YouTube is an excellent platform for sharing video content. A part of this sharing is live streaming. While you can create a video and share it as a stream on YouTube, doing the same through third-party software products like OBS, Twitch, etc makes the job easier. However, while streaming through third-party applications, users have reported the error YouTube is not receiving enough video to maintain smooth streaming. If you encounter this error on your system, then please read through this article for the resolution.
YouTube is not receiving enough video to maintain smooth streaming
While the nature of the error is such that it can occur while streaming through any third-party streaming software, but the problem has mostly been reported on forums for OBS. OBS has 2 modes, one for recording and one for streaming. When users use the option for streaming, the issue in discussion may occur. It should be noted that multiple users have confirmed that changing the bitrate did not help.
Try the following solutions sequentially to resolve the problem:
- Sign out, sign in from YouTube
- Check the internet connection
- Change the streaming application
- Change the device
- Wait for some time
- Browser level troubleshooting
1] Sign out, sign in from YouTube
If you encounter the problem of YouTube is not receiving enough video to maintain smooth streaming, then the first approach should be to re-login to YouTube. Sign-out of YouTube. Then reboot your computer. Finally, sign-in to YouTube.
2] Check the internet connection
Ideally, one can easily stream up to 1080p with YouTube. However, this depends on the internet connection. If the speed is well above 10MBPS, then you shouldn’t face any problem. However, if the speed isn’t sufficient, then you will have to drop the streaming down to 720p. The procedure to drop the video quality depends on the streaming application.
3] Change the streaming application
At times, the streaming application could be the problem. So, to resolve this problem, you can change the streaming application. As an example, if you are using OBS, try shifting to Twitch. This small change can solve the problem.
4] Change the device
If your device is not capable of handling a 1080p live streaming event, then you can consider changing the device to isolate the cause. If it works on another device, then you might have to upgrade the problematic system by adding a graphics card and RAM.
5] Wait for some time
If streaming was working fine earlier and you faced the issue suddenly, then the issue could be with the bandwidth or server. In this case, first try the solutions mentioned earlier in this article. After this, wait for some time for the problem to ease.
6] Browser level troubleshooting
If the above-mentioned solutions couldn’t solve the problem, then the issue might be the browser. So, try the following steps to fix the cause.
Change the browser. If the issue occurs with one browser, to isolate the problem, try using another browser.
Clear cache and cookie files. In case the cache and cookie files are corrupt, it will impact the associated website. This can also happen with YouTube. Thus, it is advisable to delete cache and cookie files for your browser.
Update your browser. In case your browser is running an obsolete version of itself, then you can consider updating it to the latest version.
What bitrate should I stream at OBS YouTube?
With OBS, you can start streaming with a bitrate of 64 kbps. However, it is advisable to keep the audio bitrate between 192-320 kbps. Unless you are using a very low-end computer, increasing the audio bitrate shouldn’t be difficult. 320 kbps is considered the standard for high-quality audio, so increasing beyond this limit wouldn’t be much useful.
Fix: YouTube error, Something went wrong
What video quality is permitted for YouTube streaming?
You can easily stream up to 1080p with YouTube. Rather, most modern free streaming software products can go beyond 1080p. However, it also depends on the configuration of your computer. If your PC is low-end, try to limit your streaming to 720p 60fps or 1080p 30fps.