streamFree

The free live-streaming studio that runs on your computer.

Invite guests from a link, add your branding, stream to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and any RTMP server at once, and record to MP4. A desktop app under 5 MB, with no account, no subscription and no watermark.

Website · Download · English · Italiano

Download

System	Download	Notes
macOS 11+, Apple silicon	streamFree-macOS-AppleSilicon.dmg	Open it and drag streamFree into Applications
macOS 11+, Intel	streamFree-macOS-Intel.dmg
Windows 10/11, 64-bit	streamFree-Windows-Setup.exe	Per-user installer, no administrator rights; portable .zip
Linux x86-64 / ARM64	x86-64 · ARM64	Needs Chrome, Edge or Brave; see limits

Every file has a .sha256 checksum on the releases page.

Or install with one command. The script checks the SHA-256 checksum and adds the app to your system, with no sudo:

# macOS and Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iamvinbas/streamFree/main/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iamvinbas/streamFree/main/install.ps1 | iex

First launch. The app is not signed by Apple or Microsoft yet, so the system asks once:

• macOS: right-click the app and choose Open. If macOS still blocks it, use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. The install command avoids this.
• Windows: if SmartScreen warns you, choose More info → Run anyway.

What you get

• A real app. On macOS and Windows streamFree has its own window, Dock or taskbar icon, menu bar and permission prompts. The interface runs in the system's web engine (WebKit on macOS, WebView2 on Windows), like Slack or VS Code: no browser needed. On Linux the studio opens in a Chrome, Edge or Brave window.

• Guests from a link. Up to 16 guests join from any modern browser, with nothing to install:

  • they wait backstage until you bring them on stage;
  • they see the live program;
  • they hear everyone except themselves (mix-minus), so there is no echo;
  • they can chat with you privately.

• Multistreaming. Stream to as many RTMP/RTMPS destinations as your upload allows: YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, LinkedIn, Kick, X or your own server. Each destination reconnects on its own, and a slow one never holds the others back.

• Crash-safe recording. Local MP4 (H.264 + AAC) is written in fragments, so even after a crash the file plays up to the last second or two.

• Show tools:

  • 7 layouts: solo, grid, side by side, leader, picture in picture, presentation, cinema;
  • logo, full-screen overlays, colour or image backgrounds;
  • name tags in your colours;
  • lower-third banners prepared in advance, and a scrolling ticker;
  • screen sharing with its audio;
  • video clips for intros and outros.

• Inviting is built in. In the Invite window you choose who can join:

  • this computer;
  • your local network (HTTPS);
  • anyone on the internet, through a free Cloudflare link.

  Then share the link with a QR code, WhatsApp, Telegram, email or a copied invitation.

• Comments on screen. Read Twitch chat without logging in and put a comment on air with one click, or type questions in yourself.

• Make it yours:

  • app: theme (auto, dark, light), accent colour, Italian or English, text size, density, side panel on the left or right;
  • on air: five font styles, name-tag shape and position, banner looks (solid, gradient, outline, glass) and position, ticker colours, tile spacing and corners.

• Built-in help. Step-by-step guides for finding the stream key on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, LinkedIn, Kick and X. A Test button checks each destination's server before you go live.

• Quality. 720p or 1080p at 30 or 60 fps, encoded by your computer's hardware encoder.

• Private by design. The studio listens on 127.0.0.1 only. Stream keys never leave your computer, and there is no telemetry and no streamFree server.

The full feature map, including what is planned, is in docs/feature-spec.md.

Getting started

1. Open streamFree and allow the camera and microphone when the system asks.
2. Add destinations (optional): in Destinations, pick YouTube, Twitch, Facebook or a custom RTMP server and paste its stream key. The "Where do I find the key?" guide shows where to get it.
3. Invite guests with the Invite button. Choose who can join (see Guests), then send the link or let them scan the QR code.
4. Prepare your Brand, Banners and layout.
5. Press Record to record only, or Go live to stream to every selected destination, and record too if you want.
6. Close the window to quit. A running recording is finalized first.

Recordings are saved in ~/Movies/streamFree on macOS and ~/Videos/streamFree on Windows and Linux. The end-of-show dialog opens the folder.

Guests

Browsers only allow cameras on secure (HTTPS) pages, so the Invite window asks who can join. streamFree remembers your choice.

Choice	Who can join	What guests do
This computer	Only this computer, for testing	Open the link
Local network	Devices on your Wi‑Fi or office network	Open the https://… link and accept the certificate warning once
Internet	Anyone with the link	Open the https://….trycloudflare.com link

• Internet links use Cloudflare's free cloudflared tool:
  • install it once: brew install cloudflared on macOS, winget install --id Cloudflare.cloudflared on Windows;
  • the address changes every time streamFree restarts;
  • only the guest page and its signaling go through Cloudflare; audio and video travel directly between you and your guests.
• Guests who cannot connect (strict company or mobile networks): add a TURN server in Settings → Guests → ICE servers.
• Your own HTTPS proxy: start streamFree with --public-url https://studio.example.com.

Command line

The one-command installers also add the streamfree command (with the .dmg or .exe, run the binary inside the app folder):

streamfree [--app [--browser]] [--port 8787] [--lan] [--tunnel] [--public-url URL]
           [--data-dir DIR] [--recordings-dir DIR] [--no-open]

Option	Effect
(none)	Studio in a tab of your default browser (Chrome, Edge or Brave recommended); Ctrl+C quits
--app	streamFree's own window (what the app icon runs); closing it quits
--browser	With --app: a Chrome/Edge/Brave window instead of the system WebView
--lan, --tunnel, --public-url	Choose how guests reach you at start (the Invite window does the same)

Settings, destinations and uploaded images live in:

• ~/Library/Application Support/streamFree on macOS;
• %APPDATA%\streamFree on Windows;
• ~/.local/share/streamFree on Linux.

The app writes its log to streamfree.log in the same folder.

How it works

 guests' browsers ──WebRTC──▶  streamFree on your computer  ──RTMP(S)──▶ YouTube · Twitch · Facebook · any server
                               ├─ studio UI (system WebView)        └────▶ recording.mp4
                               │   camera, screen, guests → compositor worker → H.264 + AAC (WebCodecs)
                               └─ Rust core: RTMP publisher, MP4 recorder, signaling, settings

• Studio. Captures, composites and encodes in a background worker with the hardware encoder (WebCodecs).
• Rust core. Does what a web page cannot:
  • publishes to every destination over RTMP/RTMPS;
  • writes the MP4;
  • relays WebRTC signaling to guests;
  • keeps stream keys safe.
• Size. Everything ships as one binary of about 7 MB.

Details: docs/architecture.md. The protocols and papers behind it: docs/references.md.

Status

streamFree is young. What has been checked, and how:

Area	Verified by
Recording, two simultaneous RTMP destinations, audio/video sync	Automated browser tests (real Chrome, fake camera) on every push
Guests: three at once, each hearing everyone but themselves, backstage chat both ways, removing a guest, leaving and rejoining, the 16-guest limit, replacing the invite link	Automated browser tests
Guests over the local network (HTTPS) and over the internet (a real Cloudflare tunnel)	Automated browser tests, run locally (CI has no cloudflared)
QR code, share buttons, Italian interface, every string translated	Automated browser tests
RTMP output and MP4 files	FFmpeg as an independent oracle in the test suite
macOS app: native window, 30 fps with the window minimized, audio in sync	Built-in smoke test (streamfree --smoke-test 8)
macOS app hosting a guest (WebKit host, Chrome guest, program received at 15 fps)	npm run test:native
macOS app: camera, microphone and screen sharing	Manual test
YouTube, Twitch, Facebook (RTMPS) and Kick (RTMPS) ingest servers accept streamFree's connection, and a wrong key gets a clear error	Test button and cargo run --example ingest_probe, with a dummy key

Not verified yet:

• Going live with a real stream key. The protocol checks above pass, but no real broadcast has been made yet. Please report what works for you.
• Phones and other browsers as guests. No guest has yet joined from a phone on mobile data, or from Safari or Firefox.
• Windows. The app and installer build and pass the test suite in CI, but have not been run on a Windows PC yet.
• Linux hosting. Chrome on Linux appears to have no AAC encoder, so on Linux streamFree may only work for guests; it shows a clear error if so.

Planned:

• per-guest multi-track recordings;
• scenes and vertical output;
• YouTube chat;
• background blur;
• local captions.

Development

git clone https://github.com/iamvinbas/streamFree && cd streamFree
cargo build --release                       # target/release/streamfree
cargo test                                  # unit tests + FFmpeg-oracle tests (if ffmpeg is installed)
cd tests/e2e && npm install && npm test     # browser tests: needs Google Chrome and ffmpeg (cloudflared for the internet test)
npm run test:native                         # macOS/Windows: the app hosts while a Chrome guest joins
./target/release/streamfree --smoke-test 8  # macOS/Windows: record in the app window, half minimized
cargo run --example ingest_probe            # how real ingest servers answer a dummy key

Requires Rust 1.88 or newer. The studio (web/) is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, embedded into the binary at build time.

Path	Contents
src/	Rust core: server.rs (HTTP/WebSocket), sharing.rs (who can join), net.rs (LAN HTTPS, tunnel), live.rs (fan-out), rtmp/, mp4.rs, flv.rs, desktop.rs (native window), app.rs, chat.rs, store.rs
web/	Studio and guest pages, compositor worker, audio capture worklet, translations (i18n.js), help (help.js)
site/	The website, deployed to GitHub Pages on every push to main
packaging/	Icons, macOS .app and .dmg scripts, Windows Inno Setup installer
tests/	FFmpeg-oracle integration tests and browser end-to-end tests
docs/	Architecture, feature map, references

Releasing. Push a tag such as v0.4.0. GitHub Actions then builds macOS (arm64, x64), Windows and Linux (x64, arm64), creates the .dmg files and the Windows installer, and publishes them with checksums. Tags with a hyphen (v0.4.0-rc.1) become pre-releases.

Contributing

Issues, ideas and pull requests are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md. The most useful help right now is testing:

• on Windows;
• with a real stream key;
• with guests on phones.

If streamFree is useful to you, a ⭐ helps other people find it.

License

MIT. streamFree is an independent project, not affiliated with any streaming service. Platform names are trademarks of their owners.