transmission, decoding, rendering, etc.
- ZIM SDK – Message communication SDK, which encapsulates the transmission, and broadcasting of text messages, picture messages, video messages, and other messages, ability to notify.
- SuperBoard SDK – Encapsulates interactive whiteboard, file management, rendering, and other capabilities.
- RoomKit SDK – Encapsulates a complete educational scene, including audio and video calls, barrage messages, shared whiteboards, shared files, equipment management, student management, and other teaching scene logic.
How to Build a Live Streaming App with ZEGOCLOUD SDK
Live streaming has become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more people turning to this medium for entertainment, communication, and education. Building a live-streaming app can be a lucrative business, but it can also be daunting. However, with the ZEGOCLOUD SDK, building a live-streaming app is much more accessible.
The ZEGOCLOUD Live Streaming SDK is a powerful tool that allows developers to build live-streaming apps quickly and easily. This SDK provides developers with a range of features that make it possible to create a high-quality streaming experience for users.
Here are five features of this ZEGOCLOUD SDK:
1. Low-latency streaming
The Live Streaming SDK uses advanced technology to ensure low-latency streaming, which means a minimal delay between the live event and the user’s experience. This is crucial for live streaming apps that require real-time interaction between the user and the streamer.
2. High-quality video and audio
The SDK supports high-quality video and audio streaming, making it possible to deliver a premium streaming experience to users.
3. Customizable UI
The ZEGOCLOUD SDK provides developers with a customizable user interface tailored to meet the app’s needs. This feature allows creation a unique and engaging streaming experience that will keep users coming back for more.
4. Multi-platform support
The Live Streaming SDK boasts multi-platform compatibility, supporting various operating systems, including iOS, Android, and the web. This feature proves invaluable to live streaming apps that seek to extend their audience reach and widen their user base, enhancing their potential for growth and success.
5. Analytics and reporting
The ZEGOCLOUD SDK provides developers with analytics and reporting tools that make it possible to track user behavior and engagement. This is crucial for live streaming apps that want to optimize their performance and user experience.
Understand the process
The following diagram shows the basic process of creating a live room and a participant (user B) playing a stream published by the host (user A).
Preparation
- A ZEGOCLOUD developer account – Sign up
- Get app credentials from the admin console
- Have NodeJS installed
Steps on How to Build a Live Streaming App with ZEGOCLOUD SDK
If you want to build an exceptional live-streaming app using the ZEGOCLOUD SDK, the following steps will guide you through the development process. By following these steps, you can create a high-quality and engaging live-streaming experience for your users.
So, let’s get started!
1. Create a project
- To establish a project folder for a basic live streaming app, create a new folder and follow the structure outlined below:
├── index.html
├── index.js- Next, open the
index.htmlfile and copy and paste the provided code into the file.
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Zego Express Video Call</title>
<style type="text/css">
* {
font-family: sans-serif;
}
h1,
h4 {
text-align: center;
}
#local-video, #remote-video {
width: 400px;
height: 300px;
border: 1px solid #dfdfdf;
}
#local-video {
position: relative;
margin: 0 auto;
display: block;
}
#remote-video {
display: flex;
margin: auto;
position: relative !important;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>
Zego RTC Video Call
</h1>
<h4>Local video</h4>
<div id="local-video"></div>
<h4>Remote video</h4>
<div id="remote-video"></div>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>2. Install and integrate the SDK
- To install the necessary dependencies, navigate to the directory where the
index.jsthe file is located using the “cd” command in the terminal. Once you’re in the correct directory, execute the command.”npm i zego-express-engine-webrtc” to install the dependencies. - To incorporate the SDK into your application, import it into the
index.jsfile. This can be done using the import statement, allowing you to access the SDK’s features and functions within your application code.
import {ZegoExpressEngine} from 'zego-express-engine-webrtc'3. Create a ZegoExpressEngine object
When creating a ZegoExpressEngine instance, provide the AppID as the “appID” parameter and the Server URL as the “server” parameter. One can procure these values by accessing the ZEGOCLOUD Admin Console.
const zg = new ZegoExpressEngine(appID, server);4. Check if your browser supports WebRTC
Ensure your browser supports WebRTC before publishing or playing a stream using the checkSystemRequirements method. Refer to the SDK’s browser compatibility documentation for supported browser versions.
const result = await zg.checkSystemRequirements();
console.log(result);5. Log in to a room
To access a room, use the loginRoom method and pass in a distinct room ID as the “roomID” parameter, along with the login token from the preceding step as the “token” parameter. Include the user ID and user name as “userID” and “username” parameters to authorize access to the live streaming room.
const result = await zg.loginRoom(roomID, token, {userID, userName}, {userUpdate: true});6. Publish streams
Use the createStream method to capture audio and video data from the camera and microphone to generate a local stream.
const localStream = await zg.createStream();
// Obtain the video tag of the local video.
const localVideo = document.getElementById('local-video');
localVideo.srcObject = localStream;To transmit the local audio and video stream to remote users, invoke the startPublishingStream method, passing the stream ID and media stream objects obtained in the preceding step as parameters. This method lets you publish your local stream, making it available to remote users.
zg.startPublishingStream(streamID, localStream)7. Play streams
Use the method to initiate playback of a remote audio and video stream from the ZEGO server. This method requires you to provide the corresponding stream ID as the streamID parameter. Once invoked, the process starts playing the remote stream in real-time, enabling you to view and hear the content.
const remoteStream = await zg.startPlayingStream(streamID);
// The remoteVideo object is the <video> or <audio> element on your webpage.
remoteVideo.srcObject = remoteStream;8. Stop publishing and playing streams.
To end the transmission of a local audio and video stream to remote users, invoke the stopPublishingStream method and pass the corresponding stream ID as the streamID parameter. This method terminates the publication of your local stream, making it no longer available to remote users.
zg.stopPublishingStream(streamID)To clean up after using a local media stream, you should call the destroyStream method to destroy it. Once the local media stream is routed, it’s no longer available for use, and you should manually remove the video element associated with the stream.
zg.destroyStream(localStream)To stop the playback of a remote audio and video stream, invoke the stopPlayingStream method and pass the corresponding stream ID as the stream parameter.
zg.stopPlayingStream(streamID)9. Log out of a room
To leave a room, invoke the logoutRoom method and provide the corresponding room ID as the roomID parameter.
zg.logoutRoom(roomID)Final Thoughts
Building a live streaming app with the ZEGOCLOUD SDK is a great way to reach a wider audience and increase your user base. This SDK supports multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, the web, flutter, and react native, allowing you to maximize your reach. Additionally, the SDK has features such as system requirements checking, room login and logout, publishing and playing audio and video streams, and destroying media streams. With these features, you can build a top-quality live-streaming app to enhance user experience and increase engagement.
Now is the perfect opportunity to create a ZEGOCLOUD account and take advantage of the 10,000 free minutes per month that come with it.
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