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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.streampixel.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Pixel Streaming captures whatever is rendered in your Unreal viewport — including video playback. The fastest way to play a video inside your UE project is the Media Plate actor introduced in Unreal Engine 5.1.

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Setup

1

Place your video in /Content/Movies/

Copy your video file (.mp4, .mov, etc.) into your project at Content/Movies/. Unreal expects this folder.
2

Create a File Media Source

In the Content Browser, right-click → Media → File Media Source. Point it at the video in Content/Movies/.
3

Drag the source into the viewport

Drag the File Media Source asset into your level. Unreal automatically creates a Media Plate actor that handles texture, material, and audio for you.
4

Position and scale

Move and scale the Media Plate where the video should appear in your scene — on a wall, a screen, a floating panel, etc.

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Controlling playback from blueprints

The Media Plate exposes Play, Pause, Stop, Seek, and SetLooping nodes. Bind them to triggers, UI buttons, or events forwarded from your Pixel Streaming frontend.
To start playback when a viewer clicks a UI button on your frontend, listen for the corresponding JSON message and call Play on the Media Plate.

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Audio

Media Plate plays the embedded audio track automatically. Pixel Streaming captures the audio along with the video frames and streams both to the browser.
Browser autoplay policies may mute audio until the user interacts with the page. If your stream needs audio from frame zero, prompt the viewer to click the page first, or unmute via UI control after a user gesture.

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Performance notes

  • Decoding video on the server costs CPU. For 1080p+ at 60fps, expect a noticeable load on the worker.
  • Re-encode source videos to H.264 with reasonable bitrate (≤ 8 Mbps for 1080p) before importing.
  • For very large videos, consider streaming from a CDN URL using the Stream Media Source instead of File Media Source.

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Older Unreal versions (5.0 and earlier)

Media Plate is 5.1+. On older versions, use the manual pipeline: Media Player asset → Media Texture → Material with the texture → apply to a static mesh. The platform handles streaming the same way; only the in-engine setup differs.

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Next steps

JSON messaging

Trigger video playback from your frontend.

Performance tuning

Pick the right codec and bitrate for video-heavy scenes.