---
title: GStreamer Overview
short-description: A simple overview of the GStreamer framework
...

# GStreamer Overview

GStreamer is a streaming media framework. It uses graphs of elements which operate on data. The functionality to process media is provided by plug-ins which provide features like elements, typefinding, and so on. This allows new functionality to be added simply by installing new plug-ins.

GStreamer is cross-platform and works on most UNIX-like platforms as well as Windows. It is released under the GNU Library General Public License (GNU LGPL).

Relation between gstreamer core objects:

![GStreamer universe](images/gst-universe.svg)