You can use the Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software REST API to create and manage stream recorders in a Wowza Streaming Engine instance.
A stream recorder creates an MP4 recording of a stream as it's broadcast from a live application. A recorder can be created before the live application starts streaming, or while the live application is actually streaming. You can use the REST API to stop recorder at any time, otherwise, it stops when the server no longer receives the incoming stream. After the recorder stops, it is no longer available—the MP4 recording is saved but you have to create a new recorder if you plan to restart and record the same live application.
Notes:
- Wowza Streaming Engine 4.3.0 or later is required.
- PHP examples for the tasks in this article are available in the tests folder of the PHP REST Library for Wowza Streaming Engine on GitHub.
- Reference documentation for the Wowza Streaming Engine REST API is available by using OpenAPI (Swagger), which you can download and install locally. See Access reference documentation for the Wowza Streaming Engine REST API.
Get a list of recorders
View a list of all stream recorders for an application on a local Wowza Streaming Engine instance:
curl -X GET \
-H 'Accept:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
-H 'Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
http://localhost:8087/v2/servers/{serverName}/vhosts/{vhostName}/applications/{appName}/instances/{instanceName}/streamrecorders
In this example, retrieve a list of all stream recorders for an application named testlive:
curl -X GET \
-H 'Accept:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
-H 'Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
http://localhost:8087/v2/servers/{serverName}/vhosts/{vhostName}/applications/testlive/instances/{instanceName}/streamrecorders
If the stream and recording haven't started, the command should return a response that looks something like this:
{
"serverName": "serverName",
"instanceName": "instanceName",
"streamrecorder": [{
"recorderName": "myStream",
"instanceName": "instanceName",
"recorderState": "Waiting for stream",
"defaultRecorder": false,
"segmentationType": "None",
"outputPath": "",
"baseFile": ".mp4",
"fileFormat": "MP4",
"fileVersionDelegateName": "com.wowza.wms.livestreamrecord.manager.StreamRecorderFileVersionDelegate",
"fileTemplate": "${BaseFileName}_${RecordingStartTime}_${SegmentNumber}",
"segmentDuration": 900000,
"segmentSize": 10485760,
"segmentSchedule": "0 * * * * *",
"recordData": false,
"startOnKeyFrame": true,
"splitOnTcDiscontinuity": false,
"backBufferTime": 0,
"option": "Version existing file",
"moveFirstVideoFrameToZero": true,
"currentSize": 0,
"currentDuration": 0,
"recordingStartTime": ""
}]
}
If the stream and recorder have started, the response looks something like this:
{
"serverName": "serverName",
"instanceName": "instanceName",
"streamrecorder": [{
"recorderName": "myStream",
"instanceName": "instanceName",
"recorderState": "Recording in Progress",
"defaultRecorder": false,
"segmentationType": "None",
"outputPath": "",
"baseFile": "myStream.mp4",
"fileFormat": "MP4",
"fileVersionDelegateName": "com.wowza.wms.livestreamrecord.manager.StreamRecorderFileVersionDelegate",
"fileTemplate": "${BaseFileName}_${RecordingStartTime}_${SegmentNumber}",
"segmentDuration": 38537,
"segmentSize": 10485760,
"segmentSchedule": "0 * * * * *",
"recordData": false,
"startOnKeyFrame": true,
"splitOnTcDiscontinuity": false,
"backBufferTime": 0,
"option": "Version existing file",
"moveFirstVideoFrameToZero": true,
"currentSize": 3104321,
"currentDuration": 38537,
"currentFile": "/Library/WowzaStreamingEngine/content/myStream_2017-04-06-16.07.01.033-PDT_0.mp4",
"recordingStartTime": "2017-04-06-16.07.01.033--07:00"
}]
}
Create a recorder
When you create a recorder, it starts immediately if the stream is running. Otherwise, it starts when you start the stream.
Create a stream recorder named myStream using the default settings (notice that the stream recorder name matches the incoming stream name and is included in the request URL and in the body of the request, and they must match):
curl -X POST \
-H 'Accept:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
-H 'Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
http://localhost:8087/v2/servers/{serverName}/vhosts/{vhostName}/applications/{appName}/instances/{instanceName}/streamrecorders/myStream \
-d '
{
"instanceName": "",
"fileVersionDelegateName": "",
"serverName": "",
"recorderName": "myStream",
"currentSize": 0,
"segmentSchedule": "",
"startOnKeyFrame": true,
"outputPath": "",
"currentFile": "",
"recordData": false,
"applicationName": "",
"moveFirstVideoFrameToZero": false,
"recorderErrorString": "",
"segmentSize": 0,
"defaultRecorder": false,
"splitOnTcDiscontinuity": false,
"version": "",
"baseFile": "",
"segmentDuration": 0,
"recordingStartTime": "",
"fileTemplate": "",
"backBufferTime": 0,
"segmentationType": "",
"currentDuration": 0,
"fileFormat": "",
"recorderState": "",
"option": ""
}'
The command should return a response that looks something like this:
{
"success": true,
"message": "Recorder Created",
"data": null
}
Split an active recording
When you split, or segment, an active recording, the recorder keeps running but the current recording ends and a new recording begins from the moment of the split. Both recordings are stored in the specified output_path (by default, /Library/WowzaStreamingEngine/content) and are named according to the file naming template (by default, [BaseFilename]_[RecordingStartTime]_[SegmentNumber].mp4).
Split a recording:
curl -X PUT \
-H 'Accept:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
-H 'Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
http://localhost:8087/v2/servers/{serverName}/vhosts/{vhostName}/applications/{appName}/instances/{instanceName}/streamrecorders/{recorderName}/actions/splitRecording
The command should return a response that looks something like this:
{
"success": true,
"message": "Recording (myStream) split",
"data": null
}
Stop a recording
Stop a recording:
curl -X PUT \
-H 'Accept:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
-H 'Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8' \
http://localhost:8087/v2/servers/{serverName}/vhosts/{vhostName}/applications/{appName}/instances/{instanceName}/streamrecorders/{recorderName}/actions/stopRecording
The command should return a response that looks something like this:
{
"success": true,
"message": "Recording (recorderName) stopped",
"data": null
}
