Broadcast & Live Events

Create show-stopping magic live in real time.

From sports broadcasts to music concerts, Unreal Engine gives you the power to blend live action seamlessly with CG, helping you bring jaw-dropping “did they just do that?” moments to broadcast and live events.

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The latest news for broadcast & live events

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May 5, 2026

Crafting stylized digital humans on Daughter of the Inner Stars with MetaHuman and UE5

Discover how a small team used Unreal Engine, MetaHuman, and AI to blend stylized visuals, real-time production, and high-fidelity performance capture into a cohesive pipeline for a 50-minute original symphonic orchestral experience.

Spotlight

March 9, 2026

Racing into the future: How UE5 powers the E1 raceboat championship broadcast

Discover how Badass Studios is using Unreal Engine to help the UIM E1 Championship presented by PIF redefine racing—bringing electric powerboats, real-time digital twins, and immersive AR experiences to a new generation of fans.

Spotlight

Features for broadcast & live events

With photorealistic real-time rendering, built-in real-time compositing, eye-opening effects, state-of-the-art LED stage and volume support, robust DMX integration, and so much more, UE5 is ready and raring to go for prime time. And with access to the complete source code, an extensive C++ API, and Blueprint visual scripting, there's no limit to where you can take it.

See all features

High-fidelity rendering and effects

Go from mundane to mind-blowing with Unreal Engine’s photorealistic ray tracing; advanced particle effects; and true-to-life physics—all in real time. Then, seamlessly integrate live-action elements with the built-in compositor and add a touch of AR or MR wizardry to take audiences where they’ve never been before.

Real-time ray tracing

On-set virtual production

With UE5’s extensive virtual production toolset, you can work with LED walls and volumes to put your presenters, performers, and audiences into any kind of environment; stream animation data onto digital characters or effects from external sources like mocap; and control it all from your iPad. And that’s just for starters.

nDisplay multi-display rendering

Support for industry-standard formats and protocols

Easily design and control lighting and effects with the DMX plugin; work with leading media formats like HAP, Apple ProRes, and Avid DNxHD; ensure color consistency across projects with support for OpenColorIO; and quickly iterate on networked audio data with the OSC plugin. As much as possible, it’s plug and play.

DMX

Professional media I/O

OpenColorIO (OCIO)

Open Sound Control (OSC)

Broadcast and Live Events success stories background image

Broadcast & live event success stories

FOX Sports kicks off the NFL season with a virtual production studio

From dynamic set extensions to live multicam in an LED volume, discover how Unreal Engine makes it happen for FOX Sports’ new virtual production studio.

Fox Sports

Coachella and Flume go all in on live concert AR

Find out Coachella might kickstart a new AR revolution with a single set, ushering in a new era where sometimes the best seat is at home.

Goldenvoice LLC

Real-time hits the FIFA World Cup

Learn the Unreal Engine tools and techniques KéexFrame used to create a broadcast cinematic uniquely customized for live coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

kéexframe

Real-time digital puppetry on The Jim Henson Company’s Earth to Ned

Find out how the iconic company that created Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal used Unreal Engine to take real-time digital puppetry to final output, live on set.

Disney+

Let’s get started.

Ready to make magic? Check out our recommended tutorials, samples, and documentation pages to help you get going.

Tutorials

Go to library

Independent Filmmaking

Epic Online Learning · 6 years ago

Learn how to use Unreal Engine for virtual production and post-production, bringing together all the pieces of your workflow into a unified environment to create a short film.

Movie Render Queue Essentials

Epic Online Learning · 5 years ago

In this course, you’ll learn how to use Movie Render Queue to speed up the rendering process and achieve the highest quality renders possible.

In-Engine Animation for Virtual Production

Epic Online Learning · 5 years ago

In this course, you’ll learn the process of animating characters for virtual production in Unreal Engine from end to end—without the need to jump in and out of DCC applications.

Documentation

Know what you want to do, but not how? Dig into our wide range of documentation to find your footing!

Understanding the Basics

Working with Content

Programming and Scripting

Setting Up Your Production Pipeline

Go to Documentation

Licensing

We’ve streamlined our license terms to make your choices clearer. Need something designed just for you? Work with us to create a custom license. Visit our FAQ or reach out to the community if you have any questions.

Under $1 million USD in revenue?

Free

Game developers (royalties apply after $1 million USD gross product revenue)
Individuals and small businesses (with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue)
For educators and schools (no revenue limits)

Access to the source code
All platforms & features
Forums and documentation on the Epic Developer Community

Download now View FAQ Licensing Terms

Over $1 million USD in revenue?

Royalty-based

If you're creating a game or application that relies on engine code at runtime and will be licensed to third party end users, you'll pay royalties and won't be required to purchase seats.

Seat-based

If you're using Unreal Engine for commercial purposes, have generated more than $1 million in the past 12 months, and are not creating a game or application that relies on engine code at runtime and will be licensed to third party end users, then a seat license fee is required.

Unreal Engine is just the beginning.

Discover our collection of creative tools, content, services, and resources designed to help you turn ideas into reality.

MetaHuman

Customize and animate highly realistic digital human characters for use in your Unreal Engine projects.

Learn more

Unreal Editor for Fortnite

Create playable experiences using UE5 tools, then publish them to Fortnite for millions to explore.

Learn more

RealityScan

Produce high-fidelity 3D models from laser scans and photos that you can use in your real-time scenes.

Find out more

Hype Chamber sample project

Learn how to create your own esports broadcast and explore the features for creating motion graphics in Unreal Engine.

Get sample

The Fab marketplace

Access a huge library of free and purchasable digital assets—3D models, materials, sound, VFX, digital humans, and more.

Browse now

Broadcast & Live Events Field Guide

Get insights on using real-time workflows for sports and esports broadcasts, weather reporting, live events and displays, and more

Download the guide

Quixel Megascans

Browse the world’s largest library of AAA, cinema-quality assets based on real-world scan data, ready for use in your projects.

Explore now

Live event previs DMX sample project

Download a live event previs DMX sample project to learn, explore, and use in your own live event lighting and effects design.

Get sample

Looking to use the Unreal Engine logo in your project? Access our brand guidelines and logos here.

Need help?

Connect with creators across industries and around the globe. Share everything from shortcuts to snippets to secret shader tricks. When you use Unreal Engine, you’re never alone—our community of hundreds of thousands of developers is here to support you as you bring your idea to life.

Dev Community Forums

Ask and answer questions; show off your work and get inspiration from others.

Unreal Source

Come hang out with us and our developer community on Discord.