head to head · open source
tvheadend vs rtp2httpd
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. rtp2httpd has 2,102 stars, 326 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tvheadend leads on adoption by 68% (3,524 vs 2,102 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; rtp2httpd is written in C under GPL-2.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, rtp2httpd 16%. rtp2httpd was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (iptv), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| tvheadend | rtp2httpd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 326 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tvheadend if
- You weight community size — 3.5K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rtp2httpd if
- You want the rtp2httpd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and rtp2httpd fits your workflow better
About tvheadend
Tvheadend is an open source TV streaming server and digital video recorder for Linux. It lives in the Linux media and streaming ecosystem, and it is written in C under the GPL 3.0 license. The project provides a server that can receive television signals and streams from many input types, then make those channels available over the network.
read the full tvheadend overview →
About rtp2httpd
rtp2httpd is a C based IPTV streaming forwarder that converts multicast RTP/UDP and RTSP sources into unicast HTTP streams for clients that cannot join multicast directly. It lives in the IPTV media streaming ecosystem, with topics including china iptv, iptv, iptv m3u, iptv player, msd lite, multicast, rtp, rtp proxy, rtsp proxy, and udpxy.
read the full rtp2httpd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or rtp2httpd more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and rtp2httpd has 2,102. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and rtp2httpd free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rtp2httpd under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and rtp2httpd?
tvheadend is written in C and rtp2httpd in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, tvheadend or rtp2httpd?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rtp2httpd if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.