Stream from OBS into a Room with WHIP

Send a studio camera, a screen capture or a produced show from OBS Studio into a live MediaSFU room. Everyone in the room sees it, and you can also broadcast it with HLS.

Before you start

• OBS Studio 30 or later (it includes WHIP output), or any WHIP-capable encoder.
• A running room and its meetingID. The Quickstart shows how to create one.
• Your API username and key, stored on your server.

1. Create an ingest session

From your server:

curl -X POST "https://mediasfu.com/v1/meetings/$MEETING_ID/external-sessions" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEDIASFU_API_USERNAME:$MEDIASFU_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"displayName":"Studio camera","ingest":{"protocol":"whip","tracks":["audio","video"]}}'

The response includes the values OBS needs:

{
  "success": true,
  "sessionID": "ems_…",
  "state": "…",
  "ingest": {
    "protocol": "whip",
    "tracks": ["audio", "video"],
    "url": "https://…",
    "token": "…",
    "expiresAt": "…"
  }
}

Keep sessionID; you need it to check status and to end the stream. The token is short-lived: start streaming before expiresAt.

2. Point OBS at the session

1. In OBS, open Settings → Stream.
2. Set Service to WHIP.
3. Paste ingest.url into Server.
4. Paste ingest.token into Bearer Token.
5. Click OK, then Start Streaming.

Paste the token into the Bearer Token field; don't add it to the URL.

3. Check it works

Fetch the session until its state is active and it lists your tracks:

curl "https://mediasfu.com/v1/meetings/$MEETING_ID/external-sessions/$SESSION_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEDIASFU_API_USERNAME:$MEDIASFU_API_KEY"

Open the room (for example its publicURL). The stream appears as a participant named after your displayName.

4. End the stream

Stop streaming in OBS, then delete the session:

curl -X DELETE "https://mediasfu.com/v1/meetings/$MEETING_ID/external-sessions/$SESSION_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEDIASFU_API_USERNAME:$MEDIASFU_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"reason":"event_finished"}'

If an HLS broadcast or WHEP playback uses this session, delete those first.

Common problems

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
OBS reports an authorization error	Token expired or pasted into the URL	Create a new session and paste the token into Bearer Token
Request is declined	Streaming isn't enabled for the account, or the room has ended	Check the room is running; contact support if streaming isn't available
Session never becomes active	OBS hasn't connected yet	Confirm OBS shows it is live, then fetch the session again

Next: broadcast this stream with HLS, or read the streaming HTTP reference.