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™ 4.8.13+1 build 20210527172944 released on June 2, 2021.
Java support: Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13 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 4.8.13
Installation and upgrade considerations for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
Detailed list of changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
Patch updates to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
New features and functionality in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
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 4.8.13 contains several enhancements and fixes that help to improve the functionality of the media server software.
Beamr enhancements and default Transcoder template updates
With Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13, Beamr can be enabled from Wowza Streaming Engine Manager and is enabled for H.264 and H.265 video when creating new Transcoder templates or new encoding presets in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. Compared to the built-in MainConcept software encoder and decoder (deprecated), using the built-in Beamr software encoder or decoder offers improved video quality with similar CPU usage.
With new installations of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13, the default Transcoder templates (transcode.xml, transrate.xml, and transcode-h265.xml) include updates such as using Beamr as the encoding implementation for all H.264 and H.265 video encoding presets and for the decoding implementation. If you update to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13 from an earlier version, existing Transcoder templates are unchanged. We recommend updating existing Transcoder templates that use the MainConcept (default) software encoder or decoder to use Beamr and take advantage of Beamr's improved video quality. For information about enabling Beamr in an existing Transcoder template, see the following article:
Additionally, we optimized the Beamr encoding and decoding implementation configurations. For more information about using Beamr or Transcoder templates, see the following the article:
Installation and update considerations for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
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 4.8.13 but is not added by the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13 updater. If you are updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13 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 4.8.13 (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 4.8.13 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.
Detailed list of changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
Changes since Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.12
- Added support for enabling Beamr as an encoding or decoding implementation for H.264 or H.265 video in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager.
- Enabled Beamr as the encoding implementation for H.264 and H.265 video encoding presets and for the decoding implementation in newly created Transcoder templates and encoding presets.
- Optimized the Beamr encoding and decoding implementation configurations.
- Updated the default Transcoder templates (transcode.xml, transrate.xml, and transcode-h265.xml).
- Enabled Beamr as the encoding implementation for all H.264 and H.265 video encoding presets and for the decoding implementation.
- Removed H.263 video encoding presets.
- Updated the profile value to high for H.264 video encoding presets with a resolution of 360p or higher.
- Updated the bitrate values for encoding presets to align with the HLS specification.
- Added support for exposing the stream name for individual renditions in adaptive bitrate VOD HLS or MPEG-DASH streams with DRM encryption.
- Added a new method to IModuleOnHTTPCupertinoEncryption to expose the stream name for VOD HLS streams.
- public void onHTTPCupertinoRenditionEncryptionKeyVODChunk(HTTPStreamerSessionCupertino httpSession, String streamName, IHTTPStreamerCupertinoIndex index, CupertinoEncInfo encInfo, long chunkId, int mode)
- Added a new method to IModuleOnHTTPMPEGDashEncryption to expose the stream name for VOD MPEG-DASH streams.
- public void onHTTPMPEGDashRenditionEncryptionKeyVODChunk(HTTPStreamerSessionMPEGDash httpSession, String streamName, IHTTPStreamerMPEGDashIndex index, CencInfo cencInfo, long chunkId)
- Added a new method to IModuleOnHTTPCupertinoEncryption to expose the stream name for VOD HLS streams.
- Added a new SMIL file parameter to configure separate adaptation sets for VOD MPEG-DASH streams. Any unique value will create a separate adaption set, and all renditions that have the same value will be included in the same adaption set.
- <param name="tracktype" value="…" valuetype="data"/>
- Added a new property to control whether to include the CAN-SKIP-UNTIL attribute with the EXT-X-SERVER-CONTROL tag in CMAF HLS and Low-Latency HLS media playlists (location: [install-dir]/conf/[application-name]/Application.xml, <Application>/<LiveStreamPacketizer>/<Properties>; name: cupertinoCanSkipUntil; type: Boolean; default: true).
- Fixed an issue with incorrectly sending 410 errors in response to part requests of available parts with adaptive bitrate Low-Latency HLS streams.
- Fixed an issue with the target duration of segments changing during CMAF HLS and Low-Latency HLS playback.
- Fixed an issue with the calculation of the target duration of segments to prevent having different target durations between audio and video for CMAF HLS and Low-Latency HLS.
- Fixed an issue with the Windows uninstaller failing due to NSSM failing to stop.
- Fixed an issue in which coded video frame size could be erroneously reported as equivalent to display frame size.
Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.13 includes the following new known issues:
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 4.8.13
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 4.8.13 at this time.
