Streaming has grown into an entirely different industry and many people are now chasing their professional streaming careers. If we look at the biggest streaming platform Twitch, we can see an incredible number of active streamers that continue to grow.
Twitch reached the peak of the highest number of streamers in January with 9.89 million streamers and this trend will continue to grow.
However, building a professional streaming career is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, interesting content, long hours behind the computer, and most importantly high-quality gear.
Just because the level of competition in the streaming industry is very high, you need to pick the right niche that will bring you closer to your target audience (for example streaming football games) and make sure your stream looks professional.
One of the most annoying things in the streaming world is LAG, especially at fast-paced games like football. Imagine you are sitting on your living room, with laptop in your legs, watching the best safeties in NFL and suddenly the game starts lagging.
Laggy broadcasts can push viewers away, and it can be seriously rage-inducing just because the viewers aren’t getting the quality they tuned in for.
Additionally, low-quality streaming can bring down your donations and you’ll make less money. So, if you are experiencing lag while you stream, don’t worry there are few methods that you can use to overcome this issue.
What is Network Lag While Streaming?
Network lag or otherwise known as “network latency” is the problem that most people refer to when they say the word “lag”. If we look at the problem from a technical point of view, network lag is a large delay between data being transmitted between your computer and the server of the game or online platform.
From a gamer point of view, a higher “ping” means that the network is experiencing trouble transmitting data.
What is Graphics Lag?
The most common form of lag that players experience is the graphics lag, and even though it is not the type of lag that can affect the quality of your stream, you can still experience some issues when you stream.
Graphics lag is the latency of what’s being displayed on your screen. This can ruin your overall gaming experience, which can be a real bummer, especially if you stream.
How to Fix Network Lag?
For every problem, there is a solution, and fortunately, there are a few ways you can get around the network lag problem.
First thing first, you need to switch out to a wired connection using an Ethernet cable as it is more stable and can significantly reduce your lag. Most routers come with Ethernet cables in the box, but if you don’t have one you can find it in your local hardware store.
Additionally, you should close down bandwidth-intensive programs, just to make sure that all the juice from your network is going towards your stream. So, make sure that you don’t have any downloads in the background, and close programs like Viber, Dropbox and etc.
If you live in a house with other people, you should also ask them if they are using most of your internet resources. For example, if someone is watching Netflix in the next room, that can seriously affect your streaming.
So, the best way of going around the network lag problem is by channelling all your network resources to your PC.
If this solution doesn’t work, make sure you contact your network operator and discuss the type of plan you have and whether or not you should consider an upgrade with higher download and upload speed.
How to Fix Graphics Lag?
If you are experiencing graphics lag, don’t worry, there is a solution for this problem too.
Since graphics lag often occurs from the lack of power that is required for running the game smoothly, so the first thing you should do is lower your in-game settings and try plying on lower resolution and lowered graphic details.
Your computer might not be capable of displaying the highest frame rate or most detailed graphics in 4K, which can cause graphics lag.
The next thing you should try is upgrading the drivers just to make sure that your graphics card is best optimized for running the game and your streaming program. Sometimes, an outdated driver can be the reason why the game’s graphics aren’t’ display properly.
If this doesn’t solve the issue, check if you have some graphics-intensive programs that are running in the background consuming your computer’s resources. If you have Adobe Photoshop or even Google Chrome opened in the background, can cause the game to freeze or have graphics lag.
Last but not least, you should switch to OBS. Live for streaming management. According to data from streamers, the free OBS Studio add-on uses less FPS than other stream management tools.
Final Words
We know how frustrating is to experience lag while streaming, and fortunately, most laggy situations can be resolved only by tweaking your computer settings.
The last resort will be to upgrade your PC hardware just so you can have more processing power for running multiple apps or games.
