Knowledge base
1000 FAQs, 500 tutorials and explanatory videos. Here, there are only solutions!
Understand the latency time of radio streaming
This guide explains the mechanisms to optimize your Streaming Radio broadcasts while minimizing interruptions. Indeed, while latency is unavoidable, proper buffer management can optimize your broadcasts while minimizing interruptions.
Understanding and Managing Latency
Real-time transmission is never instantaneous due to several technical factors:
- inevitable latency:
- the latency of 3 to 4 seconds between sound generation and reception is normal
- players always buffer at least 1 to 2 seconds before starting playback
- buffers:
- Icecast defaults to a buffer of 64K bytes, equivalent to about 4 seconds of broadcasting at 128k mp3
- encoding clients also have buffers to prevent interruptions
- reducing latency:
- decreasing buffer size can reduce latency but this practice is risky
- since Internet connections do not guarantee a constant bitrate, smaller buffers can lead to dropouts
- adjusting buffers:
- latency is a challenge but buffers are useful for broadcast stability
- adjust the buffer size to find an optimal balance between latency and transmission reliability
Link to this FAQ: