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Castr/Platform/Live streaming

Live streaming

Run business-critical live streams your operators can trust.

RTMP and SRT ingest, resilient delivery, branded playback, recording, and audience control, without assembling and monitoring a fragmented streaming stack.

8 years in business since 20185,000+ businesses trust Castr 4.8/5 on G2 99.9% uptime SLA

Trusted by broadcasters and live media teams

Business outcomes

The workflow should create value, not more operational risk.

01Protect the live moment

Contribute over RTMP or SRT, watch stream health while you're live, and reach 24/7 support on any plan. Add failover ingest on Ultra and Events when a dropped feed isn't survivable.

02Own the audience

Deliver through your website, applications, social channels, and private destinations.

03Keep the value

Every broadcast is recorded automatically, so nothing is lost when the stream ends. Publish the replay to your VOD library to keep it, or download the file.

Capabilities that matter

A professional live streaming platform, protocol by protocol.

Contribution, delivery, transcoding, and access control run in one platform instead of four. Availability varies by plan, so confirm the configuration for your workflow.

RTMP, SRT, and pull ingest

Connect RTMP and SRT encoders, pull from HLS, RTSP, and MPEG-TS sources, and choose from 40+ global ingest locations.

Resilient delivery

Playback is served over Akamai, Fastly, and CloudFront, with automatic failover between them on every plan. Adaptive bitrate renditions are available on Premium plans and higher.

Multistreaming

Send one contribution feed to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, and custom RTMP or SRT endpoints at the same time. Destination totals follow your plan and can be raised on request.

Branded player and access controls

Embed live video without forced platform branding, and password-protect any stream on every plan. On Premium plans and higher, restrict the embed to your own domains and allow or block playback by country.

Live-to-VOD

Record up to 72 hours per broadcast automatically, then publish the replay to your VOD library or download it within three days.

Operational analytics

Watch bitrate and health charts while you're live, get alerted if a stream drops (Premium and higher), and review viewer geography, devices, and watch time for 30 days.

Need the complete matrix? See capability availability and plan tiers in one place.

Compare plans and capabilities →

Protocols, codecs, delivery, and security

The technical matrix behind a business-critical broadcast.

Castr covers the whole path from encoder to viewer. What matters when a broadcast has to work is which protocol, codec, and control you actually get on the plan you're buying.

Ingest & protocols

  • Multiple ingest

    RTSP, RTMP, HLS, and MPEG-TS sources, contributed through any of 40+ ingest locations.

    Included on all plans.

  • SRT ingest

    Secure Reliable Transport contribution.

    Included on all plans.

  • WHIP publish

    WebRTC-based publishing for low-latency contribution.

    Ultra-low-latency delivery is an add-on on Premium and higher.

  • Pull ingest

    Point Castr at an existing HLS, RTMP, RTSP, or MPEG-TS source and it pulls the feed in, with no encoder push to configure.

    Included on all plans.

  • SRT/RTMP pull links

    Give a partner or downstream vendor a URL to pull your stream from, instead of pushing to them.

    Included on Standard and higher.

  • Failover ingest

    A second ingest URL that Castr switches to automatically if your primary feed drops, with one backup stream per account. Delivery failover is separate and covers every plan.

    Included on Ultra and Events plans.

Delivery & codecs

  • Multi-CDN delivery with automatic failover

    Delivery runs across Akamai, Fastly, and CloudFront simultaneously, and traffic shifts to a healthy network automatically if one degrades.

    Included on all plans, behind a 99.9% uptime SLA.

  • Adaptive bitrate

    Multiple renditions for resilient playback.

    Included on Premium and higher, on one stream per account.

  • H.265 to H.264 conversion

    Convert modern contribution formats for broad playback.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • HLS URL for live

    Direct HLS output for custom players and OTT.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • Player rewind

    Let viewers rewind during a live broadcast and catch back up to the live edge.

    Up to one hour on Premium, up to four hours on Ultra and higher.

  • Timeshifting

    Run one broadcast at the local time of each audience, so 9 a.m. means 9 a.m. in San Francisco, Dublin, and Dubai.

    Included on Premium and higher.

Security & access

  • Password protection

    Restrict playback to viewers who have the password.

    Included on all plans.

  • Domain allowlisting

    Limit embedding to approved websites.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • Geographic controls

    Blocking and allowlisting by location.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • DRM

    Multi-DRM (Widevine, FairPlay, PlayReady) so only authorized players can decrypt premium, protected titles.

    Available as an add-on on every plan.

Compare streaming capabilities by plan

Private, personal, and secure live streaming

Make a live stream private, for internal, personal, or paid audiences.

A private stream is one only your intended audience can watch. Castr works as a private streaming platform for online live video: you control who sees a broadcast with password protection, domain allowlisting, and geographic controls, rather than posting to a public social feed. Teams comparing the best private streaming platforms and private streaming services get password protection on every Castr plan.

Keep a stream private

  • Password-protected streams

    Require a password to watch, so a live private stream reaches only the people you share it with.

    Included on all plans.

  • Domain allowlisting

    Restrict the embedded player to approved websites so the stream cannot be replayed elsewhere.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • Geographic controls

    Allow or block playback by location for private or licensed audiences.

    Included on Premium and higher.

  • Go live from a phone or desktop

    Start a private live stream from phone encoder apps or desktop software that publishes RTMP or SRT. Viewers need no private live stream app: playback happens in the embedded player on your page.

Personal and paid private streaming

  • Your own player, not a public feed

    Publish to your own website or app instead of a public social platform. Viewers watch in the browser, with no consumer private streaming apps to install, so the private livestream stays personal to your audience.

  • Paywalled private streams

    Gate a private live stream behind a paywall when only paying viewers should have access.

    9% commission on paywall sales, on every plan.

  • DRM for premium titles

    Add multi-DRM protection for the most sensitive private content.

    Available as an add-on on every plan.

  • Beyond personal event services

    Personal live streaming services focus on one-off events like weddings and memorials, while Castr runs those and recurring business broadcasts with the same private setup.

  • Private replays and hosting

    Recordings keep the same access controls in video stream hosting, so Castr also serves as a private video streaming service for replays and uploads.

Secure live streaming starts with matching the control to the audience: a password for a small group, domain and geographic rules for embedded members-only pages, and DRM for premium titles.

Review security and access controls

Seen enough to test it? Start a 7-day trial with no credit card, or talk through your exact setup first.

Operator fit

Designed for recurring, accountable video work.

Operational complexity matters more than company size. The strongest fit is a team with a named owner, a repeatable schedule, and a real consequence if delivery fails.

Review your workflow with Castr

Strong qualification signals

  • OBS, vMix, Wirecast, TriCaster, Teradek, and LiveU workflows
  • RTMP and SRT contribution
  • Website, app, social, and custom destinations
  • Concurrent live streams plus a 24/7 scheduled playout channel

Switching to Castr

Move off your current platform without dropping a broadcast.

You do not have to cut over blind. Run Castr in parallel with your current provider while you test, and let our video team confirm the fit before anything switches.

01

Run in parallel

Point a test encoder at Castr while your current platform keeps serving viewers. Nothing changes for your audience until you are ready.

02

Map the workflow

Our video team reviews your ingest, player embeds, video library, security, and monetization setup, then confirms plan fit for your concurrency and destinations.

03

Cut over with support

Switch your embeds and destinations when you are confident, with 24/7 human support on hand during your first live events on Castr.

Plan your migration with a video expert

Questions before you choose

Evaluate the workflow with confidence.

Feature and plan availability changes by tier. Use the full matrix for comparison, or let our team validate a complex setup.

Which encoders work with Castr?

If your encoder can output RTMP or SRT, it will connect, including OBS, vMix, Wirecast, TriCaster, Teradek, and LiveU.

Can we stream to our own website and social platforms?

Yes. Castr powers an embedded player on your website while simultaneously streaming to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and custom RTMP destinations.

How to do a private live stream?

To do a private live stream, create the stream in Castr, set a password on it, embed the player on your own page, and go live from any RTMP or SRT encoder. Whether you are researching how to stream privately for a small group or how to private stream a paid event, the same setup applies, and you can gate a private stream behind a paywall or add multi-DRM, available as an add-on, for premium titles.

Is Castr a private streaming platform?

Yes. Castr works as a private streaming platform: instead of posting to a public social feed, you publish the stream to your own embedded player and gate it with a password, a domain allowlist, geographic rules, or DRM, so you decide exactly who can watch. Recordings keep the same private streaming controls, so the replay stays as private as the live event.

Can you do a private live stream on YouTube?

YouTube can act as a free private live streaming platform through unlisted and private streams, but private streams require every viewer to sign in with an approved Google account and unlisted links can be forwarded to anyone. Castr removes both limits: password protection is included on every plan, viewers watch in an embedded player on your own site without accounts, and domain and geographic controls are available on Premium and higher.

What happens when a broadcast ends?

Live streams can be recorded and converted to VOD so your team can host, replay, protect, or monetize the content.

Can Castr help us validate our current workflow?

Yes. Castr’s video team will walk through your current setup, from sources and destinations to audience scale, security, and monetization, and confirm the fit before you migrate.

Move from evaluation to a working broadcast

Map Castr to the workflow your team runs today.

Discuss protocols, concurrency, destinations, bandwidth, storage, security, monetization, migration, and support with a video expert.