***

id: aabf386c-d944-4b2d-a73c-108cae08af1f
title: startStream
slug: /node/reference/video/room-session/start-stream
description: startStream method for the RoomSession class.
max-toc-depth: 3
----------------

[roomsession-41]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session

[roomsessionstream-8]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session-stream

[video-roomsessionstream]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session-stream#events

### startStream

* **startStream**(): `Promise`\<[`RoomSessionStream`][roomsessionstream-8]>

Starts streaming the audio/video of this room to an external service. You can
use the returned [`RoomSessionStream`][roomsessionstream-8] object to
interact with the stream.

#### Parameters

<ParamField path="params" type="object" required>
  Object containing the parameters of the method.
</ParamField>

<Indent>
  <ParamField path="url" type="string" required>
    RTMP or RTMPS url. This must be the address of a server accepting incoming RTMP/RTMPS streams.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="listen" type="object">
    Object of event listeners. See [RoomSessionStream Events][video-roomsessionstream] for a list of valid events.
  </ParamField>
</Indent>

#### Returns

`Promise`\<[`RoomSessionStream`][roomsessionstream-8]>

A promise that resolves to a [`RoomSessionStream`][roomsessionstream-8] object.

#### Example

In this example, we wait for a room to start and then start a stream in that room.
We then stop the stream after 10 seconds. This example assumes that there is a [`RoomSession`][roomsession-41]
already active and that members are joining the room.

```javascript
import { SignalWire } from "@signalwire/realtime-api";

// Initialize the SignalWire client
const client = await SignalWire({ project: "ProjectID Here", token: "Token Here" });

// Access video client from the main client
const videoClient = client.video;

// Setup listener for when a room starts
await videoClient.listen({
  onRoomStarted: async (roomSession) => {
    console.log("Room started", roomSession.displayName);

    roomSession.startStream({
      url: "rtmp://example.com/stream"
    })
    
    await roomSession.listen({
      onStreamStarted: async (stream) => {
        console.log("Stream started", stream.state);

        // Wait 10 seconds and stop the stream
        setTimeout(() => {
          console.log("Stopping stream");
          stream.stop();
        }, 10000);
      },
      onStreamEnded: (stream) => {
        console.log("Stream ended", stream.id, stream.state);
      },
    });
  },
  onRoomEnded: async (roomSession) => {
    console.log("Room ended", roomSession.displayName);
  }
});
```