How to livestream from your DJI drone
The process is fairly simple. To livestream from your drone, follow these steps:
Live streaming from a DJI drone used to be a low quality experience that frankly wasn’t worth the effort. It involved a myriad of third party software and screen capturing of your phone’s screen, which as you’ve guessed, included all the settings and buttons of your screen.
That’s not the case anymore. Now the DJI Fly apps include a native live streaming feature, which have simplified the live streaming experience.
You can live stream with your DJI drone by going to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook or any other platform that supports RTMP (the protocol used for live streaming), getting your unique streaming code, and pasting it into your live streaming option within the app.
The process is the same for all drones using the DJI Fly App. In this article I’ll show you exactly how to do that.
Let’s start with why you’d want to use a drone to livestream in the first place. Using a drone for livestreaming can be a great way to capture unique and dynamic aerial perspectives that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain.
Drones are particularly well-suited for live streaming events or situations that are taking place in large or expansive outdoor areas, such as concerts, sporting events, or natural disasters. They can provide a much wider field of view than a stationary camera, allowing viewers to see a more complete and immersive picture of what is happening.
Before an update in 2021, only DJI Prosumer drones like the Phantom 4 could stream. Now however almost any newer DJI drone that uses the DJI Fly App or Go 3 cna livestream.
Before we get into the details, let’s have an overview on how the live streaming process as a whole works.
DJI live streaming with drones is made possible by RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). If you’ve ever tried streaming anything, you’d know that RTMP is a protocol that makes it possible to transmit video content across multiple platforms at the same time.
Setting up an RTMP connection is vital because that’s the only way you can stream. The port acts as a relay point of sorts between your live footage and the streaming platforms like Youtube or Twitch.
With the DJI Fly App, you only get the RTMP option. But as long as the streaming service supports RTMP, you can use it to stream live drone footage. With the DJI GO the process is much simpler as you simply have to choose the streaming platform and automatically connect your account.
We’ll look at the streaming process through the DJI Fly app.
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The process is fairly simple. To livestream from your drone, follow these steps:
1. Click the settings button on your Fly app (the three dots).
2. Go to “Transmission"
3. Click on “Live Streaming Platforms”
4. When you see RTMP on the next screen, click on it.
5. You’ll get a blank text field where you need to input your RTMP link (more on that below).
6. If you’re streaming on Youtube, go to Youtube Studio and click on “Go Live”
7. At the bottom left, you’ll find an option to copy the Stream URL and Stream Key.
8. Add a / (slash mark) at the end of the Stream URL, afterwards paste the Stream Key after the slash mark, and paste that address in the RTMP address space on the DJI Fly App.
9. IF you’re streaming on Facebook, Go to Live Video then to Streaming Software, and you should see your Stream Key.
10. Repeat the same process outlined above.
11. Select the Resolution and Bitrate you want to film in. the higher bitrate and resolution the better the quality of your livestream, but keep in mind the higher you go the more internet bandwidth you’ll be using.
12. Start flying your drone, the livestream will automatically show on whichever streaming platform you choose.
13. Be careful of what you say because your phone’s microphone input will also be transmitted. This is so you can talk to your viewers.
You can livestream using any drone compatible with the DJI Fly App, such as the DJI Mavic 3, Air 2S, DJI Mini and Mini 2, and the Mavic Air 2.
Ensure you have the latest firmware since it may not work with outdated versions though.
You can livestream using any drone compatible with the DJI Go or Go 4, such as the DJI Mavic 3, Air 2S, DJI Mini and Mini 2, and the Mavic Air 2.
The process with the Go or Go 4 app is actually much easier than it is with the Fly app. You’ll find it very intuitive. Just ensure you have the latest firmware since it may not work with outdated versions though.
As long as you have a newer drone with an updated firmware, you should be able to Livestream live footage. I honestly believe one of the better updates that DJI has done is to make a native live streaming option in the DJI Fly & Go apps.
And it’s totally worth it! There are many people who’ve built whole youtube channels solely around their DJI livestream videos.
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