How to Fix Stream Lags on Twitch

Are you dealing with stream lags on Twitch?

Being a streamer and content creator is every gamer’s dream. And what better way to start your career than streaming on Twitch

Twitch is one of the best live streaming platforms in the world with millions of monthly regular users. It also gives you access to hundreds of extensions that can help you produce quality streams on a day-to-day basis. 

Sadly, Twitch isn’t perfect as one might think.  Although it’s certainly one of the best, it’s not exempted from downtimes and occasional errors. 

If you stream on Twitch, you’ve probably encountered lags while broadcasting. 

This is one of the worst things to happen while streaming is it not only ruins your gameplay but your fans’ viewing experience. 

With the tight competition among streamers, producing quality content is important to keep and gain more viewers. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how to fix stream lags on Twitch. 

Let’s begin!

1. Check Twitch Servers. 

When you encounter issues while streaming on Twitch, the first thing you should do is check the servers. Since Twitch is an online service, it relies on its servers to broadcast your streams to your fans. 

You can visit Twitch’s status page to check the servers. 

Twitch Status

Sadly, server-related issues can’t be resolved on your end. If the servers are down, the only thing you can do is wait. 

On the other hand, you can proceed to the next method below if Twitch’s servers are up and running. 

2. Check Your Network Connection. 

A slow or unstable network could also be the reason for stream lags on Twitch. Broadcasting on Twitch requires a lot of bandwidth and you’ll encounter problems if your internet connection is not working correctly. 

To check your network, run a test using Fast.com to measure its current upload and download bandwidth. 

Speed Test

If the result shows that your network is the problem, restart your router to re-establish the connection with your ISP’s servers. Unplug your modem from the outlet and wait for at least five seconds before plugging it back in. 

Restart Router

Once done, re-run another test to check if the problem is solved. If not, contact your service provider and ask them to fix the issue. 

3. Clear Your Browsing Cache. 

Browsers store temporary cache and cookies on your device, which are used to improve loading times of sites and enhance their overall performance. However, this data can accumulate over time and slow down your browser. 

If you encounter stream lags on Twitch, try clearing your browsing data to free up some space. 

Here’s what you need to do: 

  1. First, open your browser and access the Settings
  2. After that, go to Privacy and Security
  3. Now, click on Clear Browsing Data and change the Time Range to All Time
  4. Lastly, include caches and cookies in the process and hit the Clear Data button. 
stream lags on Twitch

Once done, go back to Twitch and try streaming again. 

4. Disable Your Browser Extensions. 

Extensions are third-party tools that provide additional features to the websites you visit. While they are great for improving user experience, they put an additional load on your system. Given you’re already running a game and streaming it, extensions could further consume your bandwidth, causing lags and performance issues. 

To avoid this, we recommend turning off your browser extensions before broadcasting your gameplay on Twitch. 

See the steps below to disable your browser extensions: 

  1. On your browser, click on More and access the Settings
  2. Now, click on the Extensions tab on the side menu. 
  3. Finally, turn off your extensions and restart your browser. 
stream lags on Twitch

After turning off your extensions, try streaming on Twitch to check if the problem is solved. 

5. Close Unwanted Applications. 

If you have other applications running on your computer, we recommend turning them off before streaming on Twitch. Background applications consume system resources, which could affect your system’s performance. 

Open the Task Manager on your computer by pressing the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys. Now, identify the apps you’re not using and close them. 

Go back to your stream afterward to check if the problem is solved. 

6. Reinstall Twitch. 

If you still encounter stream lags on Twitch, we recommend reinstalling the app on your computer. This should eliminate corrupted files from your system and ensure you have the latest working version of Twitch. 

Check out the steps below to delete Twitch on Windows: 

  1. First, open the Control Panel on your computer. 
  2. After that, click on Uninstall a Program and look for Twitch.
  3. Lastly, right-click on the app and choose Uninstall
stream lags on Twitch

Go to Twitch’s website afterward and download the latest installer for your system. 

That ends our guide for fixing stream lags on Twitch. For your questions and other concerns, please let us know in the comment section, and we’ll do our best to help. 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂 

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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