Self-Hosted video sharing and streaming platform with federation possibility and mobile apps.

PeerTube is a decentralized, open-source video hosting platform that allows users to host and share their own video content. It supports a federated network architecture, allowing independent instances to interconnect and communicate without reliance on a central server. PeerTube offers a scalable alternative to traditional, centralized big-tech video sharing services.

Alternative to: YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo, (partially TikTok)

✅ Decentralized archiecture and storage

✅ No reliance on a central company

✅ Reducing censorship risks/Community-driven governance

✅ No restrictive nor opaque content policies

✅ No extensive data collection

✅ You own your data

✅ P2P between clients to lower bandwidth consumption

❌ Expertise required for setup and maintenance

❌ Limited audience reach for now

❌ Scalability can be challenging

❌ Lacks advanced analytics

• Federation: ★★★★★
  • The server acts as a home for users across the entire PeerTube network using the ActivityPub protocol.
  • Federation can be completely disabled, making it function like a standalone YouTube instance.
  • Admins can mirror videos from other instances if needed.
• P2P (Peer-to-Peer): ★★★★★
  • Helps save bandwidth through peer-to-peer sharing.
  • Can be disabled or set as opt-in at the server level.
  • Developers warn that P2P may expose the IP addresses of viewers, which might not be suitable for sensitive content like political videos (recommended to disable in such cases).
• Video Playback: ★★★★★
  • The implementation provides smooth video playback.
  • Supports HLS (HTTP Live Streaming).
  • Allows easy embedding with simple embed URL generation, similar to YouTube.
  • Videos can be downloaded directly.
• Video Upload: ★★★★★
  • Offers a smooth, AJAX-based upload process.
  • Video details can be prepared while the upload is in progress.
• Installation: ★★★☆☆
  • Not highly complex but relatively time-consuming.
  • A comprehensive installation script could simplify the process, though it might reduce the admin's control and understanding.
  • No major issues encountered; instructions are clear and require minimal adjustments to work effectively.
  • Fortunately, upgrading the system seems to be significantly less complicated than the initial installation.

Prerequisites

Begin with a fresh installation of Debian 12 (netinstall). First, install some essential packages:

apt -y install curl sudo unzip

Create a working directory for the PeerTube setup:

cd  
mkdir peertube\_setup  
cd peertube\_setup

Install NodeJS

Download and run the NodeJS setup script, then install NodeJS. Verify the installation with node -v:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup\_23.x -o nodesource\_setup.sh  
bash ./nodesource\_setup.sh  
apt -y install nodejs  
node -v

Install Yarn

Install Yarn globally using npm and verify that it is installed with yarn --version:

npm install --global yarn  
yarn --version

Install Python (>=3.8)

Install Python development packages and pip. Verify that the Python version is at least 3.8:

apt install python3-dev python3-pip python-is-python3  
python --version

Install Additional Dependencies

Install the required dependencies for PeerTube. Verification commands are included where applicable:

apt install certbot nginx ffmpeg postgresql postgresql-contrib openssl g++ make redis-server git cron wget  
ffmpeg -version  
g++ -v  
redis-server --version

Start PostgreSQL and Redis

Start and enable the PostgreSQL and Redis services:

systemctl start redis postgresql  
systemctl enable redis-server postgresql

Install PeerTube

Create a dedicated user for PeerTube with no login shell. Then, set up the PostgreSQL database user and database, including the necessary extensions:

useradd -m -d /var/www/peertube -s /usr/sbin/nologin -p peertube peertube  
passwd -l peertube  
sudo -u postgres createuser -P peertube

Enter the password for the PeerTube database user when prompted.

sudo -u postgres createdb -O peertube -E UTF8 -T template0 peertube\_prod  
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE EXTENSION pg\_trgm;" peertube\_prod  
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE EXTENSION unaccent;" peertube\_prod

Switch to the PeerTube directory and create the required subdirectories with proper permissions:

cd /var/www/peertube  
sudo -u peertube mkdir config storage versions  
sudo -u peertube chmod 750 config/

Download and install the latest PeerTube version. The commands below are used exactly as provided:

cd /var/www/peertube/versions VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/chocobozzz/peertube/releases/latest | grep tag\_name | cut -d '"' -f 4) && echo "Latest Peertube version is $VERSION"  
sudo -u peertube wget "https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/releases/download/${VERSION}/peertube-${VERSION}.zip"  
sudo -u peertube unzip peertube-${VERSION}.zip && sudo -u peertube rm peertube-${VERSION}.zip  
cd /var/www/peertube  
sudo -u peertube ln -s versions/peertube-${VERSION} ./peertube-latest  
cd ./peertube-latest && sudo -H -u peertube yarn install --production --pure-lockfile  
cd /var/www/peertube  
sudo -u peertube cp peertube-latest/config/default.yaml config/default.yaml  
sudo -u peertube cp peertube-latest/config/production.yaml.example config/production.yaml

Generate a secret using:

openssl rand -hex 32

Edit the production configuration file. In it, set the hostname, adjust the database password (as configured above), and generate a secret with the command below. Insert the generated secret into the peertube: and secrets: section.

nano config/production.yaml

Configure the Web Server

Copy the provided Nginx configuration and modify it to suit your domain and local setup:

cp /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest/support/nginx/peertube /etc/nginx/sites-available/peertube  
sed -i 's/${WEBSERVER\_HOST}//g' /etc/nginx/sites-available/peertube  
sed -i 's/${PEERTUBE\_HOST}/127.0.0.1:9000/g' /etc/nginx/sites-available/peertube  
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/peertube /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/peertube

If you wish to use a self-signed certificate (for public domains, using certbot is recommended), run the following commands to create one, then update your Nginx configuration:

mkdir /etc/ssl/selfsigned  
chmod 700 /etc/ssl/selfsigned  
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/selfsigned/nginx-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/selfsigned/nginx-selfsigned.crt

Update the Nginx configuration to use the self-signed certificates:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/peertube

Ensure the following directives are present in the configuration file:

ssl\_certificate /etc/ssl/selfsigned/nginx-selfsigned.crt;  
ssl\_certificate\_key /etc/ssl/selfsigned/nginx-selfsigned.key;

Restart Nginx after making these changes:

systemctl restart nginx

Enable Autostart for PeerTube

Copy the systemd service file, review it if necessary, then enable and start the PeerTube service. Monitor the logs for any errors:

cp /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest/support/systemd/peertube.service /etc/systemd/system/  
nano /etc/systemd/system/peertube.service  
systemctl daemon-reload  
systemctl enable peertube  
systemctl start peertube  
journalctl -feu peertube

If you encounter the error error: null value in column "nodeVersion" of relation "application" violates not-null constraint, ensure that Redis is running. If needed, drop the database and recreate the necessary extensions, then restart PeerTube. This deletes all PeerTube database, DO THIS ONLY IN A CASE OF A NEW PEERTUBE INSTALLATION!

sudo -u postgres dropdb peertube\_prod  
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE EXTENSION pg\_trgm;" peertube\_prod  
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE EXTENSION unaccent;" peertube\_prod  
systemctl restart peertube

Set Administrator Password

Reset the password for the administrator account (username root) by running the following command from the PeerTube directory:

cd /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest && NODE\_CONFIG\_DIR=/var/www/peertube/config NODE\_ENV=production npm run reset-password -- -u root

Optimize TCP Performance (Optional)

For improved TCP performance, copy the provided sysctl configuration file and apply the settings:

cp /var/www/peertube/peertube-latest/support/sysctl.d/30-peertube-tcp.conf /etc/sysctl.d/  
sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/30-peertube-tcp.conf

For additional details, please refer to the following resources:

• PeerTube Dependencies Documentation
• PeerTube Installation Guide

Developer: Chocobozzz, Framasoft, community