Web transports

Native audio

The simplest browser integration points an <audio> element at the mount:

<audio controls src="https://radio.example.com/radio"></audio>

Browser codec support depends on the configured profile. Kite does not transcode audio.

HLS

For maximum reach — iOS Safari, unstable mobile networks, CDN caching — point an HLS player at the live playlist:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/hls.js@1"></script>
<audio id="audio" controls></audio>
<script>
  const audio = document.querySelector("#audio");
  if (audio.canPlayType("application/vnd.apple.mpegurl")) {
    audio.src = "https://radio.example.com/radio.m3u8";
  } else if (window.Hls) {
    new Hls().loadSource("https://radio.example.com/radio.m3u8").attachMedia(audio);
  }
</script>

HLS is available for mp3 and aac-adts mounts without transcoding. The window keeps six ~4-second MPEG-TS segments, so end-to-end latency is roughly 10–15 seconds versus under a second for the native <audio> path. Source switches appear as #EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY.

SSE

SSE carries metadata and source state without carrying audio bytes:

GET /_kite/v1/events?mount=/radio

Events include source and metadata types. Last-Event-ID enables replay from the recent event history.

WebSocket

WebSocket sends a JSON hello message, binary media frames/pages, and JSON metadata/source events. Binary payloads are raw bytes for the configured mount profile, not a browser-transcoded format.

The TypeScript SDK in sdk/ provides KitePlayer and connectKiteSocket() helpers.

HTTP/3

When server.http3_address is configured alongside HTTPS, Kite advertises HTTP/3 with Alt-Svc and serves QUIC over UDP. Keep TCP and UDP open on the public HTTPS port; TCP remains the fallback for clients without HTTP/3.