Install liquidsoap with Homebrew, apt, Nix, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• liquidsoap

Project history

The Liquidsoap repository identifies the project as a multimedia streaming language and says it is notably used for netradios and webtvs. The README carries Savonet copyright years beginning in 2003, placing the project among the older surviving open-source media automation tools.

Liquidsoap evolved from an audio-focused streaming engine into a statically typed scripting language with dedicated media operators, backends, file generation, automation, HTTP support, and FFmpeg-based audio/video capabilities. The project uses OCaml, opam, and dune, and publishes release assets for package and binary distribution.

Adoption history

The official site frames Liquidsoap as a Unix-style streaming component that can start a web radio in a few lines, accept live DJ inputs, define custom transitions, and feed Icecast or Shoutcast servers. It has been used by radio automation projects and hosting stacks such as LibreTime, Centova, Radionomy, and AzuraCast-adjacent deployments.

Distribution packaging matters because Liquidsoap sits on a deep media stack: FFmpeg, codecs, OCaml libraries, opam packages, and server integrations. The official site recommends opam, notes availability in major distributions, and provides prebuilt packages and binaries through GitHub releases.

How it is used

Users write .liq scripts that define sources, playlists, live inputs, fallbacks, transitions, metadata handling, processing, and outputs. Typical deployments run Liquidsoap as a long-lived automation process feeding Icecast, Shoutcast, HLS, files, or other endpoints.

For packagers, Liquidsoap is interesting because it is both a language runtime and a media appliance: version changes can affect scripts, operators, encoders, FFmpeg integration, and production streaming behavior.

Why package nerds care

Liquidsoap is a niche but beloved package because it turns broadcast automation into code. It appeals to the sort of users who want radio scheduling, failover, jingles, live inputs, metadata, transcoding, and stream publishing controlled by a script rather than a GUI scheduler.

Its long release history shows the maintenance burden of media packaging: codec churn, OCaml toolchain changes, FFmpeg integration, distro packaging, Docker assets, and backward compatibility for scripts that may run unattended for years.

Timeline

• 2003: Savonet copyright years begin for Liquidsoap.
• 2007: The 0.3.x series added and refined playlist, Icecast harbor input, effects, filters, and transition behavior.
• 2010: Liquidsoap 0.9.3 was described as the last bugfix before 1.0.
• 2013: Liquidsoap 1.1.1 added FDK-AAC support, Windows service support, and major streaming API rewrites.
• 2016: Liquidsoap 1.2.0 added a websocket server and native simple JSON decoding.
• 2021: Liquidsoap 2.0.0 added language features such as errors, optional values, conditional syntax, list spread/deconstruction, JSON changes, FFmpeg video encoding and decoding, hardware-accelerated video encoding, FFmpeg filters, and HLS video support.
• 2026: The GitHub repository records Liquidsoap 2.4.5 as published on June 15, 2026.

Related projects

• Liquidsoap commonly pairs with Icecast, Shoutcast, FFmpeg, opam, dune, Docker images, and radio automation systems such as LibreTime and AzuraCast.
• Adjacent tooling includes Mixxx and Darkice for live source workflows, plus editor tooling such as liquidsoap-prettier, VS Code syntax support, tree-sitter grammar, and CodeMirror language support listed by the project.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/liquidsoap
• https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap
• https://github.com/savonet/liquidsoap/releases
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/savonet/liquidsoap/main/CHANGES.md
• https://www.liquidsoap.info/