What is the difference between Shoutcast and Icecast?
There are two main options for running a radio server with us and these are using an Icecast server or a Shoutcast server.
Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that both server types are very similar in what they do, but there are some subtle differences you might want to be aware of when choosing your server type.
- Both SHOUTcast and Icecast will be listed on their own Internet Radio Directory. Because the SHOUTcast directory is more popular, this gives you excellent exposure and will likely lead to getting more listeners than you would on an Icecast directory. However, if you do not depend on the directories to get your listeners, then you can go with either one, SHOUTcast or Icecast.
- Both Shoutcast v2 and Icecast have mount points, meaning and automatically transfer listeners from the Auto DJ to the Live stream and back again without needing to manually turn anything on or off. So you connect, and all the listeners are transferred from the auto DJ to the live stream and then back again when you are finished.
Shoutcast Supported file formats
| Source Clients | Input Formats | Output Formats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP3 | AAC | Ogg Vorbis | FLAC | WAV | MP3 | AAC/AAC+ | NSV video | |
| sc_trans v1 | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| sc_trans v2 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, requires a license key |
Yes | Yes, but unsupported |
| Liquidsoap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Live DSP Input | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Icecast Supported file formats
| Source Clients | Input Formats | Output Formats | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP3 | AAC | Ogg Vorbis | FLAC | WAV | MP3 | AAC/AAC+ | Ogg Vorbis | Ogg Opus | Ogg FLAC | NSV video |
OggTheora video |
WebM video |
|
| IceS 0.4 | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| IceS 2.0 | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Liquidsoap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Live DSPInput | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
