Why am I buffering?
#ERMERGERD BUFFERING!
Trying to watch a stream? Is it buffering a lot? Is this not normal?
Then I’m here to help you solve this problem!
There are many possible issues that could be causing you to buffer, let’s get to finding out which it is, and remove the buffering!
The one that get’s me, personally, and the first one we are going to tackle is...
STEAM
Steam likes to randomly update games and download patches. If you don’t have the download speed limited, or don’t have a monstrous connection, then you’ll buffer. So step one is CHECK STEAM (Also check other programs aren’t downloading) and tell it to stop.
Next up, the one most people don’t want to hear...
YOUR INTERNET
I know what you’re thinking “It’s not my internet, I have 10000/10000, it’s Twitch” OK OK OK OK OK, but let’s just make sure. Run a speedtest using testmy.net It’s the fastest way we can get an accurate internet speed result. Don’t use speedtest, it’s flash-based, inaccurate and horrible.
Run a couple tests using testmy.net If the results are significantly lower than you are expecting, or they fluctuate a lot, try restarting your router a few times and all the rest of the common steps to fix your internet. If all else fails and you are not getting the results you are paying for, go have a conversation with your ISP.
If you have very low speeds to begin with, it might be that the broadcasters bitrate is a little too high, try lowering the quality if the broadcaster has quality options available.
This one pops-up on occasion, and is a little hard to explain.
Your network/system usage because YOU are streaming
I see this come up a fair bit. Basically you aren’t a good person to check if your stream is buffering. Your system usage and network usage means you’ll see your stream buffer when others won’t. My stream never used to even load in my dashboard preview! If you don’t see any complaints of buffering in your chat, then don’t worry about it.
So the next problem generally accompanies other site loading issues, so if you run into buffering as well as other issues like a grey-screen or a white page with just text, then it could be a...
DNS ISSUE
Let’s not get bogged down in the details. All you have to do is switch your DNS. After you’ve done that, restart your router and PC. The site should load a little better and there shouldn’t be any buffering. Hopefully.
Sometimes the data gets stuck in traffic between you and Twitch, or takes a wrong turn. This is known as a...
ROUTING ISSUE
You have to talk to your ISP. There are some other things you can try, but they might cause more issues than they solve. So keep it simple and talk to your ISP.
There are various other things that could cause issues:
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Malware (Run a boot-time malware scan if you believe this might be the cause)
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Wi-Fi, your Wi-Fi channel might be suffering from interference. Switch channels or use a wired connection, if possible.
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Anti-virus, firewalls, etc. If you have very strict traffic restrictions, this might cause various issues with multiple sites and programs connecting to the internet.
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VPNs or Proxies. If you don’t know if you have one, then you don’t. If you do, try disabling it and see if the buffering issues clears up.
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Browser extensions. Anything that changes how the site loads can cause an issue. Ad blockers, Script blockers, BTTV, FFZ, etc. Any of these can cause an issue. Try disabling them, or using private/incognito mode and see if streams load better.
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Outdated Flash Player. Yes, flash sucks. Twitch should be moving to HTML5 in the coming months and hopefully many people will have less buffering.
#QUICK FIXES
These are the first things you should try
- Check for programs downloading
- Clear cookies and cache
- Restart PC/Router
Hopefully something here fixes your issue.
Something people often say is “It’s not me, it’s Twitch” Unless you see @TwitchSupport Tweeting out about site issues, this is probably not the case. If it was Twitch, we’d see tens of thousands of users complaining. So work hard to eliminate any issues with your PC and connection personally.
You can contact Twitch Support for more assistance. They’ll likely ask for the following information, so make sure you have it ready.
- Your IP
- A traceroute to Twitch Some channels that are buffering and any that are not
- Your ISP
- Download speed from testmy.net
When contact your ISP, have your testmy.net result to hand and don’t listen to them when they tell you to use speedtest.net or another flash-based speedtest, they are HORRIBLY inaccurate. They may also say that there are no issues on their end. Be persistent.
I think that’s all for now. Hopefully your issue is resolved, or on it’s way towards resolved.
GLHF
Z
Posted Apr 4, 2016, 9:17 PM UTC · edited
Good guide, but you do have to admit that buffering is absolutely a problem that Twitch has. As many times as it gets brought up on this subreddit, in conversations, and on lots of different channels, its a little unfair to say that its our problem, unless Twitch claims it.
I don't think it's fair to say it's anyone's problem until the issue can be identified. There are so many different things that go in to sending and receiving video from Twitch, the only way it can be properly diagnosed is by specialists. Running a speedtest or even a traceroute doesn't capture all the pieces most of the time.
It's definitely a Twitch side server issue when you see every single streamer you watch, who are large - partnered - some of them premium partnership channels, is suddenly experiencing buffer issues and talking about it as a group overall.
The fact that it coincides with the competitive gaming streams starting up just points towards it being server side. It's really disheartening to watch someone who relies on this as a source of income go from being in a decent mood to shutting their cast down for days because the issue will not resolve, and then to come back up and have the same issue again.
The thing is, when we see people complain about buffering, it's only a small handful at a time. If it was Twitch, it'd be a server that was the issue and there are thousands of users connecting, not the small handful of complaints that pop up.
Many people who have chronic issues connecting to Twitch have had them resolved through conversations with their ISP, but like I said in the post, you have to be persistent when dealing with them.
I would like to point out that I have had issues with Twitch buffer underload for a long time and under the tiniest of downloads.
Here is everything I've tried to do: Limit Steam downloads to 1MB/sec. Clean out computer entirely of unneeded programs, possible malware, rootkits, viruses, greyware, etc. Reset browsers to default. Attempt Twitch on Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Change DNS at Modem/Router level to Google DNS 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 after resetting modem/router to default. Upgrade connection to 200mbps/20mbps. Check QoS settings on network equipment. Turn off all firewalls from modem/router/pc level, close all connections, reset network adapter, begin twitch stream and document all ports open during twitch connection with netstat then ensure all said ports remain open after turning on firewalls. Check connection to twitch servers using specific tools made for twitch to ensure reliable comnectivity, testmy.net, as well as big file download test sites to ensure I'm getting the connection I'm paying for. Traceroute and document/monitor traffic over several weeks and during issues to determine if the issue is due to routing. Run on a different computer. Move to another US state entirely (California to Colorado) thus also changing ISP to entirely different company and changed my network equipment in the process. Upgrade connection to 40/20 with new ISP.
No matter what I have attempted to do, when anyone is downloading even the smallest bit of content through Steam or a browser, my Twitch goes haywire and refuses to load anything more until the download is complete.
It seems to me as if Twitch thinks my maximum bandwidth is 5mbps, regardless if my real bandwidth was 40mbps or 200mbps or as if Twitch knows what bandwidth I have available to me and will use only a portion of that speed. If anything more is used otherwise, Twitch gets jealous and stops completely. It's impossible for me to do any downloads at all while streaming or viewing another stream. Is there an inherent download limit
I'm not saying that it's Twitch directly that these issues are happening, but it seems Twitch connections have something going on in the shadows that could ultimately be giving many users issues, even if it's not a Twitch server issue.
I hope Twitch makes the move to HTML5 soon, as I have never had a top notch experience with Twitch as of yet and have tried literally everything I can think of to do, despite my professional experience as an network admin.
I feel like there's probably some level of policing going on, but then, I don't know exactly how the network is configured.