Best practices for streaming to social media platforms using AWS Media Services

Are you ready to captivate your audience with seamless live streams on social media? In today’s digital landscape, live streaming is a powerhouse for engagement, offering a direct line of communication between content creators and their viewers.

To ensure your streaming endeavors reach their full potential, mastering the art of streaming to social media platforms is paramount. With AWS Media Services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), you can elevate your streaming game and deliver high-quality content seamlessly. In this blog post, we delve into best practices for streaming to social media platforms using AWS Media Services, while addressing the encoding requirements mandated by various platforms and diagnosing streaming issues.

Social media platforms receive RTMP/S or HTTP live stream, also known as HLS Live adaptive bitrate and re-encode the input stream to create an HLS adaptive bitrate ladder. It’s important to send the best quality video to social media platforms so that adaptive bitrate outputs are re-encoded without introducing video artifacts (video artifacts are noticeable distortions of media due to compression) or degrading video quality.

Understanding encoding requirements for social media platforms

Each social media platform has its own set of encoding requirements to ensure optimal playback and compatibility across devices. Before you embark on your streaming journey, familiarize yourself with the specific encoding guidelines detailed by each platform to which you stream. Whether it is Facebook, YouTube, X/Twitter, Instagram, or any other platform, understanding the recommended video resolutions, bitrates, and codecs is crucial for delivering a smooth viewing experience to your audience.

At the time of writing this blog post, each social media platform has the following encoding requirements for video encoding:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/162540111070395?id=1123223941353904

Youtube: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en

X/Twiter: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/how-to-use-live-producer

Instagram: https://about.instagram.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/instagram-live-producer

1. Choose how to contribute your live stream to the cloud

AWS Media Services offer a comprehensive suite of tools tailored for live video workflows, simplifying the process of live video contribution and encoding in the cloud.

The AWS Elemental MediaLive (MediaLive) service enables real-time video encoding and supports various input protocols such as RTMP, RTP with FEC, and HLS. MediaLive receives input and sends RTMP output to social media platforms for the following workflows (with several types of input formats).

Camera input to AWS Elemental MediaLive

AWS Elemental Link (Elemental Link) is a hardware device that compresses live video using the HEVC codec and which takes media from cameras or devices with SDI and HDMI outputs and contributes content to the cloud.

Camera output to AWS Elemental Link (SDI/HDMI)

The AWS Elemental MediaConnect (MediaConnect) service facilitates secure and low-latency video transport between different geographies. It supports various input protocols like SRT, Zixi, and RIST and can send these streams directly to MediaLive.

Camera output to AWS Elemental MediaConnect (SRT/Zixi/RIST)

Choose the method that best suits your requirements and the capabilities of your video capture equipment or device.

2. Create your MediaLive channel and configure the encoding settings

In this blog post, we do not detail the creation of your MediaLive channel. Refer to the MediaLive documentation for information about channel creation or run the One Media workshop – Social Media Streaming.

Make sure the encoding settings you configure in your MediaLive outputs follow the requirements of each output for all social media platforms that you stream to (reference the prior links referenced in this blog post).

3. Diagnose streaming issues

Even with careful preparation, streaming issues are not uncommon. AWS Media Services offer robust diagnostic tools like workflow monitor for AWS Media Services to identify and resolve streaming issues promptly.

Monitor stream health – Keep a close eye on your stream health metrics using Amazon Cloudwatch. Monitor key performance indicators such as bitrate, latency, and error rates to pinpoint potential issues in real-time, and create alarms and dashboards.
Review log files – Dive into the log files generated by MediaLive to gain deeper insights into encoding and delivery issues. Analyze error messages and warnings to diagnose and address the root cause of problems, for more information on MediaLive logs.
Perform stream tests – Prior to going live, conduct test streams to validate your setup and workflow is functioning as expected. Use tools like:
- The active input thumbnail (Generating input preview thumbnails)
- MediaConnect SRT listener output to stream the video output from MediaLive by sharing encodes between outputs (Sharing encodes among outputs) and sending UDP output with FEC to MediaConnect. Play the SRT output with any player that supports SRT (VLC) and assess if the output has any issues or artifacts.

Conclusion

Streaming to social media platforms presents opportunities for content creators and companies to engage with their audiences and customers in real-time. By adhering to encoding requirements, leveraging AWS Media Services, and adopting effective diagnostic practices, content creators can elevate the streaming experience for audiences. Unlock the power of live streaming with AWS Media Services and embark on a journey of seamless social media broadcasting.