Turn any Android phone into a wireless camera source for OBS Studio

Open-source | Low-latency | Hardware-accelerated | Local Wi-Fi

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Important

OpenStream V2 is a beta release. It is ready for local Wi-Fi camera workflows, but device-specific camera behavior and network quality can still vary. Please report bugs in GitHub Issues.

Download · Quick Start · Features · Build · Release Guide

Quick Downloads

Step	Download	Install on
1	openstream-android.apk	Android phone
2	openstream-obs-plugin-installer-windows-x64.exe	Windows OBS PC
Fallback	openstream-obs-windows-x64.zip	Manual OBS plugin install

Need the non-technical walkthrough with screenshots? Start with docs/set-up.md.

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What is OpenStream?

OpenStream sends your Android phone camera directly into OBS Studio over local Wi-Fi. It uses Camera2, MediaCodec video/audio encoding, MPEG-TS muxing, SRT transport, two-way LAN discovery, source-slot pairing, and a native OBS source plugin.

Phone camera -> HEVC/H.264 + AAC -> SRT over Wi-Fi -> OpenStream camera slot in OBS

Why OpenStream V2

Area	What you get
OBS-native workflow	A dockable Camera Control panel keeps connection, lens, torch, smooth live zoom, and identify controls visible while you work.
Low-latency media	Hardware video/audio encoding, SRT transport, bounded buffering, and stale-frame dropping keep the preview responsive.
Reliable pairing	LAN discovery, stable camera slots, reservation handling, and fast reconnects keep phones attached to the right OBS source.
Upgrade safety	Existing scene sources keep loading while new sources appear simply as OpenStream.
Clean delivery	A signed Android release path, Windows installer, checksums, and update manifests keep upgrades consistent.

OpenStream is built for creators who want an inspectable, open-source, OBS-first phone camera pipeline without a separate desktop webcam client.

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Quick Start

1. Install the Android App

Download the APK from the release, copy it to your Android phone, open it, and allow the install prompt. Grant camera and microphone permissions on first launch.

2. Install the OBS Plugin

Close OBS, then download and run openstream-obs-plugin-installer-windows-x64.exe. One Windows administrator prompt lets it replace old system/user copies, keep one canonical plugin, and support clean upgrade, repair, and uninstall. Start OBS again after it finishes.

Note

If you prefer manual installation, download openstream-obs-windows-x64.zip, extract it, close OBS, and run install-openstream-plugin.bat.

3. Add Camera Slots in OBS

In OBS, click + in Sources, choose OpenStream, keep the camera slot enabled, and press OK. Each source gets a slot such as CAM A or CAM B, so multi-phone setups can stay organized.

4. Pair the Phone

Open the OpenStream Android app on the same Wi-Fi network as the PC. Tap an available OBS camera slot from the phone, or choose a discovered phone from the OBS source properties. The camera feed should appear in OBS within a few seconds.

5. Stream

Use OBS as usual. Open View > Docks > OpenStream Camera Control to keep connection, lens, torch, zoom, and identify controls beside your preview. Phone audio appears as a separate OBS mixer channel, and the selected phone is held for quick reconnects if Wi-Fi drops briefly.

Tip

Use a 5 GHz or Wi-Fi 6 network, keep both devices on the same subnet, and disable VPNs or router client isolation during first setup.

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Compatibility & Limits

Area	Current support
Phone OS	Android 10+ with Camera2 and hardware MediaCodec support.
OBS host	Windows x64 with OBS Studio and FFmpeg SRT support.
Network	Same LAN/subnet; guest Wi-Fi, VPNs, and client isolation can block discovery.
Release maturity	Beta. Expect device-specific camera quirks and Wi-Fi-dependent latency.

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Features

Android App

Feature	Details
Full HD Streaming	Streams a 1080p camera feed at up to 60 fps over SRT.
Hardware Encoding	Uses MediaCodec HEVC/H.265 with H.264 fallback.
Audio Streaming	Sends microphone audio with the video stream as AAC.
Multi-Lens Switching	Supports rear, ultrawide, telephoto, and front cameras when available.
Pinch-to-Zoom	Smooth digital zoom with a live zoom indicator.
Screen-Off Streaming Mode	Dims the phone to a black overlay while keeping capture and streaming active.
Torch and Screen Controls	Keeps the phone awake and can toggle torch while streaming.
OBS Slot Picker	Shows available OBS camera slots on the phone and blocks busy slots from accidental reuse.
Auto-Discovery	Finds OpenStream OBS listeners on the same LAN and advertises the phone back to OBS.
Manual Connect	Supports manual IP and port entry when discovery is blocked.
Live Stream Telemetry	Shows frames, keyframes, transferred megabits, errors, and active lens while streaming.
Identify Overlay	Displays a large slot label on the phone when triggered from OBS.
Reconnect Hold	Keeps a reserved OBS slot for 45 seconds after a disconnect to make brief Wi-Fi drops less disruptive.

OBS Plugin

Feature	Details
Native OBS Source	Adds an OpenStream source type inside OBS Studio while preserving existing scenes.
One-Click Installer	Windows installer removes stale legacy copies and supports clean install, upgrade, repair, and uninstall.
Camera Slots	Gives each source a stable slot label such as CAM A, CAM B, or a custom slot name.
Phone Discovery	Lists discovered Android phones, includes a refresh action, and can let the phone choose the OBS slot.
Auto-Connect	Listens for the Android app and connects without typing IP addresses.
Deep-Link Pairing URL	Exposes an openstream://connect pairing URL with slot, port, latency, and source identity.
Separate Audio Mixer	Phone microphone audio gets its own OBS mixer channel.
Real-Time Remote Controls	Adjust smooth zoom while dragging, toggle the torch, switch rear/front cameras, and show the phone slot label from OBS.
Dockable Control Panel	Control any OpenStream source from an always-available native OBS dock instead of reopening source properties.
Update Notices	Checks the latest release metadata and links to the installer when a newer plugin is available; the loaded DLL is never replaced in place.
Reconnect Handling	Reserves and releases phones per source so streams recover into the same OBS slot.

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Architecture

Android phone
  Camera2 preview/capture
  MediaCodec HEVC/H.264 video
  MediaCodec AAC audio
  MPEG-TS muxer
  libsrt sender
        |
        | SRT media stream on port 9000
        v
Windows PC
  OBS Studio
  OpenStream native source plugin
  FFmpeg SRT receive/decode
  OBS video frame + audio mixer output

Discovery uses UDP port 51515. Camera remote controls use the phone HTTP control server on port 9001.

Transport Defaults

Parameter	Default	Notes
Resolution	1920x1080	Full HD capture target
Frame rate	60 fps	30-60 fps depending on device support
Video codec	HEVC/H.265	H.264 fallback
Bitrate	16 Mbps	High-quality HEVC default with headroom for Wi-Fi retransmits
SRT latency	120 ms	80-200 ms useful range
Discovery port	51515/udp	LAN discovery beacon
SRT port	9000	Media stream
Control port	9001/http	Remote zoom, torch, lens

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Building

Website

The source for openstream.pages.dev lives in website/.

cd website
npm install
npm run dev

Run npm run build to create the static Cloudflare Pages output in website/dist.

Android App

Development build:

cd android
$env:JAVA_HOME = 'C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio\jbr'
.\gradlew.bat :app:assembleDebug

Debug APK output:

android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Note

Normal APK builds link bundled libsrt static libraries for real network streaming. Use -Popenstream.nonStreamingCiBuild=true only for intentional source-compile checks.

Signed release build:

$env:OPENSTREAM_RELEASE_KEYSTORE = "$PWD\openstream-release.keystore"
$env:OPENSTREAM_RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD = "<store-password>"
$env:OPENSTREAM_RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS = "<key-alias>"
$env:OPENSTREAM_RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD = "<key-password>"
.\gradlew.bat :app:assembleRelease

OBS Plugin

The easiest local build path on Windows is the included script:

.\build_plugin.bat

To package without installing:

$env:OPENSTREAM_SKIP_INSTALL = "1"
$env:OPENSTREAM_PLUGIN_PACKAGE_DIR = "$PWD\artifacts"
.\build_plugin.bat

The package output is artifacts/openstream-obs-windows-x64.zip.

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Release Notes

GitHub Actions publishes:

Asset	Purpose
openstream-android.apk	Signed Android app install package
openstream-obs-plugin-installer-windows-x64.exe	Recommended Windows OBS plugin installer
openstream-obs-windows-x64.zip	Manual OBS plugin package

See docs/release.md for release tagging and validation.

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Developer Smoke Test

Validate SRT transport without OBS:

python tools/openstream_receiver.py --port 9000 --latency-ms 120 --ffplay

This is a developer/debug tool only. Normal users should install the OBS plugin.

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Roadmap

• Camera2 hardware-accelerated capture
• HEVC/H.265 and H.264 encoding with MediaCodec
• SRT transport with MPEG-TS muxing
• Native OBS source plugin with FFmpeg decode
• LAN auto-discovery
• Audio streaming into the OBS mixer
• Remote camera controls from OBS
• Windows plugin installer
• Adaptive bitrate based on network conditions
• QR pairing for restricted networks
• GPU zero-copy receive path
• macOS/Linux OBS plugin packages

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Links

Link	URL
Website	OpenStream.pages.dev
Releases	github.com/YashasVM/OpenStream/releases
Issues	github.com/YashasVM/OpenStream/issues

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Made by @YashasVM

Turn your phone into a pro OBS camera source. No cables required.