[github/Chocobozzz/PeerTube.git] / FAQ.md

# FAQ

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- [Why did you create PeerTube?](#why-did-you-create-peertube)
- [I don't like the name "PeerTube"](#i-dont-like-the-name-peertube)
- [If nobody watches a video, is it seeded?](#if-nobody-watches-a-video-is-it-seeded)
- [What is WebSeed?](#what-is-webseed)
- [If a client requests each chunk of a video through HTTP, will the server be overloaded?](#if-a-client-requests-each-chunk-of-a-video-through-http-will-the-server-be-overloaded)
- [Will an index of all the videos of servers you follow be too large for small servers?](#will-an-index-of-all-the-videos-of-servers-you-follow-be-too-large-for-small-servers)
- [Which container formats can I use for the videos I want to upload?](#which-container-formats-can-i-use-for-the-videos-i-want-to-upload)
- [I want to change my domain name, how can I do that?](#i-want-to-change-my-domain-name-how-can-i-do-that)
- [Should I have a big server to run PeerTube?](#should-i-have-a-big-server-to-run-peertube)
- [Can I seed videos with my classic BitTorrent client (Transmission, rTorrent...)?](#can-i-seed-videos-with-my-classic-bittorrent-client-transmission-rtorrent)
- [Why host on GitHub and Framagit?](#why-host-on-github-and-framagit)
- [Are you going to use the Steem blockchain?](#are-you-going-to-use-the-steem-blockchain)
- [Are you going to support advertisements?](#are-you-going-to-support-advertisements)
- [What is "creation dynamic" and why not modify it?](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it)
- [I have found a security vulnerability in PeerTube. Where and how should I report it?](#i-have-found-a-security-vulnerability-in-peertube-where-and-how-should-i-report-it)

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## Why did you create PeerTube?

We can't build a FOSS video streaming alternative to YouTube, Dailymotion,
Vimeo... with centralized software. One organization alone may not have
enough money to pay for bandwidth and video storage of its servers.

Our stance is that only a decentralized network of servers can provide an
acceptable answer to technical issues (bandwidth, transcoding expenses, etc.)
and social answers (need for a particular moderation policy, preserving
content, etc.).

While a paragraph is not enough to answer all these problems, PeerTube has
very early prouded itself for using a contributory design, both for creating
communities as federated nodes (as [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) for
example), and for seeding videos (instances can seed each other's videos). But it's not
enough because one video could become popular and overload the server. That is
why we need to use a P2P protocol to limit the server load. Thanks to
[WebTorrent](https://github.com/feross/webtorrent), we can use BitTorrent
inside most modern web browsers, and users become seeds as the video gets
more viewers.


## I don't like the name "PeerTube"

PeerTube is just the name of the software. You can install it on your
server, and choose a name you want. For example, [this instance](https://framatube.org/)
is named "Framatube".


## If nobody watches a video, is it seeded?

Yes, the origin server always seeds videos uploaded on it thanks to
[Webseed](http://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0019.html).
It can also be helped by other servers using [redundancy](/support/doc/redundancy.md).


## What is WebSeed?

It is a BitTorrent extension that allows a server to seed a file through HTTP.
It just needs to statically serve a file, then the clients will request chunks
with a `Content-Range` HTTP header.


## If a client requests each chunk of a video through HTTP, will the server be overloaded?

Not really. Reverse proxies like Nginx handle very well requests of static
files. In my tests, it can send chunks at 10MB/s without consuming more than 5%
of CPU on a very small VPS.


## Will an index of all the videos of servers you follow be too large for small servers?

In our benchmarks, 1,000,000 videos takes around 2GB of storage on PostgreSQL.
We think it is acceptable for a video platform.


## Which container formats can I use for the videos I want to upload?

WEBM, MP4 or OGV videos.


## I want to change my domain name, how can I do that?

You can't. You'll need to reinstall an instance and reupload your videos.


## Should I have a big server to run PeerTube?

Not really. For instance, the demonstration server [https://peertube.cpy.re](https://peertube.cpy.re) has 2 vCore and 2GB of RAM and consumes on average:
 * **CPU** -> nginx ~ 20%, peertube ~ 10%,   postgres ~ 1%, redis ~ 3%
 * **RAM** -> nginx ~ 6MB, peertube ~ 120MB, postgres ~ 10MB, redis ~ 5MB

So you would need:
 * **CPU** 1 core if you don't enable transcoding, 2 at least if you enable it (works with 1 but this is really slow)
 * **RAM** 1GB
 * **Storage** Completely depends on how many videos your users will upload


## Can I seed videos with my classic BitTorrent client (Transmission, rTorrent...)?

Yes you can, but you won't be able to send data to users that watch the video in their web browser.
The reason is they connects to peers through WebRTC whereas your BitTorrent client uses classic TCP/UDP.
To check if your BitTorrent client supports WebTorrent you can see this issue: https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent/issues/369


## Why host on GitHub and Framagit?

The project has initially been hosted on GitHub by Chocobozzz. A full migration to [Framagit](https://framagit.org/chocobozzz/PeerTube) would be ideal now that Framasoft supports PeerTube, but it would take a lot of time and is an ongoing effort.


## Are you going to use the Steem blockchain?

Short answer: no, since like most appchains/votechains, it modifies the dynamic of creation, and as such cannot be integrated into mainline PeerTube. Read more about that in [the dedicated section](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it).

Long answer is that the Steem blockchain goes astray of its promises of fairness and decentralization: the deliberate relaunching of the currency to ensure centralization, and the stake-based voting power, makes manipulation by wealthy users inevitable ([source here](https://decentralize.today/the-ugly-truth-behind-steemit-1a525f5e156)).
Worse, money generated primarily goes to stakeholders ([source here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@orly/how-the-steem-pyramid-scheme-really-works) ).
For more information, read the complete whitepaper analysis done by [Tone Vays](https://twitter.com/ToneVays/status/761975587451928576).

## Are you going to support advertisements?

Short answer: no, we don't want advertisers to dictate which content should be financed.
That would modify the dynamic of creation; as such it cannot be integrated into mainline PeerTube.
Read more about that in [the dedicated section](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it).

The long answer is probably more subtle. YouTube has shaped generations of video creators by making it easy to place ads;
but making big money with the platform can be a challenge.
A typical video ad runs between $.10 and $.30 per 1000 views (as of March 2018).
More than 70% of video creators use ads as the main way to make money on YouTube, yet less than 3% of video creators make a living out of their YouTube activity (with partnerships and commissions, otherwise counting only ad revenue it drops to 1%).
Read more about it in the 2018 study by Mathias Bärtl, [*YouTube channels, uploads and views: A statistical analysis of the past 10 years*](https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cq4wtxm83s95t2/10.1177%401354856517736979.pdf?dl=0).
To the best of our knowledge, small and medium-community creators are better off getting support from their community on platforms such as Liberapay, Tipeee or Patreon.
Moreover, don't forget that advertisers already pay considering YouTube's large user base; with PeerTube's way smaller user base and refusal of user profiling, a pay-per-view that's lower than YouTube's could only be expected.

## What is "creation dynamic" and why not modify it?

We define creation dynamic as the way any original content, regardless of its monetary value, is created and incentivized.
We want to stay neutral by limiting the influence of our platform on authors as much as possible. We are not curators, and want to limit the scope of PeerTube instance owners and administrators' responsibilities to moderation tasks only.

If you still want to use a functionality potentially altering that state of things, then you could interface with our upcoming plug-in system, which will be the place to integrate such features in the near future.

With that being said, know that we are not against these features *per se*.
We are always open to discussion about potential PRs bringing in features, even of that kind. But we certainly won't dedicate our limited resources to develop them ourselves when there is so much to be done elsewhere.

## I have found a security vulnerability in PeerTube. Where and how should I report it?

We have a policy for contributions related to security. Please refer to [SECURITY.md](./SECURITY.md)
Commit	Line	Data
	1	# FAQ
	2
	3	<!-- Table of contents generated with DocToc: https://github.com/thlorenz/doctoc -->
	4	<!-- START doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
	5	<!-- DON'T EDIT THIS SECTION, INSTEAD RE-RUN doctoc TO UPDATE -->
	6
	7
	8	- [Why did you create PeerTube?](#why-did-you-create-peertube)
	9	- [I don't like the name "PeerTube"](#i-dont-like-the-name-peertube)
	10	- [If nobody watches a video, is it seeded?](#if-nobody-watches-a-video-is-it-seeded)
	11	- [What is WebSeed?](#what-is-webseed)
	12	- [If a client requests each chunk of a video through HTTP, will the server be overloaded?](#if-a-client-requests-each-chunk-of-a-video-through-http-will-the-server-be-overloaded)
	13	- [Will an index of all the videos of servers you follow be too large for small servers?](#will-an-index-of-all-the-videos-of-servers-you-follow-be-too-large-for-small-servers)
	14	- [Which container formats can I use for the videos I want to upload?](#which-container-formats-can-i-use-for-the-videos-i-want-to-upload)
	15	- [I want to change my domain name, how can I do that?](#i-want-to-change-my-domain-name-how-can-i-do-that)
	16	- [Should I have a big server to run PeerTube?](#should-i-have-a-big-server-to-run-peertube)
	17	- [Can I seed videos with my classic BitTorrent client (Transmission, rTorrent...)?](#can-i-seed-videos-with-my-classic-bittorrent-client-transmission-rtorrent)
	18	- [Why host on GitHub and Framagit?](#why-host-on-github-and-framagit)
	19	- [Are you going to use the Steem blockchain?](#are-you-going-to-use-the-steem-blockchain)
	20	- [Are you going to support advertisements?](#are-you-going-to-support-advertisements)
	21	- [What is "creation dynamic" and why not modify it?](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it)
	22	- [I have found a security vulnerability in PeerTube. Where and how should I report it?](#i-have-found-a-security-vulnerability-in-peertube-where-and-how-should-i-report-it)
	23
	24	<!-- END doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
	25
	26	## Why did you create PeerTube?
	27
	28	We can't build a FOSS video streaming alternative to YouTube, Dailymotion,
	29	Vimeo... with centralized software. One organization alone may not have
	30	enough money to pay for bandwidth and video storage of its servers.
	31
	32	Our stance is that only a decentralized network of servers can provide an
	33	acceptable answer to technical issues (bandwidth, transcoding expenses, etc.)
	34	and social answers (need for a particular moderation policy, preserving
	35	content, etc.).
	36
	37	While a paragraph is not enough to answer all these problems, PeerTube has
	38	very early prouded itself for using a contributory design, both for creating
	39	communities as federated nodes (as [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) for
	40	example), and for seeding videos (instances can seed each other's videos). But it's not
	41	enough because one video could become popular and overload the server. That is
	42	why we need to use a P2P protocol to limit the server load. Thanks to
	43	[WebTorrent](https://github.com/feross/webtorrent), we can use BitTorrent
	44	inside most modern web browsers, and users become seeds as the video gets
	45	more viewers.
	46
	47
	48	## I don't like the name "PeerTube"
	49
	50	PeerTube is just the name of the software. You can install it on your
	51	server, and choose a name you want. For example, [this instance](https://framatube.org/)
	52	is named "Framatube".
	53
	54
	55	## If nobody watches a video, is it seeded?
	56
	57	Yes, the origin server always seeds videos uploaded on it thanks to
	58	[Webseed](http://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0019.html).
	59	It can also be helped by other servers using [redundancy](/support/doc/redundancy.md).
	60
	61
	62	## What is WebSeed?
	63
	64	It is a BitTorrent extension that allows a server to seed a file through HTTP.
	65	It just needs to statically serve a file, then the clients will request chunks
	66	with a `Content-Range` HTTP header.
	67
	68
	69	## If a client requests each chunk of a video through HTTP, will the server be overloaded?
	70
	71	Not really. Reverse proxies like Nginx handle very well requests of static
	72	files. In my tests, it can send chunks at 10MB/s without consuming more than 5%
	73	of CPU on a very small VPS.
	74
	75
	76	## Will an index of all the videos of servers you follow be too large for small servers?
	77
	78	In our benchmarks, 1,000,000 videos takes around 2GB of storage on PostgreSQL.
	79	We think it is acceptable for a video platform.
	80
	81
	82	## Which container formats can I use for the videos I want to upload?
	83
	84	WEBM, MP4 or OGV videos.
	85
	86
	87	## I want to change my domain name, how can I do that?
	88
	89	You can't. You'll need to reinstall an instance and reupload your videos.
	90
	91
	92	## Should I have a big server to run PeerTube?
	93
	94	Not really. For instance, the demonstration server [https://peertube.cpy.re](https://peertube.cpy.re) has 2 vCore and 2GB of RAM and consumes on average:
	95	* CPU -> nginx ~ 20%, peertube ~ 10%, postgres ~ 1%, redis ~ 3%
	96	* RAM -> nginx ~ 6MB, peertube ~ 120MB, postgres ~ 10MB, redis ~ 5MB
	97
	98	So you would need:
	99	* CPU 1 core if you don't enable transcoding, 2 at least if you enable it (works with 1 but this is really slow)
	100	* RAM 1GB
	101	* Storage Completely depends on how many videos your users will upload
	102
	103
	104	## Can I seed videos with my classic BitTorrent client (Transmission, rTorrent...)?
	105
	106	Yes you can, but you won't be able to send data to users that watch the video in their web browser.
	107	The reason is they connects to peers through WebRTC whereas your BitTorrent client uses classic TCP/UDP.
	108	To check if your BitTorrent client supports WebTorrent you can see this issue: https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent/issues/369
	109
	110
	111	## Why host on GitHub and Framagit?
	112
	113	The project has initially been hosted on GitHub by Chocobozzz. A full migration to [Framagit](https://framagit.org/chocobozzz/PeerTube) would be ideal now that Framasoft supports PeerTube, but it would take a lot of time and is an ongoing effort.
	114
	115
	116	## Are you going to use the Steem blockchain?
	117
	118	Short answer: no, since like most appchains/votechains, it modifies the dynamic of creation, and as such cannot be integrated into mainline PeerTube. Read more about that in [the dedicated section](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it).
	119
	120	Long answer is that the Steem blockchain goes astray of its promises of fairness and decentralization: the deliberate relaunching of the currency to ensure centralization, and the stake-based voting power, makes manipulation by wealthy users inevitable ([source here](https://decentralize.today/the-ugly-truth-behind-steemit-1a525f5e156)).
	121	Worse, money generated primarily goes to stakeholders ([source here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@orly/how-the-steem-pyramid-scheme-really-works) ).
	122	For more information, read the complete whitepaper analysis done by [Tone Vays](https://twitter.com/ToneVays/status/761975587451928576).
	123
	124	## Are you going to support advertisements?
	125
	126	Short answer: no, we don't want advertisers to dictate which content should be financed.
	127	That would modify the dynamic of creation; as such it cannot be integrated into mainline PeerTube.
	128	Read more about that in [the dedicated section](#what-is-creation-dynamic-and-why-not-modify-it).
	129
	130	The long answer is probably more subtle. YouTube has shaped generations of video creators by making it easy to place ads;
	131	but making big money with the platform can be a challenge.
	132	A typical video ad runs between $.10 and $.30 per 1000 views (as of March 2018).
	133	More than 70% of video creators use ads as the main way to make money on YouTube, yet less than 3% of video creators make a living out of their YouTube activity (with partnerships and commissions, otherwise counting only ad revenue it drops to 1%).
	134	Read more about it in the 2018 study by Mathias Bärtl, [YouTube channels, uploads and views: A statistical analysis of the past 10 years](https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cq4wtxm83s95t2/10.1177%401354856517736979.pdf?dl=0).
	135	To the best of our knowledge, small and medium-community creators are better off getting support from their community on platforms such as Liberapay, Tipeee or Patreon.
	136	Moreover, don't forget that advertisers already pay considering YouTube's large user base; with PeerTube's way smaller user base and refusal of user profiling, a pay-per-view that's lower than YouTube's could only be expected.
	137
	138	## What is "creation dynamic" and why not modify it?
	139
	140	We define creation dynamic as the way any original content, regardless of its monetary value, is created and incentivized.
	141	We want to stay neutral by limiting the influence of our platform on authors as much as possible. We are not curators, and want to limit the scope of PeerTube instance owners and administrators' responsibilities to moderation tasks only.
	142
	143	If you still want to use a functionality potentially altering that state of things, then you could interface with our upcoming plug-in system, which will be the place to integrate such features in the near future.
	144
	145	With that being said, know that we are not against these features per se.
	146	We are always open to discussion about potential PRs bringing in features, even of that kind. But we certainly won't dedicate our limited resources to develop them ourselves when there is so much to be done elsewhere.
	147
	148	## I have found a security vulnerability in PeerTube. Where and how should I report it?
	149
	150	We have a policy for contributions related to security. Please refer to [SECURITY.md](./SECURITY.md)