Common issues

Streams are buffering/lagging

Enable caching in your player

By default most players do not cache the data they receieve from Livestreamer. Caching can reduce the amount of buffering you run into because the player will have some breathing room between receving the data and playing it.

Player	Parameter	Note
MPC-HC	–	Currently no way of configuring the cache
MPlayer	-cache <kbytes>	Between 1024 and 8192 is recommended
MPlayer2	-cache <kbytes>	Between 1024 and 8192 is recommended
mpv	--cache <kbytes>	Between 1024 and 8192 is recommended
VLC	--file-caching <ms> --network-caching <ms>	Between 1000 and 10000 is recommended

Use the --player option to pass these options to your player.

Multi-threaded streaming

On segmented streaming protocols (such as HLS and HDS) it’s possible to use multiple threads to potentially increase the throughput. Each stream type has it’s own option, these options are currently available:

Option	Used by these plugins
--hls-segment-threads	twitch, youtube and many more.
--hds-segment-threads	dailymotion, mlgtv and many more.
--stream-segment-threads	ustreamtv, beattv and any other plugins implementing their own segmented streaming protocol.

Note

Using 2 or 3 threads should be enough to see an impact on live streams, any more will likely not show much effect.