How to Install the OBS-RTSP Plugin on Linux: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

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If you’re looking to set up the OBS-RTSP plugin on your Linux system, this guide will walk you through the process. I’m using Ubuntu Studio 24.04 with OBS 32 and the obs-rtspserver v3.1.0 plugin. Unfortunately, the DEB package for the RTSP Server OBS plugin didn’t install correctly through the graphical interface or the “Discover” package manager. Therefore, I had to manually install it, and below are the detailed steps.

Step 1: Download and Extract the RTSP Plugin Package

1. Download the Plugin
   First, download the .deb package for the obs-rtspserver plugin.
2. Extract the Contents
   You can extract .deb package files like standard archive types (.zip, .tar.gz, etc.). This allows you to access the files needed for installation.

Step 2: Identify Plugin Paths

To determine where to copy the files, I installed another OBS plugin called obs-multi-rtmp. Upon opening OBS, I noticed that the multi-output plugin appeared active and was listed in the OBS plugin manager.

Note: I also received an error from “Discover” while installing the OBS-Multi-Rtmp plugin, so its performance is still untested.

Verify File Structure

To analyze the files included in the multi-rtmp package, I extracted it to see what files it contains and the folder structure.

• Search for “OBS” in your system and sort the results by file/folder paths. This will help you find the OBS directories with respect to the extracted files.

Step 3: Copying the Plugin Files into OBS

Using the terminal is essential for moving the source files and creating directories since the GUI file browser “Dolphin” has limited capabilities (drag and drop is disabled for the /usr/ directory).

Important Locations

You will need to copy files to the following locations:

• For the obs-rtspserver.so file:

Code

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/obs-plugins/

For the localized .ini files (UI translations):

Code

• /usr/share/obs/obs-plugins/obs-rtspserver/locale/

Create Required Directories

Open the terminal and create the necessary destination directories with the following commands:

bash

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/obs/obs-plugins/obs-rtspserver/locale/

Step 4: Move Files to Their Destinations

1. Navigate to the locale directory:

bash

cd /usr/share/obs/obs-plugins/obs-rtspserver/locale/

2. Move the extracted .ini files into the created directory:

bash

sudo mv /path/to/extracted/files/* /usr/share/obs/obs-plugins/obs-rtspserver/locale/

3. Navigate to the directory where the obs-rtspserver.so file is located, and move it to the appropriate directory:

bash

cd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/obs-plugins/
sudo mv /path/to/obs-rtspserver.so *

Step 5: Testing the RTSP Stream

Now that the setup is complete, you’ll want to test the streaming capabilities between two PCs in your LAN.

1. Start the RTSP Server: On the streaming PC, start the RTSP server within OBS.
2. Configure the Viewer PC: On the viewer PC, add a “Media Source” in OBS that will play the video from the server.

Adjust Settings

When you start streaming for the first time, make a few adjustments:

• Enable the “Audio Tracks [1]” checkbox to include sound.
• Enable the “Multicast” checkbox.
• Modify the URL from rtsp://localhost:554/live to an available port.

Press the Start button to commence the stream.

Retrieve Server IP

Before switching to the viewer PC, get the local area network IP address from your streaming PC’s network adapter properties.

Conclusion

This setup provides a reliable method for testing encoder options, server load, and performance in a live environment. Happy streaming!

With the server IP, port number, and proper URL format, set up the OBS Media Source on the second PC. Make sure to uncheck the “Local File” option in the Media Source settings to ensure a proper connection to the streaming server.