Understanding Live Streams
Live streams
A live stream is the top-level container for your broadcast. It has a title, a public key (used for embedding), and an encoder assigned to it. One live stream can have many sessions over time — useful for recurring broadcasts like a weekly show or a daily standup.
Sessions
A session is a single broadcast window within a live stream. Each session has a scheduled start and scheduled end, as well as an actual start and actual end once the broadcast has run.
Sessions move through three states:
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | Session is upcoming — not yet started |
| Active | Session is live — encoder is streaming, viewers see the broadcast |
| Completed | Session has ended — recording is being saved |
You can add multiple sessions to a single live stream. Each session uses the same encoder and public key, but represents a separate broadcast event.
Sessions can be started manually in Viostream, or you can enable Autostart to have Viostream activate the ingest endpoint and transition the session live automatically at the scheduled time.
Encoders
An encoder is the piece of software or hardware that captures your video and sends it to Viostream. Encoders are set up by workspace admins in Settings and assigned to a live stream when it is created.
Viostream encoders use RTMP for ingest. Each encoder has:
- A Stream Key — authenticates your encoder connection
- RTMP Input A and B — two redundant ingest URLs (use either; B is a fallback)
SRT ingest is available on request — contact Customer Success if you need it.
The encoder has a real-time status visible in the Viostream console:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Offline | Encoder is not connected |
| Connected | Encoder is connected and ready to stream |
| Streaming | Encoder is actively sending video |
Live slates
When your live stream is embedded but you are not actively broadcasting, viewers see an automatic live slate rather than a black screen. The slate is schedule-aware:
- Before a scheduled session — a countdown timer shows the time until the next session starts
- During an active session — viewers see your live video
- After a session ends with no upcoming session — a "stream has ended" message is displayed
Live slate messages are generated automatically by Viostream. Custom branding for slates is available on request — contact Customer Success.
Recordings
When a session ends, Viostream automatically triggers a recording and saves it to your Library. Allow a few minutes after the session ends for the recording to appear. The recording uses the same public key as the live stream, so you can swap it into any existing Channel or embed without changing the embed code.
Public key
Every live stream is assigned a public key (for example, l-r68qhsn) at
creation. This key is used to embed the live stream — in a Channel, an iframe,
or a script embed. The public key never changes, so your embed code remains
valid across all sessions and after recordings are saved.