Configure VideoLAN VLC to play RTSP/RTP streams from Wowza Streaming Engine

This article explains how to configure the VideoLAN VLC media player to stream live or on-demand RTSP/RTP streams over TCP, also called RTSP/RTP interleaved, from Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software. While HTTP streaming offers more features, RTSP/RTP streaming may work better when streaming through a firewall or router that doesn't have UDP streaming available.

Change the stream transport protocol

To switch VLC from HTTP streaming to RTP/RTSP streaming:

1. On the VLC media player Tools menu, click Preferences.
    
2. In the Simple Preferences dialog box, click Input / Codecs in the contents panel.
    
3. In Input & Codecs Settings, in the Network area, change the Live555 stream transport option from HTTP (default) to RTP over RTSP (TCP).
    
4. Click Save.

Play the stream

By default, VLC media player is configured with a very small caching buffer. This can lead to choppy playback initially but it will eventually smooth out as VLC automatically increases the size of this buffer. The steps below explain how to change the default cache size before connecting to the stream.

1. On the VLC media player Media menu, click Open Network Stream.
    
2. At the bottom of the Open Media dialog box, select the Show more options check box.
    
3. Set the Caching value to a higher value such as 1200 ms. This value is retained between VLC media player playback sessions and restarts.
4. Enter the URL of the stream that you want to play in the Please enter a network URL field and then click Play.

The following examples show possible stream URLs:

Where [wowza-ip-address] is the IP address or domain name of the Wowza Streaming Engine server.

More resources

• Troubleshoot RTSP/RTP playback from Wowza Streaming Engine
• Re-stream video from an IP camera (RTSP/RTP re-streaming) in Wowza Streaming Engine