Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

LibreTime VS OpenBroadcaster

Compare LibreTime VS OpenBroadcaster and see what are their differences

LibreTime logo LibreTime

LibreTime is a community driven fork of SourceFabric's Airtime.

OpenBroadcaster logo OpenBroadcaster

Broadcast Automation Software LPFM IPTV
  • LibreTime Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-27
  • OpenBroadcaster Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-05-09

LibreTime

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-

OpenBroadcaster

$ Details
freemium CA$2495.0 / One-off (OBPlayer with CAP Emergency Alerting)
Platforms
Web Google Chrome Firefox Linux REST API Cross Platform AWS

LibreTime features and specs

  • Open Source
    LibreTime is open source, allowing users to access and modify the source code to suit their specific needs and contribute to its development.
  • Cost-effective
    As a free software solution, LibreTime eliminates licensing costs, making it a financially appealing option for radio stations, especially small and non-profit ones.
  • Web-based Interface
    It offers a user-friendly web interface for managing broadcasts, making it accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
  • Advanced Automation
    Includes features for automated playlists and smart blocks, easing the workload on DJs and station managers by automating regular scheduling tasks.
  • Community Support
    Has an active community that provides support, shares knowledge, and contributes to ongoing improvements to the platform.

Possible disadvantages of LibreTime

  • Complex Setup
    Installation and configuration can be complex, requiring technical skills that may challenge users without a background in server management or software installation.
  • Limited Documentation
    Documentation can be sparse or outdated, potentially making it difficult for new users to fully understand and utilize all features.
  • Performance Issues
    Users have reported performance issues under heavy load, which can be problematic for larger stations with a high number of simultaneous listeners.
  • Limited Features Compared to Commercial Software
    While robust, LibreTime may lack some advanced features and integrations found in commercial radio automation software.
  • Dependency on Community Development
    The ongoing development and updates rely on community contributions, which might be slower or less frequent compared to commercially backed software solutions.

OpenBroadcaster features and specs

  • Flexibility
    OpenBroadcaster supports a wide range of media formats and can operate across different types of servers, making it versatile for various broadcasting needs.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, OpenBroadcaster allows users to customize and modify the code to suit specific requirements, offering significant flexibility and control.
  • Cost-Effective
    Since OpenBroadcaster is open-source, it eliminates the need for expensive licensing fees, making it a cost-effective solution for broadcasting.
  • Community Support
    There is a strong community of users and developers who contribute to the software, providing support, updates, and enhancements.
  • Automation Features
    OpenBroadcaster includes comprehensive automation features that simplify the process of managing content scheduling and playout.

Possible disadvantages of OpenBroadcaster

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Setting up and configuring OpenBroadcaster can be complex and may require a certain level of technical skill, which could be a barrier for some users.
  • Limited Official Support
    As an open-source project, official support may be limited compared to commercial alternatives, potentially leading to longer resolution times for issues.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users new to broadcasting software might find OpenBroadcaster challenging to learn, resulting in a steeper learning curve compared to more user-friendly options.
  • Documentation Quality
    The quality and comprehensiveness of the documentation can vary, which could make it difficult to troubleshoot issues or fully utilize the software's capabilities.
  • Hardware Compatibility
    There may be compatibility issues with certain hardware or peripherals, which could necessitate additional troubleshooting and adjustment.

LibreTime videos

LibreTime Tutorial: How to install LibreTime

More videos:

  • Tutorial - LibreTime 101: How to schedule a podcast to play the newest episode on an automatic basis
  • Tutorial - Libretime Tutorial: How to upload and schedule tracks

OpenBroadcaster videos

Broadcast Automation LPFM IPTV

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to LibreTime and OpenBroadcaster)
SHOUTcast
50 50%
50% 50
Broadcast
50 50%
50% 50
Icecast
57 57%
43% 43
Note Taking
38 38%
62% 62

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare LibreTime and OpenBroadcaster

LibreTime Reviews

  1. Cristian
    · One of the guys at Rock Now Radio ·
    Be prepared to face the terminal

    Running for some (4) years Airtime 2.5.2 (latest free version), now moving to LibreTime because of various runtime (unsupported PHP too old etc.). My description also includes the (painfully) migration of the existing database, so new users might read that part as a story.

    Installation

    Nothing fancy, install OS (Ubuntu 18.04), git and curl are probably already there or at the distance of an sudo apt -y git curl, install icecast and apache2 (or whatever the web server you might need if you plan to pump the stream in a web page), then read the Libre docs, clone the repo and install -fiap.

    Do NOT use Ubuntu later than 18.04 (so no 20) because it will not work.

    Back to installer: did not work 100% mainly because of the post install setup (the web part), which have the habit of not saving the changed password for admin and others, so a nano visit to /etc/airtime/airtime.conf and on liquidsoap might be needed. Also /etc/airtime/icecast_pass might need tweaking as well.

    So I had to stop everything (service apache2 stop, libretime runtime as well), change the passwords to match icecast, move airtime.conf to a backup location and rerun the web part, which worked perfectly.

    [optional] Move of existing airtime database

    Files moved from another server to this new one, 70 GB, rsync, grab a coffee (ok, more than one) and copy everything in the exact same default location (/srv/airtime/stor/). All good. Database move: complete pain. My setup is postgres, which does not support select from one database and insert in another, and the dblink postgres specific thing sucks ass. Also, postgres is quite slow, database fields slightly differs, so I had to export in a CSV the airtime tables (ccfiles, cchistory, ccshow etc.) Some of the tables had around 700.000 rows and I had to do manual SQL in order to map the old existing foreign keys over the new ones - took one day but all good.

    The run

    My setup is one main (webserver + icecast) machine - which acts also as a relay for the second machine - and libretime sits on a second machine. Although the interface is relatively different than what airtime 2.5.2 has, I was able to setup the params, stream, schedule shows etc. in no time. The dragging of tracks into the right panel does not respect the UI (meaning I am dragging between songs 100 and 101 but I end up with the new track somewhere below some rows) but I can live with that. The same limitation of a show that cannot have more than 24 hours is present, but other than that, everything it is running for a week now on a 4 GB RAM machine with CPU sitting most of the time in one digit. Import is very quick, smart blocks is a killer, and it works.

    Conclusion

    Although is not a stable release and is probably driven by a handful of guys having another jobs and doing changes in the spare time, it is a good fork which runs. Be comfortable with ssh and terminal because you might need to do this, especially when integrating with web servers, certbot, redirecting streams to HTTPS, making Icecast SSL-aware etc. But that's how Linux infrastructure is running, so no complains here.

    👍 Pros:    Free|Quick|Community|Minimal documentation|Source-code
    👎 Cons:    Alpha|Setup|Migration

List of Top Free Open Source & Self Hosted Application for Media Streaming
LibreTime – Simple, open source platform that lets you broadcast streaming radio on the web (fork of Airtime). AGPL-3.0 PHP

OpenBroadcaster Reviews

We have no reviews of OpenBroadcaster yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

OpenBroadcaster might be a bit more popular than LibreTime. We know about 1 link to it since March 2021 and only 1 link to LibreTime. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

LibreTime mentions (1)

  • Open source music streaming?
    Https://libretime.org/ seems like a helper tool for setting up icecast and other radio type services? I've only just learned about it just now so you'll want to evaluate it for yourself. Source: about 3 years ago

OpenBroadcaster mentions (1)

  • In search for active group.
    Just came across this which could help you. Source: almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing LibreTime and OpenBroadcaster, you can also consider the following products

AzuraCast - AzuraCast is a free and open-source self-hosted "web radio station in a box".

RadioBOSS - RadioBOSS provides professional radio programming engineering and automation at a fraction of what...

Centova Cast - Centova Cast is the world's most advanced Internet radio stream hosting control panel.

PlayIt Live - Free live-assist and automated playout system capable of playing WAVs, MP3s, WMAs or MP4s

Rivendell - Rivendell is a complete radio broadcast automation solution, with facilities for the acquisition...

Everest Cast - Everest Cast Pro is : Internet Radio Hosting Panel, SHOUTcast Control Panel, Icecast Control Panel, Radio Hosting Panel