Nimble Streamer team is excited to announce support for HTTP/3-based delivery for Icecast and MPEG-TS over HTTP protocols. This enhancement brings cutting-edge streaming capabilities to modern browsers, unlocking smoother playback, reduced latency, and greater reliability.
Nimble Streamer is the first media server on the market to support Icecast over HTTP/3 protocol.
Why HTTP/3 Matters
HTTP/3 is the latest version of the HTTP protocol, built on the QUIC transport layer. Unlike traditional HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2 which rely on TCP, QUIC uses UDP, providing several performance benefits:
- Faster connection setup thanks to zero round-trip (0-RTT) and reduced handshake latency.
- Resilience to packet loss, making it ideal for mobile and wireless networks.
- Better multiplexing with fewer head-of-line blocking issues.
- Smooth network switching on the fly when user moves across different networks.
For live streaming scenarios—especially browser-based playback—these advantages directly translate into improved viewer experience.
Deliver Icecast and MPEGTS with QUIC and HTTP/3
With HTTP/3 enabled, Nimble Streamer now supports the following protocols over this new transport layer:
- Icecast audio streams delivered directly to
<audio>tags or players. Live audio is consumed smoothly and reliably when the listener is switching between different networks as the streaming will never be disturbed. - MPEG-TS over HTTP live video streams, when pulled over long distance will be more reliable and have a better throughput compared to HTTP/1.x and HTTP/2. So that would be beneficiary to the CDNs.
This opens up efficient, low-latency delivery options for audio and video workflows—without requiring any plugins or third-party software on the viewer side.
How to Set Up HTTP/3 in Nimble Streamer
To enable HTTP/3 delivery in your Nimble Streamer instance, you’ll need to configure QUIC support and deploy certificates for secure encrypted transport.
Notice that currently, QUIC and HTTP/3 are supported only on a limited number of operating systems—at this time, Ubuntu 22.02 and 24.04 are the only supported OSes.
We’ve published a comprehensive guide with all the steps and system requirements. Please refer to the official documentation for detailed instructions: Enabling HTTP/3 and QUIC in Nimble Streamer.
Once setup is complete, your Icecast will be served over HTTP/3, instantly enhancing the playback performance for your audience. The server-browser handshake will help determine whether a browser can connect via HTTP/3. If it can, then further communication will proceed with the with HTTP/3.
If the browser in unable to use HTTP/3 then HTTP/2 will be used instead, as a fallback for both both Icecast and MPEG-TS.
If you need to set up Icecast output in you Nimble Streamer instance, please refer to Icecast streaming digest page which has all the scenarios for Icecast input and output.
Verify Availability
After configuring HTTP/3, you can confirm whether it’s active using browser developer tools. In Chrome or Edge:
- Open DevTools > Network tab
- Add the “Protocol” column
- Load your stream URL and look for “h3” or “http/3” in the Protocol field
You can also use command-line tools like curl or nghttp3 to test QUIC availability directly.
Test Playback
Once HTTP/3 is running, test your playback setup. Icecast audio can be consumed in any modern browser via a standard <audio> tag or HTML5 audio player. Or just paste Icecast URL into your browser, it will play without additional tags or players.
Start Streaming Over HTTP/3 Today
Adding HTTP/3 support to your streaming stack is a forward-looking move that ensures better compatibility and performance across a growing range of devices and networks.
Update your Nimble Streamer, follow the setup guide, and bring your audio delivery to the next level with HTTP/3.
For questions or support, feel free to reach out via WMSPanel Support.