Red5 Cloud SDKs — Overview and Selection Guide

Compare all Red5 Cloud SDKs — WebRTC, iOS, Android, Conference, Core, and Backend — and choose the right one for your streaming application.

Red5 Cloud provides a family of SDKs that cover every major platform and use case, from browser-based WebRTC streaming to native mobile apps and server-side token generation. All SDKs are compatible with both Red5 Cloud (Stream Manager deployments) and standalone Red5 Pro servers.

Available SDKs

Red5 Pro WebRTC SDK

Publish and subscribe to live streams directly in the browser over WebRTC. Built on WHIP and WHEP — no plugins required. Ideal for video chat, live broadcasting, and peer-to-peer applications.

Red5 Core SDK

Foundational toolkit for building native streaming applications on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Supports RTMP, HLS, transcoder provisioning, and publisher/subscriber connections against any Red5 Pro server.

iOS SDK

Native iOS SDK (Red5WebRTCKit) for publishing and subscribing over WebRTC. Handles ICE negotiation, codec selection, camera/microphone capture, and license validation. SwiftUI compatible.

Android SDK

Native Android SDK for sub-second WebRTC streaming via WHIP and WHEP. Supports conferencing, PubNub chat, real-time stats, and Picture-in-Picture mode.

Conference SDK

JavaScript SDK for multi-party video conferencing. Handles room management, WHIP/WHEP media, virtual backgrounds, local recording, and PubNub-powered chat.

Backend SDK

Server-side libraries (Node.js, Java, Go) for generating secure access tokens for video conferences and chat — without exposing your master credentials to clients.

Choosing the right SDK

Use the table below to match your use case to the correct SDK.

Use case	SDK to use
Embed live streaming in a web page	Red5 Pro WebRTC SDK
Build a native iOS streaming app	iOS SDK
Build a native Android streaming app	Android SDK
Add multi-party video conferencing to a web app	Conference SDK
Build desktop streaming tools (Linux/macOS/Windows)	Red5 Core SDK
Generate secure tokens on your server	Backend SDK (Node / Java / Go)

Most applications use more than one SDK together. For example, a video conferencing product typically uses the Conference SDK on the frontend and the Backend SDK on the server to issue tokens before users join a room.

Platform and server compatibility

All SDKs work with both deployment models:

• Red5 Cloud — Fully managed Stream Manager deployments. Use setStreamManagerHost() with your cloud hostname (e.g., userid-xxx.cloud.red5.net).
• Standalone Red5 Pro — Self-hosted servers. Use setServerIp() with your server’s IP address.

Conference mode in the Android and iOS SDKs requires a Red5 Cloud (Stream Manager) deployment and does not work with standalone servers.

Getting started

1. Choose your SDK

   Pick the SDK that matches your target platform from the cards above.

2. Get your license key

   Your Red5 Pro SDK license key is available on the Dev Resources page in the Red5 Cloud dashboard. You need this key to authenticate every SDK client.

3. Install and configure

   Follow the installation steps on each SDK page to add the package to your project and set up your server connection.

4. Run a minimal example

   Each SDK page includes minimal publish and subscribe examples to get you streaming with the fewest possible lines of code.