According to this report, most of us spend over 100 minutes each day watching video content of different genres. That adds up to a considerable amount of time. But have you ever wondered which videos stand out? The videos that hook viewers from the start and maintain their interest throughout.
One crucial aspect that makes or breaks the interest of your audience is the viewing experience that your videos deliver. When streaming live videos as a professional, you need to focus on creating a great experience for your viewers. One way to create a great live video viewing experience is by keeping the latency on your streams low.
We’re sure you spend lots of time, money, and creative energy settling up the perfect background for your videos and perfecting the content you plan to record. If live-streaming is your preferred medium, keeping your viewers engaged and entertained is even more important.
Imagine live-streaming (6 streams streaming) a concert or live event, for example. You hype up your viewers by creating buzz around the event on social media. Everything’s lined up, you set up your equipment, and brief your staff. From your end, everything is ready to go.
But what if there’s a lag in your live stream on the viewer’s end? Not many viewers will sit around waiting for the stream to load. A single buffering event can cause up to 40% of viewers to lose interest and switch to something else. Even if the live-stream buffers for a very short period.
Not only will it be a buzzkill for your audience, but you will also surely lose viewers. These lost viewers might not be willing to tune in to watch your live streams in the future as well. Today’s audience is spoiled for choice, and they really hate waiting.
That’s where low-latency streaming solutions come in. That’s how live streams maintain continuity throughout their duration.
A low-latency streaming solution allows your viewers to experience the content in real time. Latency is the delay between when an image is captured on your camera and when your viewer experiences it on their screen. With live content, you want the lowest possible latency. Low-latency video streaming is essential for professional broadcasting.
Understanding how low latency streaming works can help engage your audience better. That’s thanks to CDN solutions that can bring down latency to milliseconds.
In this post, we will explain what low-latency streaming is and take a look at the features you should look for when choosing a low-latency streaming platform. We will wrap things up by mentioning a few great encoders for low-latency streaming.
Let’s get started.
What is Low Latency Streaming?
Live streaming (best streamz live tv) without delay helps make your streams more viewer-friendly.
Let’s get a bit technical here. Live streams are not actually live. There’s usually a 20-120 second delay between the event actually taking place and the video streaming on viewers’ screens. That’s video latency, the delay between when a video frame is captured and when that frame is displayed to the viewer.
For example, if you’re watching a live sporting event, latency is the time between a player making that legendary winning goal in real life and you actually seeing it happen on your screen at home. You want the stream delay to be short enough to be unnoticeable.
Latency takes place in a broadcast because processing and sending live video takes time. It doesn’t take much time, of course. Nonetheless, each step in the process results in a tiny delay. These steps include:
- Camera processing the image
- Encoders transcoding the content
- Time for the video to be transmitted to the viewer
- Buffering
- One’s viewing device decodes and then displays the video.
According to Encoding.com, most live streams have latency in the 30-120 second range—sometimes more.
In fact, there are two parts to latency:
- Startup time and the lag between the event taking place
- The video streaming on a viewer’s screen.
Both are important to the viewer’s experience. Unfortunately, reducing one latency component can increase the other in some cases. That is why it is important to understand the balance between these two parts and how to stream with less delay effectively.
The Value of Low Latency Streaming Solutions
We’ve established that low latency is often the preferred way to stream, but you’re likely wondering why this is the case.
As far as startup time, studies have shown that longer startups drive viewers away and negatively impact their experiences. Online videos with a start-up time exceeding even two seconds have significantly higher streaming video (periscope live video streaming) abandonment rates.
Each incremental second lag propels another 6% of viewers to jump ship. That’s why learning how to stream without delay, or as little delay as possible, at the start of your video is essential to retaining viewership.
Low latency during the broadcast itself is critical in a variety of situations. Here are a few scenarios in which low latency streaming media solutions are especially critical:
1. Sports streaming
2. Live auctions
3. Live streams involving chat, real-time feedback, or audience participation
4. Gaming
5. Gambling
6. Dual-screen viewing (which is increasingly common for all sorts of broadcasts)
7. Concerts
8. Question answer sessions
9. Political events such as debates or vote counting
Low latency streaming solutions help viewers watch these events unfold in almost real-time, creating a more lifelike experience.Getting rid of streaming lag is the best way to keep your viewers engaged.
How to Choose the Best Low-Latency Streaming Solution for Live Streaming Without Delay
Only a handful of video streaming platforms deliver efficient low-latency video streaming platforms today. Each offers a different combination of price, usability, and features.
Let’s look at some of the features you should look for when choosing a solution to live stream without delay.
- HLS Streaming protocol
- Less than 15 seconds of latency
- Simple set-up
- Budget-friendly
- A reliable content delivery system
HLS Streaming Protocol Delivery
Make sure your chosen streaming solution uses HLS streaming.
The best low latency video streaming platforms use the HLS streaming protocol. “HLS” is short for “HTTP Live Streaming,” and Apple designed it to work with HTML5 video players. Both of these technologies are successors of the ancient Adobe Flash Player technology.
How TLS Streaming Works
Most HLS streams start with RTMP ingest, which is automatically converted to HLS for delivery by the video platform. This provides a high-quality stream to viewers but can introduce a latency of 30 seconds or more. That is a huge live stream delay.
The reason that RTMP is still used for video ingestion rather than using HLS for both deliveries and ingest is that HLS on its own has a much higher latency. The RTMP ingest/HLS delivery combo makes it possible to stream on an all-device HTML5 video player while reaping RTMP’s benefit of low latency.
When paired with the right CDN, this technology can help decrease your latency into the 12-15 second zone. This is a much better live stream delay.
Encoders for Low Latency Streaming
Several high-quality features need to work together in order to achieve low latency streaming. One of the additional tools you will need to use is a video encoder alongside your video streaming solution.
One of the most important tools for live streaming (livestream zoom to youtube) is a video encoder. You can use a free or paid video encoder, and you can use either a software or hardware solution.
Free Video Encoder
One of the best free encoders on the market is OBS Studio. OBS Studio is compatible with both Windows and Mac and can seamlessly integrate with a range of production and mixing tools. You can also use a wide range of plugins, scripts, and custom themes with OBS Studio.
Paid Software Video Encoder
You can use a wide range of strong paid software video encoders. A few of the top paid software video encoders include:
- Wirecast
- VidBlasterX
- vMix
Paid Hardware Video Encoders
There is also a wide range of hardware video encoders you can use as well, such as:
- LiveU Solo
- TriCaster
Want to learn more about encoders you can use to support low latency live streaming? Read our article comparing the 12 best live streaming encoder software and hardware solutions.
As you become more experienced, you may want to invest in a paid encoding tool instead of using a free one. We recommend exploring different hardware and software encoders.
How to Stream With No Delay With Mslive
Ultra-low latency video streaming is very important in the world of professional broadcasting. When comparing video streaming (private live streaming) solutions, pay close attention to the offerings that support low-delay streaming.
Mslive’s low latency streaming platform and other features make it the best solution on the market today. Mslive offers low-latency camera streaming, so your live content will get to your viewers as fast as possible.
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