Opencast (software)
| Company type | Open-source software project |
|---|---|
| Industry | Educational technology, video software |
| Predecessor | Opencast Matterhorn |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | International |
Area served | Educational institutions worldwide |
| Owner | Apereo Foundation |
| Website | opencast |
Opencast (previously known as Opencast Matterhorn) is a no-cost, open-source software solution designed for the automated capture, processing, administration, and dissemination of video content, with a primary focus on serving educational institutions. The platform features a proprietary video portal, browser-based production utilities, and an integrated editor. Created through the efforts of an international developer community in partnership with universities and organizations, Opencast delivers scalable video solutions tailored to academic environments.
History, community
The Opencast Community was initiated in 2007 by the University of California, Berkeley to bring together academic organizations, individual contributors, and companies dedicated to academic video creation and distribution.
Initially called Opencast Matterhorn following a conference at ETH Zurich, thirteen institutions from Europe and North America collaborated to develop open-source software aimed at managing academic audio and video materials, with a strong emphasis on lecture capture. The project’s initial funding was provided by the Hewlett and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. The first official release, Opencast Matterhorn 1.0, launched in 2010.
Once the original funding concluded, the initiative evolved into a community-led open-source project backed by both academic institutions and commercial partners.
The rebranding to "Opencast" occurred with version 2.0 in 2015, reflecting its growth into a sustainable open-source platform.
In 2016, Opencast became part of the Apereo Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free open-source software in higher education and offers legal assistance for such projects.
Software, releases
Opencast operates on a time-driven release schedule, issuing two significant updates annually—generally around June and December—alongside several minor maintenance and bugfix releases. A comprehensive release timetable is made available approximately six months ahead of each cycle.
Starting from version 3.0, Opencast adopted a major.minor versioning format to identify major updates and subsequent bugfixes. Active support is provided for the two most recent major versions over a one-year period, with certain releases receiving extended community-backed long-term maintenance.