Dropped Frames or Connection Problems While Streaming

Updated 18 February 2022 01:00

If you experience dropped frames, it means that you do not have a strong connection to the server you are connected to, or you can’t keep up with the bitrate you have set. Traditionally, if this happens, whatever program you are using to stream is forced to decrease the video frames being displayed in order to compensate. Dropping too many frames may cause you to be disconnected from your streaming server.

1. Try Changing Servers

Oftentimes, streaming servers experience heavy loads or maintenance on certain days, which may cause quality issues for the users connected. By switching to a new server, may resolve your framerate dropping issue.

For Streamlabs OBS:

You can change servers by pressing the cogwheel located in the upper right corner of your window.

Here, you will need to select “Stream” from the left column, and click on the dropdown menu beneath “Server” towards the middle of that window, you can see this below.

In this dropdown, you may select either “Auto (Recommended)”, or choose a region that is close enough to your current location.

2. Try Lowering your Bitrate

Network conditions may vary day to day depending on different servers and sometimes you are forced to lower your bitrate a tad to make up for the weak connection. This is often a temporary solution but works to solve the issue at the moment.

For Streamlabs OBS:

You can lower or increase Bitrate accordingly by pressing the cogwheel located in the upper right corner of your window.

Here, you will need to select “Output” from the left column and click on the dropdown menu beneath “Streaming” towards the top of that window. You may also change your keyframe interval to best match your current Internet Service Provider (ISP) Upload speed.

Recommended Bitrate settings:

3)Wired or Wireless?

Check to see if you are streaming over Ethernet through a wired connection or Wireless through your Wi-Fi connection. Streaming with a wireless connection is fine, but oftentimes connection problems may arise by streaming on Wi-Fi over Ethernet.

If you have problems with your wired connection, you may want to reconnect your ethernet cable from your system, as well as your router. Resetting your router may often help with this problem too.

4) Check your Firewall / Anti-Virus Software / Router

If you keep getting disconnected, even after changing servers and lowering bitrate, please try checking your firewall, anti-virus software, or router to make sure they are not preventing your streaming software from not working properly.

Check Firewall for Streamlabs OBS:

Use Private Network Profile

Open the Windows 10 settings by searching “Settings” in your search bar.
Click on Network & Internet
Click on Change connection properties.
Select Private under Network profile.
Restart your computer.

Manually Open Firewall for Applications

If Windows did not prompt you for access through your firewall on the initial boot of Streamlabs OBS, you might need to manually open your firewall to allow access to that program. I would not recommend turning your firewall off if this step does not work.

Open Windows 10 Firewall settings by searching “Firewall & Network Protection” in your search bar.
Click on “Allow an app through firewall”
Locate Streamlabs OBS, or any other streaming software and ensure that there is a checkmark next to “Private” and “Public”.
Click on OK.
Restart your computer.

Update your Network Adapter Driver

There could be a very high chance that your Network Adapter card needs to have its drivers updated if you still suffer from connection issues after trying all of the previous steps.

Update the device driver:

In the search bar, type “Device Manager”, then select that tile.
Select the dropdown category “Network adapters”
Right-click on your network adapter and select Update Driver.
Select “Search automatically for updated driver software.
If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, you can try looking for one on your device manufacturer’s site.

Contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Lastly, for network issues, it’s quite common for Internet Service Providers to run maintenance or updates on their end that cause customer’s internet speed to have issues. If you have already tried everything on this guide, you may want to call your ISP to see if they are having problems in your area, try to be as detailed as possible.

Oftentimes, your ISP will have the ability to reset your entire network on their end, which ultimately may allow you to have a much faster connection for your audience.

5. Change Encoder from CPU to GPU

With the recent introduction of the GPU encoder with Streamlabs OBS, you can now encode your stream using your GPU instead of your CPU, this may offer smoother frame rates as well as less latency.

You can change this setting by pressing the cogwheel located in the upper right corner of your window.

After you click on the settings cogwheel, select “Output” from the left column, and select the “Encoder” dropdown.