sACN

showstack / protocols / sacn

Also called Streaming ACN, E1.31, Streaming ACN (E1.31).

Carries DMX512 data over standard IP networks as multicast UDP, one multicast group per universe. It is the vendor-neutral way to get lighting data around a building without running a copper DMX line to every position.

Lighting controlOpenESTAVerified

Stewarded by ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association).

Control Small, urgent, must arrive

Small messages that either repeat constantly or fire once. Bandwidth is almost never the problem.

What kills it. Latency and loss on the messages that fire once. A repeating level survives a dropped packet; a GO does not.

The four flows, and why the model is worth having →

Ports

udp/5568 sACN data and synchronisation packets
Registered with IANA as "sdt" (Session Data Transport), the ACN transport E1.31 sits on.

Multicast

239.255.0.0/16 (IPv4, universe in low two octets)
FF18::83:00:00:00/104 (IPv6)
IPv4 group for universe N is 239.255.<high byte of N>.<low byte of N>, so universe 1 is 239.255.0.1. Unicast is also permitted by the standard and is increasingly the safer choice on shared networks.

Addressing

512 slots per universe; universes 1-63999, plus 64214 for E1.31 discovery.

What goes wrong

Multicast without IGMP snooping configured on the switch turns into a broadcast storm. This is the single most common cause of "the network died when we patched the second console".

Priority is per-universe (0-200, default 100) and sources with equal priority get merged by the receiver, not by the sender. Two consoles at default priority will fight.

Universe numbering is 1-based here but many products expose a 0-based index internally. Always confirm against the receiving device, not the console.

What speaks sACN (76)

76 products — 42 hardware, 34 softwareshow all

Product	Direction	Notes
ArKaos MediaMaster ArKaos	in	sACN control from a lighting console.
Avolites Titan Avolites	bidirectional	sACN out to nodes, and Streaming ACN In is also available as an external trigger source on supported consoles.
Capture Capture Visualisation AB	in
ChamSys MagicQ ChamSys	bidirectional	sACN out in multicast or unicast, and received for capture or merging.
Chataigne Ben Kuper	bidirectional
Daslight Daslight (Nicolaudie)	out	sACN output.
Depence Syncronorm GmbH	in	Listed alongside Art-Net on Syncronorm's own system-integration page as a supported DMX-over-network input.
disguise Designer disguise	bidirectional
DMX-Workshop Singularity (UK) Ltd	bidirectional
DMXControl 3 DMXControl Projects e.V.	out	sACN output.
dot2 onPC MA Lighting	out	Output multicast, universes 1 to 8, sACN priority fixed at 100. On onPC the first universe is free; beyond that a dot2 Node4 is required.
Eos Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC)	bidirectional	Enabled by default in Patch, universes 1-63,999. Incoming sACN levels can also be used as a show control trigger.
grandMA3 onPC MA Lighting	bidirectional	One of the two Ethernet DMX protocols grandMA3 supports for sending and receiving.
Hippotizer Green Hippo (an ACT Entertainment brand)	bidirectional	Accepted by the DMX component for desk control and available as a PixelMapper output protocol.
L8 L8 LLC	in	DMX input protocol on every edition, e.g. 2 universes on the entry CE edition.
LightConverse LightConverse	in	sACN input from a console.
Lightkey Lightkey	out	sACN output.
MadMapper garageCube	bidirectional
Medialon Control System Medialon (Barco)	bidirectional	sACN for lighting integration.
Millumin Anomes (Philippe Chaurand)	out	sACN output alongside Art-Net; the manual warns sACN universe numbering starts at 1 whereas Art-Net starts at 0.
OLA (Open Lighting Architecture) Open Lighting Project	bidirectional	Documented as the Streaming ACN (E1.31) plugin.
ONYX Obsidian Control Systems	bidirectional	Can be set to output, input or both, with a settable sACN priority in the 0-200 range.
PIXERA AV Stumpfl	bidirectional	Control and output.
QLab Figure 53	out needs licence
QLC+ QLC+ project	bidirectional	Shipped as the E1.31 plugin.
Realizzer 3D Realizzer	in	sACN input from a console.
sACNView	bidirectional	Core purpose is monitoring and sending ANSI/ESTA E1.31 (Streaming ACN).
Smode Smode Tech	bidirectional	sACN in for console control.
Stage Precision Stage Precision	bidirectional	sACN in and out.
TouchDesigner Derivative	bidirectional
Unreal Engine Epic Games	bidirectional	sACN through the DMX plugin.
Vectorworks Vision Vectorworks, Inc.	in	Documented alongside Art-Net as a DMX-provider option for Vectorworks' previsualisation line.
Wireshark Wireshark Foundation	in	Dissected via the ACN dissector's 'Streaming DMX' (E1.31) option, which must be enabled in Preferences > Protocols > ACN.
WYSIWYG CAST Group Inc.	in	Documented alongside Art-Net as a network DMX input from the console.
Analog Way Picturall Mark II Analog Way	in	sACN control input.
Avolites Ai Q3 Avolites	bidirectional	Control and output.
Avolites Arena Avolites	out	Network output.
Avolites Diamond 9 Avolites	bidirectional	sACN output, with priority per universe.
Avolites Tiger Touch III Avolites	out	sACN output.
ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 ChamSys	out	Multiple universes over network.
ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium ChamSys	bidirectional	Output and input; sACN priority and merging handled in the console patch.
Christie Pandoras Box Christie	bidirectional	sACN in for console control.
Cisco Catalyst 9200 Series Cisco	bidirectional	Transported. IGMP snooping and querier configuration are what make sACN behave here.
Cisco Catalyst 9300 Cisco	bidirectional	Transported; IGMP snooping and a querier must be configured.
City Theatrical Multiverse Transmitter City Theatrical	in	Network input.
disguise gx 3 disguise	bidirectional	Via Designer's DMX device drivers.
ELC dmXLAN node8 ELC Lighting	bidirectional	Per port.
ENTTEC DIN Ethergate MK2 ENTTEC	bidirectional	Both ports.
ENTTEC ODE Mk3 ENTTEC	bidirectional
Eos Apex 5 ETC	bidirectional	The primary output protocol for Eos, and also usable as a show control input.
ETC Eos Apex 10 ETC	bidirectional	Primary network output.
ETC Ion Xe 20 ETC	bidirectional	sACN output, the Eos default.
ETC Response Mk2 DMX/RDM Gateway ETC	bidirectional	sACN in, DMX out, and DMX in to sACN.
ETC Sensor3 Dimmer Rack ETC	in	sACN input from the console.
ETC ThruPower Rack ETC	in	Network control.
Follow-Me 3D Follow-Me	bidirectional	Fixture control.
grandMA2 full-size MA Lighting	bidirectional	sACN in and out.
grandMA3 full-size MA Lighting	bidirectional	One of the two Ethernet DMX protocols grandMA3 supports for sending and receiving.
MA Lighting grandMA3 light MA Lighting	bidirectional	Primary network output.
Green Hippo Hippotizer Karst+ MK2 Green Hippo	bidirectional	Control and pixel output.
Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Green Hippo	bidirectional	Alternative DMX-over-Ethernet path to Art-Net.
Hog 4 High End Systems	out	Over the dedicated gigabit Ethernet port. Universe count expands with networked DP8000 processors.
LumenRadio CRMX Nova TX2 LumenRadio	in	sACN input on network-equipped models.
Luminex GigaCore 10 Luminex Network Intelligence	bidirectional	Transported. IGMP snooping is the reason to use it over an unmanaged switch.
Luminex GigaCore 16Xt Luminex Network Intelligence	bidirectional	Transported, not originated. IGMP snooping is the reason to use a managed switch here.
Luminex GigaCore 26i Luminex Network Intelligence	bidirectional	Transported, with IGMP snooping.
Luminex LumiNode 12 Luminex Network Intelligence	bidirectional	sACN in and out per port.
Megapixel HELIOS LED Processing Platform Megapixel VR	in	Control.
Modulo Kinetic Modulo Pi	bidirectional	sACN in for console control.
NETGEAR M4250 (AV Line) NETGEAR	bidirectional	Transported; IGMP snooping with querier is the point of using a managed switch here.
Obsidian Control Systems NX4 Obsidian Control Systems	out	sACN output.
Pathway Connectivity Pathport OCTO Pathway Connectivity	bidirectional	Per port.
AV Stumpfl PIXERA one AV Stumpfl	bidirectional	sACN in for console control.
Wireless Solution W-DMX BlackBox F-2 G6 Wireless Solution	bidirectional	sACN on Ethernet-equipped variants.
zactrack PRO zactrack	out	sACN output for tracked fixture control.
Zero 88 FLX S48 Zero 88	out	sACN output.

Open source implementations

sACN (Python) — Python, MIT
OLA (Open Lighting Architecture) — C++, LGPL-2.1-or-later
sacn (Rust) — Rust, Apache-2.0

Typical use

Console to lighting network backbone in theatres, arenas and studios
Feeding DMX gateways that break out to local XLR5 lines
Driving pixel controllers and LED processors directly over ethernet
Previsualisation and offline programming links

The words for it

Glossary entries that name sACN, with the false friends that catch people out.

Universe一條 DMX 線路 (universe)One complete DMX512 stream of 512 channels. Everything about rig capacity is counted in universes: a console …Multicast多播Sending one copy of a stream to a group address that many receivers can subscribe to, instead of one copy per…VLAN虛擬區域網路A logical network carved out of one physical switch fabric, so lighting, audio, video and corporate traffic c…

Sources

ANSI E1.31 — Lightweight streaming protocol for transport of DMX512 using ACN — ESTA Technical Standards Program primary
Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry (port 5568, sdt) — IANA primary

Understand the mechanism

Show networks How software talks to software Node graphs and game engines How a one gets down a wire

Something wrong, or missing?

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