How to find your IP camera’s RTSP URL (Hikvision, Dahua, Reolink & more)?

These are the three questions that come up every single time someone wants to connect an IP camera to VLC, an NVR, OBS, Frigate, Blue Iris, or another VMS. The good news is that the pattern is usually simple. The bad news is that the exact path depends on the manufacturer, the channel, and whether you want the main stream or the sub-stream. Hikvision, Reolink, and Dahua all publish recognizable RTSP formats, but they are not identical.

What does an RTSP URL look like?

In general, an RTSP URL follows this structure:

rtsp://username:password@camera-ip:554/path

That means:

username and password are your camera login credentials,
camera-ip is the local IP address of the device,
554 is the default RTSP port on many cameras,
path is the brand-specific stream path.

That general syntax is widely used across camera vendors and software documentation. The exact tail of the URL changes by model and manufacturer, but the structure stays roughly the same.

So if you were wondering, “What does RTSP URL look like?” - that is the cleanest answer: a credentials + IP + port + stream path format.

How to get RTSP URL from your camera?

The usual way to get an RTSP URL is to start with the camera’s local network details and then combine them with the correct vendor path. In practice, that means you need four things: the IP address, the username, the password, and the correct stream path. Hikvision’s support article explicitly says its RTSP streams follow a formula you fill in with your own device information. Reolink’s support says the RTSP URL is intended for third-party players like VLC and notes that browsers do not directly support RTSP playback.

A practical workflow looks like this:

Find the camera’s local IP address in your router, camera app, or web interface.
Confirm the RTSP port. In many cases it is 554.
Check whether RTSP is enabled.
Use the manufacturer’s RTSP path format for main stream or sub-stream.
Test the full URL in VLC using Media → Open Network Stream. Reolink explicitly recommends VLC for RTSP testing.

If the stream does not open, the issue is usually one of four things: wrong password, wrong IP, wrong channel/path, or RTSP disabled.

Default RTSP URL for Hikvision

Hikvision’s official support documentation gives these formats:

Without authentication:

rtsp://IP-address:RTSP-port/Streaming/channels/channelnumber

With authentication:

rtsp://username:password@IP-address:RTSP-port/Streaming/channels/channelnumber

Hikvision also explains the channel numbering logic. For example, channel 101 typically means channel 1, main stream, while 102 means channel 1, sub-stream. For DVRs and NVRs, higher channel numbers follow the same pattern.

Typical examples:

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/Streaming/channels/101

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/Streaming/channels/102

So if someone asks, “What is the default RTSP URL for Hikvision?” the safest answer is: use the /Streaming/channels/101 pattern for the first channel main stream, and /102 for the first channel sub-stream, with your own credentials and IP inserted.

Default RTSP URL for Dahua

Dahua documentation and Dahua’s own wiki show this RTSP format:

rtsp://username:password@ip:port/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

In Dahua’s structure:

channel=1 usually means the first camera channel
subtype=0 is the main stream
subtype=1 is the sub-stream

Example:

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

That cam/realmonitor format appears in Dahua manuals and support materials, so it is the standard template most people should try first.

Default RTSP URL for Reolink

Reolink’s support article gives a different pattern. Its RTSP URLs typically look like this:

rtsp://username:password@ip-address:554/h264Preview_01_main

rtsp://username:password@ip-address:554/h264Preview_01_sub

Reolink also notes that RTSP can be used in LAN and WAN, but for WAN access you generally need port forwarding on the router. It also makes clear that the RTSP URL cannot be used directly in a normal web browser because browsers do not natively support RTSP.

Typical examples:

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/h264Preview_01_main

rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/h264Preview_01_sub

So for Reolink, the quickest first test is usually the h264Preview_01_main format.

Why the RTSP URL sometimes does not work

Even when the format looks right, the stream can still fail. The most common reasons are simple.

The camera may have RTSP disabled, the IP address may have changed, the password may be wrong, or the channel/stream number may not match the device layout. Reolink also has a dedicated troubleshooting article for RTSP/ONVIF/RTMP connection failures, which reinforces that configuration issues are common and fixable.

Another point worth remembering: RTSP is usually meant for tools like VLC, NVRs, VMS platforms, or gateways. It is not a browser-native playback method. If your end goal is a website, you usually convert RTSP to HLS or WebRTC first. Reolink explicitly states that browsers do not directly support RTSP.

FAQ

How to get RTSP URL?

Find the camera IP, username, password, RTSP port, and the brand-specific stream path, then test the full URL in VLC.

What is default RTSP URL for Dahua?

Usually:

rtsp://username:password@ip:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

for the main stream.

What is default RTSP URL for Hikvision?

Usually:

rtsp://username:password@ip:554/Streaming/channels/101

for channel 1 main stream.

What does RTSP URL look like?

Usually:

rtsp://username:password@camera-ip:554/path

with a vendor-specific path at the end.