release , a decentralized platform for organizing video hosting and broadcasting. PeerTube offers an independent alternative to YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, utilizing a content distribution network based on P2P communications and linking browsers of visitors to each other. The project's developments is licensed under AGPLv3.
PeerTube is based on the use of the BitTorrent client , launched in the browser and using technology to establish a direct P2P communication channel between browsers, and the protocol , which allows disparate video servers to unite into a federated network, where visitors participate in content delivery and can subscribe to channels and receive notifications about new videos. The web interface provided by the project is built using the framework .
The PeerTube federated network forms as a consortium of interconnected small video hosting servers, each having its own administrator and can accept its own rules. Each video server acts as a BitTorrent tracker, where user accounts of this server and their videos are hosted. User identifiers are formed in the format ‘@username@server_domain’. Data transmission during viewing is done directly from the browsers of other visitors watching the content.
If no one is watching the video, the server to which the video was originally uploaded organizes the delivery (the protocol used is ). In addition to distributing traffic among users watching the video, PeerTube also allows nodes launched by authors for primary video hosting to cache videos from other authors, forming a distributed network not only of clients but also of servers, while ensuring fault tolerance.
To start broadcasting via PeerTube, a user only needs to upload a video, a description, and a set of tags to one of the servers. After that, the video will be available across the entire federated network, not just from the primary upload server. Using PeerTube and participating in content distribution only requires a regular browser, and no additional software installation is needed. Users can track activities in their chosen video channels by subscribing to interesting channels in federated social networks (such as Mastodon and Pleroma) or through RSS. To distribute video using P2P communications, users can also add a special widget with an embedded web player to their website.
If a user is not satisfied with the video posting rules on a specific PeerTube server, they can connect to another server or their own server. For quick server deployment, a pre-configured image in Docker format (chocobozzz/peertube) is provided. Currently, there are servers operated by various volunteers and organizations.
Key innovations in release 1.3:
- Support for video playlists has been added, allowing users to create a list for later viewing.
Users can create both private and public playlists. Each entry can not only specify a video but also reference the start and end position for playback. Unlike channels, playlists cannot be subscribed to but serve as a means for individual viewing organization. Playlists can include not only personal videos but also videos from others. The configuration file production.yaml has been updated with a streaming_playlists setting that defines the directory for saving playlists; - A quarantine feature for videos has been added (when enabled, uploaded videos are automatically added to a blacklist and removed after review);
- Experimental support for the protocol has been added (HTTP Live Streaming), which allows adaptive stream management based on bandwidth. To use HLS, a separate file with video is required for each resolution. Supported with FFmpeg version 4 or newer;
- Subscriber management capabilities have been enhanced. Support for removing subscribers, blocking the creation of new subscriptions, manually adding subscribers, and sending notifications about new subscribers has been added;
- The user interface has been improved. The playback area height has been increased, button design has been modified, and thumbnail sizes have been enlarged;
a new section "My Library" has been added to the menu, mobile device display has been improved, and new animated effects have been introduced; - The administrator interface now includes options to disable the tracker (prevent operation in P2P mode), change/reset user passwords, view server logs, diagnose network issues, limit the size of the video watch history, and delete old records of external videos.
Source: opennet.ru
