Turn any Android phone into a wireless camera source for OBS Studio

Open-source · Low-latency · Hardware-accelerated · Zero-config

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Important

🚧 Beta Release OpenStream is under active development. You can use it today, but expect rough edges. Report bugs to help shape the FINAL release.

What is OpenStream?

OpenStream turns your Android phone into a dedicated wireless camera source for OBS Studio over local Wi-Fi. No screen mirroring, no capture cards, no cables just your phone's camera feed streamed directly into OBS with hardware-accelerated encoding and sub-200ms latency.

Phone Camera  →  HEVC/H.264 Encode  →  SRT over Wi-Fi  → OBS Studio

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Features

Android App

Feature	Details
Full HD Streaming	1080p @ 60fps real-time camera feed via SRT protocol
Multi-Lens Switching	Seamlessly switch between all available lenses — wide, ultrawide, telephoto, front
Pinch-to-Zoom	Smooth digital zoom with live on-screen indicator
Audio Streaming	Microphone audio transmitted alongside video in the same SRT stream
Torch Control	Toggle flashlight on/off during streaming
Keep Screen On	Prevents display timeout for uninterrupted sessions
Auto-Discovery	OBS instances on the same network appear automatically — tap to connect
Multi-Cam Setup	Easily change the streaming port in-app to use multiple phones simultaneously in OBS
Display Off Mode	Turns screen black and minimizes brightness to save battery/OLED while streaming
Manual Connect	Fallback IP/port entry for networks that block UDP discovery

OBS Plugin

Feature	Details
Zero-Config Setup	Add OpenStream source → it finds your phone automatically
Separate Audio Mixer	Phone audio gets its own mixer channel in OBS
Remote Camera Controls	Control zoom, torch, and lens switching directly from OBS properties
Smooth Zoom Slider	Live zoom adjustment — auto-applies as you drag
Hardware Decoding	FFmpeg-backed H.264/HEVC decoding with YUV color metadata
Auto-Reconnect	Automatically reconnects when the phone stream drops
Made by @yashas.vm	Credit shown in plugin properties and OBS log

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Quick Start

1. Set up OBS

Add OpenStream as a source in OBS Studio. Leave Auto-connect enabled and click OK. The source will wait for your phone.

2. Open the App

Launch OpenStream on your Android phone (same Wi-Fi network as your PC). Camera preview starts immediately.

3. Connect

Tap the discovered OBS device in the app. Your phone's camera feed appears in OBS within seconds.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  OBS Studio                                             │
│  ┌───────────────────────┐                              │
│  │  OpenStream           │ ← Source waits blank         │
│  │  "Auto-connect: ON"   │                              │
│  └───────────────────────┘                              │
│                                                         │
│  Phone joins same Wi-Fi                                 │
│  ↓                                                      │
│  Phone discovers OBS → Tap → Camera feed appears        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Tip

For best results, use a 5 GHz or Wi-Fi 6 network. Keep the phone close to the access point during first tests. Disable VPNs and client isolation.

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Architecture

┌──────────────────────┐         SRT/MPEG-TS          ┌──────────────────────┐
│     Android Phone    │  ─────────────────────────►  │    OBS Studio (PC)   │
│                      │        Local Wi-Fi           │                      │
│  Camera2 API         │                              │  Native Plugin       │
│  ├─ MediaCodec HEVC  │   ◄─────────────────────     │  ├─ FFmpeg decode    │
│  ├─ MediaCodec AAC   │     HTTP Control Channel     │  ├─ YUV/NV12 output  │
│  ├─ MPEG-TS Muxer    │                              │  ├─ Audio output     │
│  └─ libsrt sender    │                              │  └─ Remote controls  │
│                      │                              │                      │
│  UDP Discovery       │   ◄──────────────────────    │  UDP Discovery       │
│  (Multicast listener)│     Beacon on port 51515     │  (Beacon advertiser) │
│                      │                              │                      │
│  HTTP Control Server │   ◄──────────────────────    │  HTTP Control Client │
│  (port 9001)         │     /zoom /torch /lens       │  (Camera Controls)   │
└──────────────────────┘                              └──────────────────────┘

Transport Defaults

Parameter	Default	Range
Resolution	1920×1080	—
Frame Rate	60 fps	30–60
Video Codec	HEVC/H.265	H.264 fallback
Bitrate	20 Mbps	8–35 Mbps
Keyframe Interval	1 second	—
SRT Latency	120 ms	80–200 ms
Discovery Port	51515 (UDP)	—
SRT Port	9000	1024–65535
Control Port	9001 (HTTP)	—

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Repository Layout

android/                     Android Camera2 + MediaCodec streaming app
├── app/src/main/
│   ├── java/dev/openstream/app/
│   │   ├── MainActivity.kt          Full-screen camera UI with controls
│   │   ├── camera/
│   │   │   └── Camera2Controller.kt Multi-lens camera session management
│   │   ├── encoder/
│   │   │   ├── MediaCodecVideoEncoder.kt  HEVC/H.264 hardware encoder
│   │   │   └── MediaCodecAudioEncoder.kt  AAC microphone encoder
│   │   ├── stream/
│   │   │   ├── SrtStreamClient.kt    Native SRT bridge (JNI)
│   │   │   ├── StreamConfig.kt       Resolution/FPS/bitrate presets
│   │   │   └── ConnectionTarget.kt   SRT endpoint model
│   │   ├── discovery/
│   │   │   ├── ObsDiscoveryClient.kt      Listens for OBS beacons
│   │   │   ├── PhoneDiscoveryAdvertiser.kt Advertises phone on LAN
│   │   │   └── DiscoveredObsDevice.kt     Device data model
│   │   ├── control/
│   │   │   └── CameraControlServer.kt HTTP server for remote controls
│   │   └── telemetry/
│   │       └── TelemetrySampler.kt   Battery, RSSI, temp, codec stats
│   └── res/layout/
│       └── activity_main.xml         Cinematic dark-themed camera UI
│
obs-plugin/                  Native OBS Studio source plugin
├── CMakeLists.txt           Build configuration
└── src/
    └── openstream-source.cpp  FFmpeg SRT receive + decode + remote controls
│
tools/
└── openstream_receiver.py   Developer FFmpeg/SRT receiver for smoke tests
│
docs/
├── architecture.md          System design and codec decisions
├── protocol.md              SRT transport and discovery protocol spec
├── setup.md                 Build and installation guide
└── testing.md               Test plan and verification steps
│
tests/
└── test_repo_contract.py    Contract tests for prototype architecture
│
build_plugin.bat             Windows OBS plugin build script

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Building

Android App

Open android/ in Android Studio and build normally, or from command line:

cd android
$env:JAVA_HOME = 'C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio\jbr'
.\gradlew.bat :app:assembleDebug

Note

Normal APK builds link bundled libsrt static libraries for real network streaming. Use -Popenstream.nonStreamingCiBuild=true only for CI source-compile checks that intentionally skip streaming support.

OBS Plugin

Requires OBS Studio dev headers, CMake, and an FFmpeg build with SRT protocol support.

# Verify FFmpeg has SRT support
ffmpeg -protocols 2>&1 | Select-String "srt"

# Build the plugin
cmake -S obs-plugin -B build/obs-plugin `
  -DOBS_ROOT="C:/Program Files/obs-studio" `
  -DFFMPEG_ROOT="C:/path/to/ffmpeg-dev"

cmake --build build/obs-plugin --config Release

Or use the included build script:

.\build_plugin.bat

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Developer Smoke Test

Validate the SRT transport chain without OBS using the Python receiver:

python tools/openstream_receiver.py --port 9000 --latency-ms 120 --ffplay

This opens an FFmpeg/ffplay window showing the live phone stream. This is a developer-only debug tool — normal users should use the OBS plugin directly.

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Network Recommendations

• Use a dedicated 5 GHz or Wi-Fi 6 network
• Keep the phone close to the access point during first tests
• Disable VPNs and client isolation on your router
• Start with one phone before testing multiple devices
• Use fixed bitrate before enabling adaptive behavior

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Roadmap

• Camera2 hardware-accelerated capture
• HEVC/H.265 and H.264 encoding with MediaCodec
• SRT transport with MPEG-TS muxing
• Native OBS source plugin with FFmpeg decode
• LAN auto-discovery (UDP multicast beacons)
• Audio streaming (microphone → AAC → OBS mixer)
• Remote camera controls from OBS (zoom, torch, lens)
• Multi-lens switching (wide, ultrawide, telephoto, front)
• Pinch-to-zoom with live indicator
• Keep screen on / torch toggle in app
• Multi-phone support (multiple sources in OBS via port config)
• Adaptive bitrate based on network conditions
• QR code pairing for restricted networks
• GPU zero-copy receive path
• Raw YUV/zstd lossless transport (research track)

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License

OpenStream is intended for MIT or Apache-2.0 licensing. Final license file will be added before publishing packages or releases.

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Made by @yashas.vm

Turn your phone into a pro camera source. No cables. No compromises.