1 Not everything always runs smoothly
In such a technically complex matter as live streaming on YouTube, it can of course happen that certain problems occur that need to be fixed as quickly as possible for the sake of entertainment. It is often the case that the problems not only affect the streamer itself, but can also have a serious impact on the actual livestream.
This can lead to delays, image problems or complete failures during a YouTube livestream. In the worst case, your livestream fails and users have to call it up again after a long wait or experiment with it themselves because they might think it's their Internet connection. For this reason, you should be prepared for all eventualities so that you can quickly identify the cause of YouTube streaming problems and fix them accordingly. We will show you what errors can occur and try to present you the best solution.
2 List of YouTube streaming problems
First of all, we would like to roughly summarize what problems can occur. So, the following list only covers the umbrella terms of the known errors. In the next chapter, we will go into a bit more detail about each problem.
- Image problems
- Audio problems
- Delays
- Crashes
- Stream hangs
3 YouTube streaming problems and their possible causes
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to the problems and explain what they may be or how you can fix the problem. Of course, livestreaming errors are always very individual, but experience shows that certain issues always have the same source.
3.1 YouTube Livestream - Image Problems
Image problems can always occur. There is sometimes a significant deterioration in image quality or the screen suddenly just goes black. Quality problems are mostly related to the host's internet connection. Even if the speed of the home network is actually sufficient, there can also be failures or impairments here.
So, if you see in the chat that some users report that the picture quality is suddenly significantly worse, the probability is very high that the picture problems are coming from you. What you can do in case of image problems and quality restrictions:
- Internet line is being strained: make sure you don't have any downloads going on. These can have a very bad effect on your internet line bandwidth and eventually cause your streaming quality to degrade. If you can rule this out, you should look around your home network and ask every user on the network if he or she is downloading anything or streaming a movie or series on Netflix.
- Internet problems: Check your router's menu to see if there are any errors connecting to the Internet. Often there are also problems with the provider, which can lead to you only being able to use a fraction of your bandwidth. Hardware issues, affecting the router or WLAN modules, can also occur. The best way to connect to the Internet is to connect directly to the router via Ethernet cable. This way, no data is lost and you tend to always be able to use the full power of your line.
- Firewall: Check the firewall settings of your router. It is not uncommon for routers to update themselves automatically and change their settings in the process.
- Adjust bitrate: If you still can't find an error, you can adjust the bitrate with which you transmit your stream. This is done directly in the encoder program or streaming tool (OBS Studio, etc.) that you are using.
3.2 YouTube Livestream - Audio Problems
Likewise, troubleshooting audio problems can be multifaceted in some circumstances. It could be that your microphone has stopped working or viewers can't hear game sound. Most of the time, these are hardware-related issues or accidental switches in OBS Studio.
- Cable & Plug Connections: In the event that you can no longer be heard, it could be because something is wrong with the connection of your headset or microphone. First of all, make sure that all cables are properly connected. It's always possible for cables to come loose or even get damaged if they are jerky or too short.
- Dead battery: If you are using a wireless headset, you should check if the battery is dead.
- Incorrect setting in OBS Studio: If your viewers no longer hear sound from a particular source (video, game, etc.), something in OBS Studio may have been adjusted. You may have disabled, changed, or muted a source with a hotkey.
3.3 YouTube stream delay
If there are delays during your YouTube livestream, there are several potential sources of error to check. This so-called buffering can be caused by the source, i.e. you, as well as due to a poor internet connection of a viewer. So, if users are collectively complaining about delays or similar YouTube Livestream issues, the fault is most likely yours.
- Internet problems: Again, internet issues, downloads, firewall or provider maintenance can be the source of the problem. Make sure that your line is fully functional and not restricted by external influences.
- PC hardware not performing well enough: When playing hardware-hungry games, your computer may go down to its knees and overload. You should therefore never push your computer to 100% and instead lower the graphics settings of the game a bit.
3.4 YouTube Livestream - Crashes
If there are complete crashes, i.e. your viewers see nothing but a black screen or the offline banner, it is almost certainly due to you or your setup.
- Internet outage: If the internet goes down, logically you won't be able to stream either. Because if this scenario occurs, everything comes to a standstill for now. All you can do is restart your router or make sure that all settings are correct. In case of doubt, your Internet provider has a malfunction that can last several hours.
- PC crash: And suddenly everything was silent. We have all experienced a computer crash at one time or another. If the PC overheats, there are problems with the hardware or you have a virus on your computer, such crashes can occur. If the problem persists after rebooting, you should consult a professional as soon as possible.
- Crash of the streaming tool: When OBS Studio surprisingly hangs, the interface between PC and YouTube is lost, which makes your viewers see only a black screen. You can usually fix this problem quickly by restarting the corresponding program.
