How To Fix Dropped Frames On Twitch

Few things are more frustrating for the streamer and disruptive to the viewer than dropped frames. There are many causes for dropped frames, meaning trying to troubleshoot the consequence on the fly tin be difficult, and needing to do so will virtually often throw off the flow of the stream.

And so, whether you are having issues with dropped frames or just desire to set upwardly your stream and test its stability before going live, this mail will cover some steps to help.

Before Changing Your Streamlabs Settings

There are a few things you need to verify before changing your settings. Start, you will desire to run a speed test to learn your internet speed, specifically your upload speed. Your upload speed dictates which bitrates you are capable of streaming, upward to Twitch'due south allowed max Bitrate of 6000kbps.

Below is a listing of minimum upload speeds needed to stream at the listed Bitrate and that Bitrates recommended resolution and framerate. This chart will be referenced, as the Bitrate Chart throughout many of the post-obit steps.

[NinjaTable here]

You should too brand sure y'all are using a wired connectedness to your streaming computer. If y'all must utilize a wireless connexion, unfortunately, in that location is nothing to prevent dropped frames from fourth dimension to time.

Antiviruses scanning traffic for your stream can cause dropped frames as it inspects packets. Do a examination with the AV disabled and see if it makes a deviation.

Finally, if you lot would like to exam your stream's bitrate stability without going live yous tin can utilise the Twitch tool "Twitch Inspector" to make sure you have a stable bitrate before going live to viewers.

What Causes Dropped Frames in Streamlabs and How Do You Prepare Them?

Bitrate

User's bitrate settings are probably the near common cause of dropped frames. It can take some tweaking at first to discover what is smoothest, usually requiring finding the remainder between your upload speed and the video resolution you lot are streaming at.

(Beginning select Settings (1) then Output (2), here you lot will find your Bitrate (3) settings)

Returning to the chart higher up, you volition want to set your video bitrate to the recommended resolution of your stream. The important matter with your video bitrate is to make sure information technology matches the video resolution you are using equally shown on the bitrate chart in a higher place. Dropped frames happen when attempting to stream at a bitrate your upload speed cannot handle. Making information technology a bit safer to go for a lower bitrate if your max upload speed is shut to the minimum listed.
Video Resolution

Dropped frames caused by video resolution may be tied to the game you lot are playing. If y'all find dropped frames start occurring when streaming a game that is fast-paced or resource-intensive it is best to endeavour streaming information technology at a lower resolution and see if that resolves the effect.

(First, go to Settings (1) then select Video (2) to view your streams resolution settings)

When setting up your video resolutions, y'all desire to brand certain the "Base of operations (Canvas) Resolution" is set to your Desktop Resolution (If y'all play games in Borderless Windowed Mode) or to the resolution y'all run games at (if you play in Fullscreen Way).

Next, you will want to gear up the "Output (Scaled) Resolution" to the resolution you will want to exist streaming at. This video resolution should match with the bitrate you are using equally listed on the Bitrate Chart. This resolution is what you volition need to reduce if you are having dropped frames with only certain games, but not with others.

I would recommend the Lanczos Filter for sharper output scaling. The FPS Type should exist kept at Mutual FPS Values.

Your common FPS Values should exist set to the FPS (normally but 30 or sixty are used) you want to stream at, once more, this should match with the resolution and bitrate you are using listed on the bitrate nautical chart.
Encoder

Dropped frames related to the encoder problems can usually be identified by hardware stress when streaming. If you are using the default Software encoder, and during streaming your CPU reaches max usage, this is a mutual sign of an encoder event.

(Open Settings then Output, here you tin select your Encoder via the drop-downwards list)

Within your Output settings, you will see the Encoder option. Past default, this is set to "Software (x264)" which ways Streamlabs volition use your CPU to encode (compress) video for your stream. This setting, past default, is prepare to the "very fast" choice. If you select "Enable Advanced Encoder Settings" you tin can adapt this to "superfast" or "ultrafast" to lessen the load on your CPU. However, the faster the setting the worse your stream will look. And then, if CPU usage is an issue, try reducing the resolution y'all are streaming instead, as this will lighten the load on your CPU.

Alternatively, the other Encoders offered past Streamlabs are the NVENC and NVENC (New) options. These encoders tin be used if yous accept an NVIDIA* graphics card that is compatible. This encoder relies on a dedicated chip on your GPU to encode video, allowing your CPU to be used for other tasks. If you have a compatible GPU I would highly advise using one of these options as it volition greatly ameliorate your stream's stability and improve your PC's performance while streaming.

*For AMD GPU users, AMD does offer an encoder named AMF. Nonetheless, this is non supported officially by AMD and is instead open-source and maintained by 3rd parties, making stability hit or miss for many.
Twitch Server

Sometimes, the Twitch server you are streaming to may take stability issues. By default, your Twitch server is selected automatically when you lot brainstorm a stream, ordinarily picking the server with the lowest ping. To troubleshoot your Twitch server, you tin select your Twitch server manually.

First, y'all will need to change your stream settings to custom. To do this kickoff open settings, become to Stream, and click "Stream to custom ingest".

Once you lot have selected to utilise custom ingest yous will see the above. Hither you lot tin select your server manually from the drop-down list under "Server". Select a server that is a little farther from you than the closest option. Now make sure to manually add your stream key if information technology isn't entered, click washed, and you are set up to stream to your manually selected server.
Internet access provider

One final crusade of dropped frames, split from Streamlabs, unremarkably evident by your stream condign unstable and dropping frames at set times throughout the day, can be your Internet access provider.

Having experienced this issue myself in the by, information technology can be extremely frustrating because the only fashion you can test for information technology is to use a tool such as Twitch Inspector throughout the twenty-four hour period and meet if sure times are perfectly fine, with your bitrate staying stable, and other times you are completely unable to stream because your bitrate tanks.

If this is the case, I suggest you exam your bitrate to Twitch using Twitch Inspector over a few days and run into if yous find that peak hours, usually during the day and early evening, are huge drops in bitrate, while late evening and dark tend to exist fine. If you find it is your Internet service provider, about probable y'all volition need to swap to another provider, as even if bitrate drops your speeds may appear fine, meaning an ISP won't see a need to modify anything on their end.

Conclusion

Though the cause of dropped frames tin can exist overwhelmingly varied, hopefully, the steps nosotros went through have helped you to troubleshoot whatever consequence you were having. Going from elementary changes to the more in-depth settings within Streamlabs will ofttimes not only get rid of dropped frame problems but help you make your stream wait and run more smoothly.