Ant Media Server v2.17.0 reflects our ongoing goal of making Ant Media Server extensible and building a strong AMS ecosystem. This allows both AMS users and our internal team to develop new plugins and add new features.
We are continuously adding new plugins to the AMS ecosystem. At the same time, we continuously improve Ant Media Server to simplify its usage and enhance the overall user experience.
We release new versions quarterly, and v2.17.0 is the Q4 2025 release.
In this post, I’ll walk through the key features and improvements introduced in v2.17.0.
Table of Contents
Professional Ad Insertion Without the Hassle
SSAI with SCTE-35
The first new feature in v2.17.0 is Server Side Ad Insertion with SCTE-35. Monetizing live streams is an important feature for content providers and event broadcasters. In response to user requests, we have added SCTE-35 support in AMS.
It works like this:
The server automatically detects SCTE-35 ad markers coming from the SRT stream.
These markers are converted into standard HLS cue tags in real time.
Ads can be inserted using platforms like Google Ad Manager or AWS MediaTailor, directly into the stream.
Because ads are stitched on the server side, viewers don’t see buffering or player reloads. Ads play smoothly, just like the content itself—and they’re much harder to skip or block.
If you want to learn more about this feature and understand how it works on AMS, please check this detailed blog post on SCTE-35 ad insertion
A Simpler, More Stable Web SDK
Web SDK v2
We rebuilt our JavaScript SDK with one clear goal: make it easier to use and easier to trust.
The SDK now fully supports
async/await, so your code is cleaner and easier to follow.Connection and reconnection handling are more reliable, even on unstable networks.
The SDK is modular, so you only include what you actually need.
This means fewer bugs, smaller bundles, and faster development.
You may reach the new Web SDK in the v2 folder of the web applications deployed with the AMS installation.
We will continue to support the old Web SDK till the users adopt the new version.
Low Latency HLS at Scale
Among the small improvements and fixes in the new release, one of the most important ones is improvements in the Low Latency HLS.
Firstly, Low Latency HLS is no longer limited to a single server. You can now deliver low-latency streams across a cluster while keeping delays around 2–5 seconds—even for very large audiences. Streams are distributed across multiple nodes in the cluster.
Also, we had improvements on Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) with LL-HLS playback. You feel smooth switches among the different resolutions while playing your stream with LL-HLS.
Conlusion
I have shared the recent key features in the latest release, v2.17.0, above. You can check the other improvements and fixes list here.
We are planning to release a new version each quarter. The next big release will be at the end of March. See you then.
