Latest News
📡 ICY 2.2 Protocol Specification Released
March 2026
The new ICY 2.2 streaming protocol specification is now available. This next-generation protocol brings enhanced metadata, improved reliability, and modern streaming capabilities to internet radio.
Building on the foundation of ICY 2.0, the 2.2 specification introduces tighter integration with directory services, structured metadata for AI-driven discovery, and backward-compatible extensions that work with existing Icecast, Shoutcast, and Steamcast deployments.
🚀 ICY 2.0 Protocol Specification
Next-Generation Streaming Metadata
ICY 2.0 is a proposed protocol enhancement for modernizing stream metadata headers across Shoutcast, Icecast, Steamcast, and future hybrid platforms. It builds upon the legacy ICY 1.x headers and introduces a modern, extensible system for tagging streams with meaningful data for discovery, promotion, and compliance.
This specification is being developed by the CasterClub team and is not yet ratified by any industry governing body. We are currently leading this proposal and will submit it to any appropriate organizations or standards groups if needed.
📋 View Protocol Headers
📡 Legacy ICY Headers
icy-name– Station display nameicy-genre– Primary genre categoryicy-url– Homepage or station siteicy-pub– 1 = public listing; 0 = privateicy-br– Bitrate (in kbps)icy-metaint– Interval between metadata blocks
🆕 ICY 2.0 Enhancements
ice-meta-hashtag-array– Smart hashtags for discoveryicy-meta-emoji– Emoji mood indicators (max 5)icy-auth-token-key– Token-based verificationicy-meta-social-*– Social media integration
TagStack can fetch your stream's ICY 2.0 metadata headers in real time and compile them into a text-based output. This output is portable and can be used by automation encoders or standalone streamers that lack built-in title/metadata streaming.
📻 Webcasting Revival 2025
The Future of Internet Radio
Webcasting is making a major comeback. Whether you run Icecast, Steamcast, or Shoutcast, the new CasterClub platform will support all formats with modern directory tooling and public streaming visibility tools.
- 🎯 Universal format support
- 🔍 Enhanced discovery tools
- 📊 Advanced analytics
- 🌐 Global directory integration
⚡ Development Status
What We're Building
We are working around the clock to bring you new features, including AI-assisted station tagging, custom player embeds, and dynamic podcast/promo rotation features.
- 🤖 AI-powered station categorization
- 🎵 Custom embeddable players
- 🎙️ Automated podcast rotation
- 📈 Real-time performance metrics
🎙️ Podcast Metadata Enhancement
ICY 2.0 Podcast Headers
To support automated podcast syndication, AI-driven episode rotation, and metadata-rich playback across radio encoders, we define specialized ICY 2.0 headers for podcast-compatible streams:
icy-meta-podcast-title– Podcast series nameicy-meta-podcast-episode– Episode title/numbericy-meta-podcast-host– Main host/narratoricy-meta-podcast-network– Network/platform
These headers allow automation encoders or ICY 2.0-aware players to display correct podcast metadata during playback and enable deep linking or search in future directory services.