MediaMTX vs mjpg-streamer
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
MediaMTX
Ready-to-use media server and RTSP/WebRTC proxy
VS
mjpg-streamer
Stream JPEG frames from webcams over HTTP
| Feature | MediaMTX | mjpg-streamer |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,747 | ★ 3,246 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Wowza | Webcam streaming services |
Why pick each one
Choose mjpg-streamer if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is MediaMTX or mjpg-streamer better?
Neither is universally better. MediaMTX has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are MediaMTX and mjpg-streamer free and open-source?
Yes. MediaMTX is licensed under MIT and mjpg-streamer under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MediaMTX and mjpg-streamer with Docker?
MediaMTX: yes. mjpg-streamer: check the project docs for container support.