Rubylight features #

Documentation · Getting started · Configuration · Performance

Everything Rubylight does, grouped by what you will notice while streaming. For the numbers behind the speed, see Performance.

Fast video on Radeon #

• Native AMF encoding for H.264, HEVC and AV1, driven directly instead of through a generic wrapper, with defaults tuned per codec from VMAF measurements.
• Radeon compute. Frame copies, colour conversion and letterboxing run on D3D12 compute queues beside the game's graphics work, so your game and your stream stop waiting on each other.
• HDR from capture to screen. Ten-bit BT.2020/PQ through HEVC and AV1, with HDR metadata in the keyframes, and ten-bit SDR where you want it.
• PyroWave HDR 4:4:4. A colour sample for every pixel, so coloured text and fine edges stay crisp, on Rubylight Android or any PyroWave-capable Moonlight client over a fast local network.
• Loss recovery that skips the keyframe. Lost frames are repaired with reference frame invalidation, and forward error correction covers short bursts of loss. When the host's own Wi-Fi briefly stops taking packets, the host sends a keyframe at once instead of waiting for the client to ask.
• Aspect ratio kept. A source of another shape sits between black bars, on the GPU and in the software encoders.

NVIDIA NVENC, Intel Quick Sync and software encoders are included for other hardware, but Rubylight's tuning is for Radeon.

Capture that keeps working #

• Windows Graphics Capture is the default on physical and virtual displays, with Desktop Duplication taking over whenever WGC cannot open.
• Locked screens and the secure desktop. Rubylight streams the lock screen and the sign-in prompt, so you can unlock a PC from your couch, and returns to WGC when the normal desktop comes back. It streams from a locked VM with no monitor attached (#6).
• Services, VMs and containers. The Windows service captures through a signed-in-user helper, and the same host runs on headless machines, virtual machines and Kubernetes pods with GPUs.
• Capture recovery. A lost Desktop Duplication session is reopened without ending the stream.

Displays #

• A virtual display per device, shared or off, with exclusive, extended, primary and isolated layouts, HDR, and a permanent count.
• Your layout back. The golden layout is restored after a stream or a crash, with a hotkey for the times you want it sooner.
• Per-device modes. A device's display mode sets the resolution and refresh of its display, and the stream keeps the client's frame rate.
• The client chooses the display. A Rubylight client can ask, per PC, for the virtual display alone, a virtual display beside your monitors, or no virtual display at all, without changing the host settings (configuration).
• Two clients at once, each on its own virtual display.
• Resolution changes mid-stream. A Rubylight client can switch the stream's size and frame rate without reconnecting, as a foldable does when it opens (control messages).

Input, audio and microphone #

• Keyboard, mouse, touch, pen and controllers. Every pad comes from one signed VHF driver that the installer brings.
• The right pad for the client. PlayStation-type clients get a DualSense with adaptive triggers, Nintendo-type clients a Switch Pro, and others an Xbox Series pad. Two touchpads from a Steam Deck sit side by side on one surface.
• Back grips. Steam Deck L4/R4/L5/R5 and Xbox Elite paddles press the buttons you choose, under Back grips.
• A real Steam Deck controller. With usbip-win2 installed, a Steam Deck client shows up on the host as a Steam Deck with trackpads, gyro and back grips.
• Audio. Endpoint matching by id, name, description or adapter, Steam Streaming Speakers, and surround Opus.
• Microphone. A client's microphone plays into Steam Streaming Microphone, encrypted. See Microphone.

Library and frame pacing #

• Apps. Commands, preparation and undo, detached commands, URLs and documents, working folder inference, and starting before sign-in.
• Steam. Sync on demand and every 30 seconds, with covers from Steam's cache or store. A Steam app's stream ends when the game's processes exit.
• Playnite. Library sync, launches through Playnite with the stream's environment, a "Playnite (Fullscreen)" app, and the game brought to the front.
• RTSS frame limits, game-provided frame generation, and Lossless Scaling profiles that Rubylight sets up and removes with the stream.
• Per-app and per-device overrides for stream, input, display and encoder settings.
• VRR. A 1000 Hz VRR mode for clients that ask for it.

Pairing and the web console #

• Pairing with a PIN or a one-time PIN, with per-device permissions and an enable switch. Devices paired after the first start view-only until you grant more.
• A rebuilt console for overview, library, devices, settings, logs, maintenance and API tokens, with frame rate, bitrate and encoder timing together, and a stream card that explains what the host did and why.
• A tray icon with notifications for pairing requests, new versions and apps launching, pausing and stopping.
• Logs and support. Rotating logs, a live tail in the console, crash dumps and a support bundle.
• Hardware readings for client overlays. Opt-in CPU usage and available AMD GPU readings, collected on request during a paired client's video stream. Compatible clients draw their own overlay; see the hardware-metrics protocol.

Install and update #

• One installer that sets up the service, drivers, firewall rule and shortcuts, and upgrades in place. It imports an existing Vibepollo or Apollo profile and keeps your settings, paired devices, apps and covers.
• Updates notify you first. Automatic installation is opt-in; the host downloads the exact installer from the official release, verifies its size and SHA-256 digest, waits for an idle minute and upgrades through the service. A failed copy or start restores the previous files.
• A service that restarts the host after a crash.
• Separate instances with independent profile folders and base ports. Copied portable packages can use an adjacent config folder from 2.2.6; older packages support explicit --config-dir paths. See multiple instances.

Clients #

Rubylight speaks the Moonlight protocol, so Moonlight and every other Sunshine-compatible client works with it: on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Apple TV, Android TV, game consoles and handhelds. H.264, HEVC and AV1 work in SDR and HDR wherever the client's device can decode them. PyroWave needs a PyroWave-capable client such as Rubylight Android.

See Getting started to pick a stream format.