What is a Stream Delay?

Reasons to Use Stream Delay on Twitch The number one reason to use stream delay is to avoid “stream sniping,” the act of a viewer (or a group of viewers) using the information you’re streaming to their gaming advantage. Examples of this include. My gf broadcasts on twitch and the delay is only 2-10 seconds. Normally less rather than more. A hand can be anything from a few minutes to several minutes so it'd have to be a really big delay.

Stream delay is a broadcasting software feature that increases the latency of the stream, allowing a few minutes to pass before the viewers see what you’ve done.

How Long is Twitch Delay?

Most delays on Twitch will vary between 5-25 seconds, but can be longer if you live in a remote place or have a slower computer.

How to Check Your Stream Delay on Twitch

Unfortunately, there is no way for you to determine exactly what your stream delay will be. There are many factors that play into the answer, such as your computer speed, your internet provider, and the location of your viewers.

How to Reduce Your Stream Delay

Step 1 – Log in to your Twitch account and select your avatar in the upper right-hand corner.

Step 2 – Select settings from the drop down menu.

Step 3 – Click the “Channel and Videos” tab at the top of the screen.

Step 4 – Look for “Latency Mode” under “Stream Key and Preferences” and make sure that you have selected “Low latency“

When to Use Low Latency Twitch

The primary purpose most streamers set up a Twitch delay is to avoid being stream-sniped. A negative of broadcasting live publicly is it allows other gamers to know exactly where you are which may result in certain viewers using your stream to hunt or disrupt your gameplay.

Imagine fighting your way through a dungeon in an open-world MMO, and being attacked by another group who came in specifically to find you because they tracked your location on stream. They know exactly when you are on the boss and attack just when you and your team are most vulnerable.

Though some teams and guilds enjoy the added challenge, many others create rules prohibiting streamers to broadcast while they are in groups unless there is a stream delay.

How to Add Stream Delay on Twitch

Depending on where you are in the world, there is generally a 5-30 second delay from your current actions to when your viewers will see it. To increase that time on the Twitch platform, you must have a Partnership status to set it up in your Creator Dashboard.

If you aren’t a partner, you can also set it up through your broadcasting software.

How to Set Up Stream Delay in OBS Studios

To create a delay in OBS, follow these steps:

Step 1 – From the File menu, select the “Settings” option

Step 2 – Click “Advanced” on the left side of the pop-up menu.

Step 3 – Locate the “Stream Delay” section of the screen, click the enable button, and adjust to the amount of time you want to pass before your viewers see your broadcast.

Step 4 – Click the “Apply” button at the bottom of the page

How to Set Up Stream Delay in Streamlabs OBS

To create a delay in SLOBS, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Click the Settings option on the lower left-hand side of the screen

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Step 2 – Select the “Advanced” tab from the left-hand side of the pop-up screen

Step 3 – Scroll down to “Stream Delay,” click the enable box and adjust to the number of seconds you want to pass between the broadcast and the viewing.

Step 4 – Click the “Done” button at the bottom of the box.

How to Set Up Stream Delay in XSplit

To create a delay in XSplit, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Go to Settings

Step 2 – Click the Cog that represents the Stram Setting option

Step 3 – Enable the stream delay by checking the box

Step 4 – Enter the number of seconds that you want to pass.

How to Stream with No Delay

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to stream with no delay. As computers and internet speeds advance, latency will decrease. You can stream on Discord for a faster latency than you would get through traditional streaming platforms. While you can’t publicly stream, you can host smaller private streams that only show your game-play. This is a good way to get fast feedback. Discord Nitro also allows you to stream at a higher resolution.

Reasons to Use Stream Delay on Twitch

The number one reason to use stream delay is to avoid “stream sniping,” the act of a viewer (or a group of viewers) using the information you’re streaming to their gaming advantage. Examples of this include:

• Stalking a player on a Battle Royale game using the broadcast, to make it easier to eliminate them. This generally only happens to well-known streamers as they are easier to recognize.
• Dungeon diving groups on MMOs by locating their dungeon and attacking when the team is low health
• Tracking a guild’s progress through a global event in order to find a better advantage.

Due to these factors (and especially in less-popular games), many players might not want to group up when someone is live-streaming. Guilds may create rules to disallow it without the delay.

Potential Problem From Using Stream Delay

One major problem due to using stream delay is that you won’t be able to interact with your audience in the same way. They won’t be able to interact with you as you stream, so their reactions and comments will be about things they saw and heard that is in your past. Even if you do respond to them, it will be several minutes for them to hear your response.

As viewer interaction is a key element to a successful channel, this can pose a few problems. Minimize the negative effects by not overusing the delay feature. Only use it when it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.

Create an overlay for your screen that explains that there is a delay (and why) so that your viewers understand why you aren’t immediately responding to their comments and questions. Let you mods know ahead of time as well and rely on their help to answer some questions for you.

I am sure that all of us have experienced a flight delay at the airport at least one time in our life. Just recall how worried you were while waiting for that very airplane that would take you away to a dream vacation. Do you know that there is also a notion called twitch stream delay on a live streaming video platform? Let’s talk this out and clarify the details before we start getting worried like at that airport.

What is the Twitch Delay

Twitch delay is a feature that allows to detaining stream latency. Millions of broadcasts happen every day on Twitch, and a lot of resources are required to receive and broadcast video. So, the delay was launched to tune all the settings before distributing your broadcast to thousands of viewers. So It is used to increase the amount of time it takes for your stream to reach your audience. It is a helpful thing if we consider it from a point of stream sniping while broadcasting competitive games.

The developers of Twitch say that this feature has enabled closer interactions between the broadcaster and viewers, and has a positive effect on their streams in general.

How Long is Twitch Delay

On average Twitch delay can take from 7 seconds to 20 seconds. It usually depends on your location, Internet conditions. There was an example when a streamer from Australia had 20- 30 seconds of delay all the time. It is always in different way.

Please note: if you joined Twitch Partner Program, you can delay broadcast by up to 15 minutes

How to Determine the Actual Delay

There is no way, to be honest. It is not possible to determine the actual delay between the streamer and the viewer. Each stream delay is based on ISP (Internet Service Provider), the power and quality of computer you use, the country you live in. The streamer can delay the whole stream but the actual delay always varies. If you want to reduce delay significantly – take a look at our Twitch streaming equipment guide.

You can just calculate average Twitch delay with each subsequent broadcast, and find out an arithmetic mean. However, it is still an open question.

How to Change Twitch Delay

There are two methods to take Twitch delay under control:

• setting Latency mode via Twitch channel settings

1. Go to your Dashboard
2. Select Channel under Settings, and you will get to Stream Key & Preferences
3. Scroll down and you will see Latency mode
4. There are two options available: Low Latency and Normal latency

Low latency is applicable for those streamers who would like to interact with viewers in real time.

Choose Normal latency if you don’t interact with viewers in real time.

Please note: you changes are saved automatically and will take effect during your next live broadcast.

• OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) that allows you manually set a stream delay under the advanced settings. 20 seconds of stream delay are set by default.

How to Reduce Stream Delay

I have just described above how to change stream delay on Twitch. There are no additional ways except these ones to make it on the platform itself.

There is an opportunity to reduce stream delay in the broadcast settings of OBS. You should go to advanced settings, and focus on stream delay. Tick the box “Enable”, and you will be able to apply settings by hand. The duration of stream delay is measured in seconds. You can set the delay to 0 seconds.

Please note: reduce stream delay to a minimum, if you are not going to interact with your viewers in real-time

As a viewer, you are also able to disable or enable Low latency in the settings of any stream.

1. Go to settings (gear icon) in a low right corner
2. Go to Advanced and set the action needed

How to Increase Twitch Delay

There is the same action plan to increase Twitch delay as to reduce it. I mean manually in advanced settings of OBS.

If you are a Twitch partner, benefit from 10-15 minutes stream delay, and all other “trumps” that Twitch Partner Program offers.

How to Turn off Twitch Delay

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If you would like to turn off Twitch stream delay, go to OBS advanced settings again. I hope you memorized the way and will be able to pave it even in a half-awake condition.

You need to remove the tick from Enable box, click on OK, and be done with it.

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Conclusion

Twitch Poker Delay Meaning

Hope you have got the answers to your questions and clarified the information about Twitch stream delay. It is not as alarming as at the airport, isn’t it? Enjoy the streams!