CurbStream

Turn any video into adaptive-bitrate HLS.

Drop files into video/, run ./run.sh, and get a streaming package in hls/. A master playlist, one folder per quality tier, and segments that all cut at the same timestamps.

How to run it Source on GitHub

FFMPEG 5+ · H.264, HEVC, AV1 · VOD · MIT

hls/talk/
├── master.m3u8
├── 360p/index.m3u8 + seg_000000.ts …
├── 720p/index.m3u8 + seg_000000.ts …
├── 1080p/index.m3u8 + seg_000000.ts …
└── package.json
Point the player at master.m3u8

What it does

The transcoding half, on your machine

Hosted video platforms transcode, store, and bill per minute. This tool does the transcoding. The output is a folder of playlists and segments. Push it to S3, R2, B2, Spaces, or nginx and serve it like any other static file.

Ladder

Tiers that line up

Built-in heights run from 240p through 2160p. The default cap is 1080p and the floor is 360p. A tier taller than the source is skipped, so a 720p file never becomes a blurry 1080p. The keyframe interval is the frame rate times the segment length, 6 seconds unless you change HLS_TIME, on every rendition.

Encoders

Hardware when you have it

H.264, HEVC, and AV1. HWACCEL=auto tries NVENC, Intel QSV, VAAPI, then VideoToolbox, and falls back to software. H.264 with AAC is packed as MPEG-TS. HEVC, AV1, or Opus uses fMP4, because MPEG-TS cannot carry them. CODECS in the master playlist is read back from each rendition.

Publish

A folder you can move

Packages are built in a scratch directory and swapped into hls/ in one step. Paths inside a package are relative. Finished renditions are reused if you stop the run. Failures stay in video/. Successes move to video-done/, along with any name.lang.vtt subtitle sidecars.

Limits

Own the files, keep the gaps in view

If you need live streaming, DRM, or turnkey analytics, a hosted platform still fits. This encoder is for a library of finished videos.

Hosted platform This encoder
Transcoding
Managed
This repository
Storage and delivery
Theirs, metered
Any S3-compatible store or your own server
Cost
Per minute stored and delivered
Storage and bandwidth you already pay for
Per-viewer analytics
Built in
You add it
Captions
Built in
Bring your own .vtt
DRM and a license server
Built in
Not included
Live streaming
Built in
VOD only
Thumbnails
Built in
Not included
Global CDN
Built in
Put one in front of the bucket

Signed cookies, or a short-lived token in front of the bucket, can cover a whole package path. A viewer who wants the files can still save the segments. Widevine, PlayReady, and FairPlay need a license server, and this encoder does not include one.

Run it

Clone the repository and encode a file

ffmpeg, ffprobe, python3, and bash are the whole dependency list. A GPU is optional.

Commands and hosting notes github.com/CurbSoftware/video-hls