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SHOUTcast hosting · on request

SHOUTcast hosting on any station you open here

New stations at Primcast start on Icecast. Ask for SHOUTcast and support switches yours to SHOUTcast DNAS 2.6.1: the stream ID a SHOUTcast encoder looks for, MP3 or AAC, and a way into the shoutcast.com directory. Your plan, your price and your listener ceiling do not move.

Primcast radio is changing over to Icecast. A station opened today, and every one we have already moved, runs on our Icecast-based platform, and a SHOUTcast encoder connects to it as it always has: address, port and password, nothing else to change. All three plans take Icecast and SHOUTcast encoders alike, and listeners hear the station in the same players they use today.

Open a free station How to ask for SHOUTcast Encoder settings

Two servers of our own, one in New York and one in Bucharest. On 14 September 2026 they carried 335 SHOUTcast stations.

Choosing

Four good reasons to ask for SHOUTcast

  1. Your encoder only speaks SHOUTcast

    Winamp's SHOUTcast Source DSP is the familiar example, and some playout programs and studio boxes ship a SHOUTcast preset with nothing beside it. Point them at a SHOUTcast server and they connect with no workaround. Set up SHOUTcast DSP

  2. You want to be found on shoutcast.com

    The shoutcast.com directory is where many listeners go looking for a station by name or genre, and a SHOUTcast server can report itself to it. What that takes is explained under a listing on shoutcast.com.

  3. You are bringing a SHOUTcast station with you

    Your DJs keep the encoder type they already know, and the players that expect a SHOUTcast server keep finding one. The address, port and password are new, and the panel lists all three.

  4. You broadcast in AAC

    MP3 and AAC are the two stream formats SHOUTcast documents. Icecast will carry AAC too, but its own project does not list it as supported, so a station built around AAC is on firmer ground here.

If none of that describes you, keep the Icecast server your station opens with. It takes more formats, Opus and Ogg Vorbis among them, and it is covered in full on Icecast hosting.

Getting it

From Icecast to SHOUTcast in three steps

  1. Open a station

    On any plan, free included. The order form has no software choice, so every station begins on Icecast.

  2. Ask for SHOUTcast

    Write to support from the email address on the account. Free stations are supported by email; Premium adds chat and phone, and Platinum is answered first. Asking before your first broadcast saves entering your encoder settings twice.

  3. Copy the new settings

    We change the station's server type in Centova Cast. The panel then shows the SHOUTcast address and port under Quick Links, and the source password under Settings.

Switching costs nothing and leaves the plan alone: the bitrate ceiling, the Auto DJ library and the listener ceiling are identical on either server.

Plans

The same three plans

Free J999

$0/mo

$5 setup, charged once; nothing monthly

  • 32 Kbps bitrate ceiling
  • 1,000 listeners at once
  • No Auto DJ, no library
  • Email support
Open a free station
Premium J402

$39/mo

or $390 a year, $78 under twelve months; no setup fee

  • 128 Kbps bitrate ceiling
  • 2,500 listeners at once
  • 500,000 listener hours a month
  • Auto DJ on hourly clocks, 20 GB library
  • 5 DJ accounts
  • Live chat and phone support
Get Premium
Platinum J403

$79/mo

or $790 a year, $158 under twelve months; no setup fee

  • 320 Kbps bitrate ceiling
  • 5,000 listeners at once
  • 1.5 million listener hours a month
  • Auto DJ on hourly clocks, 100 GB library
  • 20 DJ accounts
  • 3 streams: one at 320 Kbps, two lighter
  • Loudness levelling, cue points, song requests
  • Priority support, first clock set up for you
Get Platinum

More than 5,000 at once: an Enterprise stream, quoted on your peak. Ask for a quote → · Refund policy

Encoder

Encoder settings

# Free plan, no Auto DJ: the encoder talks to SHOUTcast itself
type       SHOUTcast v2
server     your station's IP address (Quick Links)
port       your station's port (Quick Links)
stream ID  1                   
password   the source password (Settings), not the panel login
bitrate    32 Kbps or lower

# the same station from a SHOUTcast v1 encoder
type       SHOUTcast v1
server     the same IP address
port       the same port; a v1 encoder adds 1 by itself
password   the source password; v1 has no stream ID
# Premium or Platinum: a live show enters through Auto DJ's live input
type       SHOUTcast v1
server     your station's IP address (Quick Links)
port       your station's port + 2, as Quick Links lists it
password   the source password (Settings)
stream ID  none; the live input does not use one
bitrate    128 Kbps on Premium, 320 on Platinum, or lower

Being found

A listing on shoutcast.com

shoutcast.com runs a public directory that listeners search by station name and by genre, and a SHOUTcast server can report itself to it while it is on the air. Here it will not do so unprompted. A SHOUTcast station is created private, and without an authhash, the key the directory uses to recognise a station.

SHOUTcast does not charge for an authhash, and one can only be created while your encoder is connected, because SHOUTcast fills in the listing from the live stream. So go on the air first, then ask support to create it and make the server public. SHOUTcast's own documentation asks that the authhash be kept as private as a password.

  1. A SHOUTcast serverask for it; stations open on Icecast
  2. A live sourceyour encoder, connected
  3. An authhashfree, created while the stream is up
  4. The public settingswitched on by support

On the wire

What your listeners receive

MP3 or AAC, as sent

On the free plan the stream travels from your encoder through SHOUTcast to listeners untouched, so they hear the format and bitrate you chose.

MP3 through Auto DJ

On Premium and Platinum everything leaves through Auto DJ, live shows included, and Auto DJ encodes MP3 at the station's bitrate. An AAC encoder still connects; listeners hear MP3.

Live cuts in at once

Connect a live show and Auto DJ steps aside without waiting for the song to end. Disconnect and the music comes back, on the same link.

A ceiling that holds

Each plan has its ceiling, 32, 128 or 320 Kbps, and a stream sent over it is dropped. Set the encoder at or under the ceiling before you connect.

A plain link

http://<station IP>:<port>/stream reaches the station directly, for apps, internet radios and anything else that takes an http:// address.

An https:// link

https://ny1.radio.primcast.com/<port>/stream, printed in your panel, for web players and secure pages. It carries sound whenever a source is connected. A station still on our older Centova servers uses https://cast4.servcast.net/proxy/<username>/stream (cast5 in Bucharest).

On the older Centova servers a station opened years ago may not have the https:// relay switched on: if its https:// link stays silent while you are broadcasting, ask support to enable it.

Asked often

SHOUTcast questions

Does a SHOUTcast station cost more than an Icecast one?

No. The server software is not a line on the invoice: a SHOUTcast station sits on the same Free, Premium or Platinum plan as an Icecast station and pays exactly the same.

Can a station already on Icecast move to SHOUTcast?

Yes, whenever you like; ask support. The encoder settings are different afterwards, so copy them from the panel again before your next show.

Which version of SHOUTcast runs here?

SHOUTcast DNAS 2.6.1, build 777, on both servers. It takes SHOUTcast v2 encoders, which send stream ID 1, and older v1 encoders, which send the password alone.

What is the stream ID, and what if my encoder has no such field?

It is how SHOUTcast v2 numbers the streams on a server. A station here carries one stream, so its ID is always 1. An encoder without the field is a v1 encoder; give it the password and nothing else.

Will my station show up on shoutcast.com by itself?

No. Stations are created private. Once you are broadcasting, ask support to create the authhash and switch the server to public; neither costs anything.

How many listeners can tune in at once?

One thousand at once on Free, 2,500 on Premium, 5,000 on Platinum, whichever server software the station runs. Past five thousand we quote an Enterprise stream sized to the peak you expect. Premium and Platinum also carry 500,000 and 1.5 million listener hours a month.

What happens when a station uses up its listener hours?

A listener hour is one person tuned in for an hour, so 500,000 is roughly 690 people around the clock all month and 1.5 million roughly 2,080. You hear from us by email at 80% and at 100%. After that, whoever is already listening stays on, and new listeners are turned away until the 1st of the next month, or until the station moves from Premium to Platinum, which lifts the allowance immediately.

Is there an https:// address for my stream?

Yes, on every plan, and your panel prints it: https://ny1.radio.primcast.com/, then your port, then /stream. It plays whenever your source is connected, which is what a web player inside a secure page needs. A station still on our older Centova servers uses https://cast4.servcast.net/proxy/ plus its username and /stream, or cast5 in Bucharest.

Can SHOUTcast stations use Auto DJ?

On Premium and Platinum, yes: Premium carries a 20 GB library and Platinum 100 GB, both scheduled by the hourly clocks you build, and a SHOUTcast encoder goes live over the top of it. The free plan has no storage, so it has no Auto DJ either.

Further reading

Guides and neighbouring pages

Open the station now. Ask for SHOUTcast whenever it suits you.

Every plan can run it, the free one included, and changing server software costs nothing.

Open a free station Ask support first