Stream & Record in H.265 via Enhanced RTMP with Galata.ai

As the digital broadcasting world evolves at a breakneck pace, viewers now demand 4K resolution and flawless image quality, even on lower internet bandwidths. This is where the H.265 (HEVC) codec comes into play, delivering up to 50% data savings and superior efficiency compared to the legacy H.264.

But does RTMP, the veteran protocol of internet streaming, support H.265 live streaming and recording workflows? As the Galata.ai team, we took a closer look at how you can efficiently use the combination of H.265 and RTMP in your high-quality broadcast operations.

The short and clear answer is no. The traditional RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) structure was inherently designed around older standards like H.264 and AAC. When you attempt to push an H.265 stream directly to a standard RTMP server, you will usually encounter errors, or the server will fail to process the data.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t stream in H.265. To overcome this limitation, the industry has developed a powerful solution in recent years: Enhanced RTMP.

Enhanced RTMP is an updated version of the traditional RTMP protocol, upgraded to support modern codecs. Thanks to this update, the protocol can now recognize next-generation video compression formats like H.265 (HEVC) and AV1.

Today, OBS Studio v30 and above, YouTube Live, and various modern media servers actively support the Enhanced RTMP infrastructure.

You can utilize the following three methods to leverage H.265 quality in your broadcasting ecosystem while simultaneously capturing high-quality recordings:

When you select a service that supports H.265/HEVC (e.g., YouTube – Enhanced RTMP) from the “Stream” tab in your OBS Studio settings, you can use your hardware accelerator (NVIDIA NVENC HEVC or AMD HW HEVC) as the encoder. This allows you to broadcast crystal-clear video at a much lower bitrate, while also capturing flawless H.265 recordings to your local drive using the “Same as Stream” quality option.

If you want to eliminate the processing load on your computer during live broadcast operations, you can use H.265-supported hardware encoders (e.g., Kiloview, Teradek, or Blackmagic streaming processors). These devices convert the camera signal directly to H.265, stream it via RTMP/SRT, and simultaneously record it to an internal SD card or external USB drive.

If your current infrastructure does not support Enhanced RTMP but you absolutely must use H.265, you can pivot to the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol. SRT supports the H.265 codec natively and out of the box. Furthermore, it is much more resilient against packet loss and offers ultra-low latency compared to RTMP.

If you want to save bandwidth while embracing the video standards of the future today, switching to the H.265 format is inevitable. If your infrastructure permits, you can elevate your broadcast quality by choosing either Enhanced RTMP or SRT protocols.

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