Important: A newer version of Wowza Streaming Engine is available. For more information, see Latest software updates for Wowza Streaming Engine.
Version: Wowza Streaming Engine™ 4.8.11+5 build 20210322205002 released on March 23, 2021.
Java support: Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 is built on Java 9 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4), but can be used with Java versions 9-12. For more information, see Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
Note: For step-by-step instructions on how to update your Wowza Streaming Engine media server software, see Update your Wowza Streaming Engine installation.
Contents
New features and functionality in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Installation and upgrade considerations for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Breaking changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Detailed list of changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Patch updates to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
New features and functionality in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Wowza Streaming Engine is a robust, customizable, and scalable media server software that powers reliable streaming of high-quality video and audio to any device, anywhere. Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 contains several enhancements and fixes that help to improve the functionality of the media server software.
Beamr encoding and decoding for H.264 and H.265 video
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 adds support for Beamr software video encoding and decoding for the H.264 and H.265 codecs. Compared to the existing MainConcept encoder and decoder implementations, using the Beamr encoder or decoder implementations offers improved video quality with similar CPU usage. With support for Beamr, MainConcept software encoding and decoding are deprecated for H.264 and H.265 video. For more information about configuring Beamr encoding and decoding and the deprecation of MainConcept, see the following the articles:
- Configure Beamr software encoding and decoding in Wowza Streaming Engine
- Migrate from MainConcept to Beamr in Wowza Streaming Engine
- Deprecated features in Wowza Streaming Engine
- Set up and run Transcoder in Wowza Streaming Engine
Replacing missing video frames to ensure a consistent frame rate
With Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11, you can prevent streams from buffering and displaying artifacts for smoother, more continuous video playback by replacing missing video frames and ensuring a consistent frame rate using the Transcoder. Replacing missing frames with the last successfully decoded frames allows for maintaining a specific output frame rate even when the source video is missing frames and drops below the desired output frame rate. You can enable a consistent frame rate using either a strict frame rate for constant frame rate video or minimum frame rate for variable frame rate video. For more information about replacing missing video frames and ensuring a consistent frame rate, see the following the article:
Protecting WebRTC playback with SecureToken
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 adds support for secure authentication of WebRTC playback using SecureToken protection. You provide the SecureToken information to Wowza Streaming Engine through JSON data passed over the WebSocket. For more information about using SecureToken to protect WebRTC playback, see the following the articles:
- Protect streaming using SecureToken in Wowza Streaming Engine
- Control access to WebRTC publishing and playback
Installation and update considerations for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 and later installs a custom packaged version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 that includes the java.scripting module. This module is required for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 but is not added by the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 updater. If you are updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 from Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.0 or earlier, before you update, you need to install a supported version of Java that contains the java.scripting module, such as Java 9-12 or the custom version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 installed with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 (available from the Downloads tab of My Account). Then instruct Wowza Streaming Engine to use that version of Java according to the instructions in Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
When using the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 installer to install a new instance of Wowza Streaming Engine on Windows, you may need to install additional dependencies in order to ingest SRT MediaCaster streams or use the generic SRT stream targets destination to publish an SRT stream. To address this, install the latest version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio appropriate to your operating system.
Breaking changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
The format of installer and updater filenames and the default installation directory changed to include a number for internal tracking following the release version number and a plus sign. For example, the filename for the previous Linux installer is WowzaStreamingEngine-4.8.10-linux-x64-installer.run, whereas the filename for the new 4.8.11 Linux installer is WowzaStreamingEngine-4.8.11+5-linux-x64-installer.run.
Detailed list of changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Changes since Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.10
- Added support for the Beamr software encoder and decoder for H.264 and H.265 video. You can enable Beamr as the video encoding or decoding implementation with the <Implementation> properties in the <Encode>/<Video> and <Decode>/<Video> blocks of Transcoder XML templates.
- Deprecated support for the MainConcept software encoder and decoder (default) for H.264 and H.265 video.
- Added support for replacing missing frames with the last successfully decoded frame and ensuring a consistent minimum or strict frame rate with the Transcoder.
- Added a new Transcoder template property to enable replacing missing frames with the last successfully decoded frame and configure the time for the Transcoder to wait for late or out-of-order frames before replacing them (location: [install-dir]/transcoder/templates/[template].xml, <Root>/<Transcode>/<Decode>/<Video>; name: InputBufferTime; default: 0).
- Added a new Transcoder template property to specify the desired minimum or strict frame rate of the output video (location: [install-dir]/transcoder/templates/[template].xml, <Root>/<Transcode>/<Decode>/<Video>; name: MinimumFrameRate; default: the frame rate of the incoming source stream).
- Added a new Transcoder template property to enable a strict output frame rate that is constant (location: [install-dir]/transcoder/templates/[template].xml, <Root>/<Transcode>/<Decode>/<Video>; name: StrictFrameRate; default: false).
- Added a new Transcoder template property to enable debug logging for the video decoding process and when frames are missing and have been replaced (location: [install-dir]/transcoder/templates/[template].xml, <Root>/<Transcode>/<Decode>; name: Debug; default: false).
- Added support for secure authentication of WebRTC playback using SecureToken protection.
- Fixed an issue with MP4 VOD content having incorrect default sample duration data when frame rate information is not found.
- Fixed an issue with ICE candidates added to WebRTC signaling responses via the Wowza Streaming Engine Java API having their priorities overwritten.
- Fixed an issue with not being able to set the FIR Message Interval for WebRTC sessions.
- Added a method to WebRTCSession to set the FIR Message Interval in milliseconds in the Wowza Streaming Engine Java API.
- public void setFIRMessageInterval(long interval)
- Updated the format of installer and updater filenames and the default installation directory to include a number for internal tracking following the release version number and a plus sign.
Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
The following issues were identified during testing of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11:
- Slow memory leak when HLS is enabled (cupertinostreamingpacketizer) and a stream's video drops
- Insufficient memory when starting and stopping publishing frequently and using Beamr transcoding
For a detailed list of known issues that are still in effect, see Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine.
Patch updates to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11
Between production releases, Wowza occasionally provides patches to fix bugs or regressions in the latest production release, which can be deployed in production environments and workflows for long-term stability.
There is no available patch release for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.11 at this time.
