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™ 4.8.23+2 build 20230519113009 released May 23, 2023.
Java support: Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23 is built on Java 11 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2) but can be used with Java versions 11 - 12. For more information, see Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
New features and functionality in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23
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 4.8.23 contains enhancements and fixes that improve the functionality of the media server software.
New push-based CDN workflow with distribution to Wowza Video
The Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23 release introduces a new push-based CDN workflow that interacts directly with Wowza Video to distribute live streams to global audiences over HLS. This workflow uses stream targets to manage and push streaming data to Wowza Video. All stream targets are managed within the Wowza Streaming Engine Manager interface, so there's no need for additional steps in Wowza Video. There are also no requirements to configure your server firewall when setting up this functionality. To learn more, see the following resources:
- Wowza Streaming Engine with Wowza Video
- Scaling Wowza Streaming Engine with Wowza CDN
- Push streams to Wowza CDN from Wowza Streaming Engine
- Pull streams from Wowza Streaming Engine to Wowza CDN
Updated Wowza Video transcoder workflow
Earlier versions of Wowza Streaming Engine experienced problems when using connection codes to send streams from Wowza Streaming Engine to Wowza Video for transcoding and CDN distribution. With this release, we've addressed this occurrence. We've also provided an updated method to stream to Wowza Video for transcoding and delivery over the Wowza CDN edge network. Changes include a new Wowza Video Transcoder tile in the Wowza Streaming Engine Manager interface. For more, see these resources:
- Scaling Wowza Streaming Engine with Wowza CDN
- Send a stream from Wowza Streaming Engine to Wowza Video for transcoding
Frame-rate reduction added to AMD Xilinx accelerated transcoding
To improve processing times, the AMD Xilinx Alveo U30 data center accelerator card now supports frame rate reduction. With this new functionality, users that select U30 as the scaler implementation can reduce the frame rate by half when utilizing the Alveo U30 card. The only limitation is that the first output needs to match the incoming frame rate. For more, see:
- Introduction to AMD Xilinx acceleration with Wowza Streaming Engine transcoding flow
- Limitations of AMD Xilinx acceleration with Wowza Streaming Engine transcoding
- Configure an AMD Xilinx accelerated transcoding for Wowza Streaming Engine
NVIDIA API parameter updates and CUDA 12
The Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23 release cleans up NVIDIA-related code to remove and replace deprecated API items from CUDA versions 9 to 11. NVIDIA users with custom encoding, decoding, and scaling properties should review their implementations for updated CUDA 12 parameters. To confirm if your custom properties and settings need to be updated, reference the NVIDIA NVENC Preset Migration Guide.
Installation and update considerations for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23
If you're updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23 from a base installation of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.17 or earlier, see Updating to Wowza Streaming Engine version 4.8.18 or later.
When using the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23 installer to install a new instance of Wowza Streaming Engine on Windows, you may need to install additional dependencies to ingest SRT MediaCaster streams or use the generic SRT stream targets destination to publish an SRT stream. For more information, see our Ingest and publish an SRT stream guide.
For step-by-step instructions on how to install or update Wowza Streaming Engine, see the following articles:
- Install – Install and configure Wowza Streaming Engine
- Update – Update your Wowza Streaming Engine installation
Breaking changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23
Java versions
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 (or later) is compiled using Java 11 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2) and supports Java versions 11 - 12. Earlier versions of Java aren't supported.
Important notes about changing the Java version:
- Wowza Streaming Engine versions before 4.8.18 were compiled using Java 9. If you're updating an earlier installation of Wowza Streaming Engine to version 4.8.18 (or later), you must install OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2 before running the Wowza Streaming Engine updater. For your convenience, we've provided the OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2 files as a zip on the Downloads tab of your Wowza account.
- If your Wowza Streaming Engine workflow uses custom modules or plugins, we recommend testing them with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 (or later) in a non-production environment before updating your media server software. The following Java modules are included:
- java.base
- java.datatransfer
- java.desktop
- java.instrument
- java.logging
- java.management
- java.management.rmi
- java.naming
- java.prefs
- java.rmi
- java.scripting
- java.scripting.jgss
- java.security.sasl
- java.sql
- java.transaction.xa
- java.xml
- jdk.crypto.cryptoki
- jdk.crypto.ec
- jdk.httpserver
- jdk.management
- jdk.management.agent
- jdk.naming.rmi
- jdk.unsupported
- jdk.xml.dom
- If you have other dependencies, you must install a Java 11 JRE or JDK that includes all your dependencies.
For more information, see Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
Detailed list of changes in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23
Changes since Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.22
- Fixed an issue related to crashes and corrupted video when using CPU decoder with U30 scaler and encoder.
- Fixed an issue causing instances with U30 cards to crash when starting and stopping transcoding jobs.
- Fixed an issue with API-generated stream targets where enabled parameter settings were not recognized.
- Fixed an issue causing some NVIDIA driver versions not to be recognized.
- Added frame reduction to the U30 implementation for Transcoder.
- Added and updated stream targets for Wowza Video to introduce a new push-based CDN workflow.
- Fixed an issue preventing the README.html from updating during updater execution.
- Fixed an issue causing the SCTE-35 payload to be read incorrectly.
- Updated NVIDIA-related code to remove and replace deprecated API items from CUDA versions 9 to 11.
Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.23
For a detailed list of known issues that are still in effect, see Known issues with Wowza Streaming Engine.
