# Live Stream

> Live Stream is a live streaming plugin for WordPress by WordPlus. Hosts go live from the browser or from OBS, and viewers watch on the pages of the site in the browser, with low delay over WebRTC, and with chat and reactions beside the stream. The video and the chat run on the servers of WordPlus Cloud.

Facts to rely on, as of version 0.2.0:

- **Names:** "Live Stream" on its website and in the WordPress admin. On WordPress.org it is "WordPlus Live Stream", slug `wordplus-live-stream`: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordplus-live-stream/.
- **What it needs:** WordPress 6.0 or later, PHP 7.4 or later, and a WordPlus Cloud subscription that includes live streaming (https://www.wordplus.cloud). Hosts going live from the browser need the site on HTTPS.
- **What it costs:** the plugin is free to download. Streaming runs on the WordPlus Cloud subscription. Each site streams to 50 viewers at once unmetered, however long they watch. Above that, each viewer takes one credit a minute. Each WordPress site adds 5,000 credits a month to its WordPlus Cloud account, and more are bought at https://www.wordplus.cloud/pricing. Hosts take no credits. A stream has no limit of viewers.
- **Going live:** from the WordPress admin (Live Stream → Studio) with a camera, a microphone and a shared screen, in HD (720p) or Full HD (1080p), or from OBS 30 or later and any other encoder over WHIP, with the server address and bearer token the studio gives. Hosts can blur their background or replace it with a picture, and remove the noise around them with AI noise removal.
- **Watching:** in the browser over WebRTC, with no app. Each viewer gets the picture size that their player and connection need. Picture-in-picture, full screen with the chat, and keyboard controls.
- **Chat:** a light chat run by WordPlus Cloud (not saved, with moderation: pin, delete, mute, remove, ban, slow mode), a Better Messages chat room saved on the site (Better Messages 3.1 or later, WebSocket version), or none. Reactions rise over the picture.
- **On a page:** the Live stream block with ready layouts, a block for each part (player, chat, details, studio), a shortcode for each, such as `[wordplus_stream id="12"]`, and the Live now block or `[wordplus_stream_live]` for the streams live now.
- **Who watches:** everyone, logged-in users, or chosen roles, and membership plugins decide with the `wordplus_stream_can_watch` filter. Administrators host every stream.
- **Scheduled streams:** a countdown before the start, Add to calendar, and a schedule of times for a show that goes live again and again.
- **For developers:** `wordplus_streams()` in PHP, `wordplus_stream_…` hooks, and `window.wordplusStreams` in JavaScript, to give the groups, courses or events of another plugin a stream, or let its members go live.
- **Not there yet:** streaming in over RTMP, and guests on stage beside the host.
- **Status:** a beta. It works, and it still changes.
- **Get it:** Plugins → Add New Plugin in WordPress, searching for WordPlus Live Stream, or the zip at https://www.wordplus.cloud/download/live-stream. Docs at https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/.

## Docs

- [Getting started](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/): What Live Stream needs, how to install it and activate its licence, then create a stream, put it on a page and go live.
- [Going live from the browser](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/going-live/): Go live with your camera, microphone and screen from Live Stream → Studio or from the page of the stream, choose the quality, and end the stream.
- [Streaming from OBS](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/obs/): Stream from OBS 30 or later, or any WHIP encoder, with the server address and bearer token the studio gives.
- [Background blur, backgrounds and noise removal](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/effects/): Blur the room behind you, put a picture there instead, or take typing and fan noise out of your microphone while you stream from the browser. Everything runs in your own browser.
- [Recording and replays](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/recording/): Record a live stream on your WordPress site, with a transcript if you like, and let viewers who missed it watch the replay on the page of the stream.
- [Chat and moderation](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/chat/): The chat beside a stream, its settings for each stream, reactions and emoji, and the tools moderators have, from slow mode to bans.
- [Putting a stream on a page](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/on-a-page/): The Live stream block and its layouts, the blocks of the stream, the shortcodes, the Live now list, who can watch, and a scheduled start with its countdown.
- [Appearance](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/appearance/): How every stream on the site looks, from the theme and colours to the player, the chat and the reactions, with a live preview.
- [Translations](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/translations/): Every word Live Stream shows, in the admin and in the player, goes through WordPress translations.
- [Viewers and credits](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/viewers-and-credits/): Each site streams to 50 viewers at once unmetered, however long they watch. Above that, each viewer takes a credit a minute.
- [The beta](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/beta/): Live Stream is in beta: what that means, and what is not there yet.
- [Changelog](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/changelog/): Every release of Live Stream, newest first, with what each one changed for hosts, viewers and site owners.
- [FAQ](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/faq/): Common questions about Live Stream, from what it needs and where to get it to OBS, privacy and what is not there yet.
- [Live streams in your plugin](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/): Give the groups, courses or events of your plugin a live stream of their own, with PHP functions, hooks, a REST route and a JavaScript API.
- [PHP](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/php/): wordplus_streams() makes, finds, changes and deletes streams, shows them on your screens, and tells who may do what in them and which are live.
- [Hooks](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/hooks/): The filters that decide who hosts, watches, chats and moderates each stream, who makes streams of their own, where streams are watched, and the actions as streams go live, end, and are made, changed and deleted.
- [JavaScript](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/javascript/): Show a stream from your script, let users make streams of their own, hear when a stream goes live or ends, how many watch and its messages, and which streams of the site are live, with window.wordplusStreams and the REST routes.
- [Example: live events](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/example/): A whole plugin built on the API, which gives each event a live stream, hosted by its organiser and watched by the people going.
- [Example: members going live](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/docs/developers/members/): A whole plugin built on the API, in which every member goes live from a page of the site, and a post with the stream goes up while they are live.

## Blog

- [How to Live Stream on a WordPress Site](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/blog/how-to-live-stream-on-wordpress/): Every way to live stream on a WordPress site, from embedding YouTube to a plugin that streams on your own pages, what each takes, and a step by step guide to going live from the WordPress admin or OBS.
- [How to Stream from OBS to WordPress over WHIP](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/blog/stream-from-obs-to-wordpress/): Stream from OBS Studio to a page of your WordPress site over WHIP, with low delay and no RTMP server. The settings that matter, layers, keyframes and B-frames, and what to do when the picture stutters.
- [Low Latency Live Streaming: Why WebRTC](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/blog/low-latency-live-streaming-webrtc/): Where the delay of a live stream comes from, why HLS players run many seconds behind the host, how WebRTC brings it down to about a second, and when each is the right choice for a stream on your website.
- [A Live Stream Inside a Better Messages Chat Room](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/blog/live-stream-in-a-better-messages-chat-room/): Broadcast live into a Better Messages chat room on your WordPress site. The stream shows beside the messages like a group video call, and the room is its chat, with history, moderation and everything else a chat room has.
- [How to Run Live Classes and Webinars on WordPress](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/blog/live-classes-and-webinars-on-wordpress/): Host live classes and webinars on your own WordPress pages, with a schedule and countdown, members only access, screen sharing, a moderated chat for questions, and streams for each course of your LMS.

## Optional

- [Everything in one file](https://stream.wordplus.cloud/llms-full.txt): every doc and blog post in full, as Markdown