The Power of a Mac App. Stream in HD quality with one click, using any connected mic and capture device, including your DSLR or mirrorless camera from Canon, Nikon, Sony and others. And when your broadcast is done, you'll find a high-quality recording has already been saved on your Mac. Jun 23, 2020 OBS Studio is free and open source software for video recording and live broadcasting. Key features. Last up in our live broadcasting software review, let’s discuss OBS Studio. This encoding option is a free and open-source live streaming video software package. OBS supports RTMP streaming, switching between multiple sources, capture cards.
Why pay for costly software and complicated hardware to live stream events? Explore these five free tools instead.
Live streaming events has its upsides, and as businesses invest in their remote work infrastructure, it’s becoming an essential practice.
You can reach people who couldn’t make it to the event due to cost, timing, or logistical limitations. You can expand the audience reach beyond your venue or city and attract digital viewers from around the world. You can also increase audience engagement by allowing viewers to comment and ask questions.
Live streaming also allows you to keep the show running when crises such as the coronavirus outbreak hit. Large-scale events such as the Grammys and Broadway readings can shut down their physical presence and take the show online. Musicians and artists can use it to live stream impromptu gigs and create digital events from scratch.
There are many live streaming tools that can be used to broadcast events online.
However, if cost concerns are keeping you from live streaming, then free live streaming tools are a simple fix to the problem.
5 free tools to live stream your event
Here are the tools we will cover (arranged alphabetically):
This article looks at five free live streaming software options. See the full list of free live streaming software solutions here.
First, what do we mean by “free”? For a tool to be classified as free, it must offer a standalone free version and not a trial version where the product must be purchased after a set period. For more details on how we selected these products, you can read our methodology here.
1. Facebook Live
Facebook Live will help you jump right into broadcasting events online. It comes with dual benefits. Firstly, it bypasses the complexities of traditional live streaming platforms that require hefty hardware setup and complex video rendering capabilities. Next, it taps into an already existing audience base—Facebook friends or Facebook page followers.
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✔ A smartphone with the Facebook app installed or a computer/laptop with a built-in/add-on webcam.
✔ A personal Facebook profile or Facebook page for the business/event.
What are the key features of the tool?
What should you watch out for when using the tool?
2. Instagram Live
Instagram Live is a feature of Instagram Stories that can be used to broadcast events to a digital audience and engage with them in real time. It is quite similar to Facebook Live in its functionalities and user experience. The catch is that Instagram Live allows users to go live only on the mobile version of the tool and not the desktop version.
✔ A smartphone with the Instagram app installed.
✔ A personal or business/event Instagram profile.
What are the key features of the tool?
What should you watch out for when using the tool?
3. Periscope
Periscope is a livestreaming app for iOS and Android smartphones that helps broadcast events to Twitter as well as the Periscope TV website. Periscope was acquired by Twitter before its launch in 2015 and has since been Twitter’s answer to Facebook Live and Instagram Live.
✔ A smartphone with the Periscope app installed.
✔ A personal or business/event Periscope account.
✔ A Twitter account to connect broadcasts to Twitter.
What are the key features of the tool?
What should you watch out for when using the tool?
4. YouNow
YouNow is a live streaming service geared toward younger audiences. It started as the video version of Twitter where users interact with each other over live videos but has evolved into a broadcasting service that can also be used to live stream events.
✔ A smartphone with the YouNow app installed or a computer/laptop with a built-in/add-on webcam.
✔ A personal or business/event profile on Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Instagram to log in.
What are the key features of the tool?
Software Like Livestream For Mac 2016
What should you watch out for when using the tool?
Streaming Software For Mac
5. YouTube Live
YouTube Live is a live streaming feature on the popular video-sharing platform YouTube. The tool offers a wide range of broadcasting features, apt for anyone from a lone music performer to a full-fledged event with advertisements and promotions. It offers one benefit that no other platform in this list does—the search potential of being on YouTube, such that an event can be located simply through Google search.
✔ A smartphone with the YouTube app installed or a computer/laptop with a built-in/add-on webcam.
✔ A YouTube account, which can be created with a Google account.
What are the key features of the tool?
Software Like Livestream For Mac 2017
What should you watch out for when using the tool?
Next steps
Even with all this information, it can be overwhelming to select a free tool to live stream your event. Most of them sound like they offer similar features and the truth is, they do!
So, the question to ask yourself is: Do I have a presence on any of the social media platforms these tools are connected to?
If yes, go with the tool that allows you to tap into the existing audience base. If not, explore each of these tools and see which one feels the most appropriate for your event and gives a comfortable user experience.
If none of these free tools suffice your requirement, explore other live streaming tools on our website.
Product selection methodology
To select the products mentioned in this article, we identified the most-common live streaming products listings via Incognito Google search on Feb. 7, 2020. Products that appeared on third-party listings at least twice during this research were shortlisted for further evaluation.
Products were evaluated against the definition of a live streaming event: Live streaming an event means to broadcast the video and audio (simultaneously) of an event over the internet using an app or a web platform. The streaming audio and video may have a lag of a few seconds (sometimes).
Tools that did not fit this definition were eliminated, including:
Software Like Livestream For Mac Computer
Note: The screenshots and products selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.
Looking for Event Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Event Management software solutions.
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