Keep Your Stream Live When OBS or Your Internet Drops
When OBS crashes, your PC restarts, or your internet cuts out, Kick and Twitch end the broadcast after a short grace period. Viewers land on an offline screen and your VOD splits in two. To stay live through longer outages, something outside your PC has to hold the connection to the platform and show a "be right back" screen until you are back.
Quick checklist: before your next stream
The first three are free and take a few minutes. The last one is what covers crashes, restarts, and outages longer than a minute.
Turn on Kick Disconnect Protection
In the Kick Creator Dashboard, open Stream URL & Key, then Advanced Settings, and enable Disconnect Protection. You can only change it while you are offline. Kick keeps the stream live for up to 60 seconds while you reconnect.
Turn on Twitch Disconnect Protection
In the Twitch Creator Dashboard, open Settings, then Stream, and enable Disconnect Protection. Twitch shows its backup image for about 90 seconds while your encoder reconnects.
Enable Automatically Reconnect in OBS
In OBS, open Settings, then Advanced, and enable Automatically Reconnect. Set a retry delay of 2 seconds and a high maximum number of retries so OBS keeps trying for the whole grace period.
Plug your streaming PC into Ethernet
Wi-Fi drops and interference are a common cause of short disconnects. A cable to the router removes them. On a phone, stay on 5 GHz Wi-Fi near the router and turn off Wi-Fi Assist or "switch to mobile data".
Send OBS to a streaming server with disconnect protection
Stream from OBS to the server instead of straight to Kick or Twitch. When OBS stops sending, the server stays connected to the platform, shows your "be right back" image or video, and switches back when OBS reconnects.
What Kick, Twitch, and YouTube do when your stream drops
Each platform waits a little for your encoder to come back, then ends the broadcast. The built-in protection is free and worth turning on. It is designed for short drops, not for a crash or a restart.
| Kick | Twitch | YouTube | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in protection | Disconnect Protection, up to 60 seconds | Disconnect Protection, about 90 seconds | No fixed grace period. With auto-stop turned off in Live Control Room, the broadcast waits for your encoder. |
| Where to turn it on | Creator Dashboard, Stream URL & Key, Advanced Settings (while offline) | Creator Dashboard, Settings, Stream | Live Control Room stream settings |
| What viewers see | Kick’s waiting screen | Twitch’s backup image | Depends on your stream settings |
| Your own BRB screen | No | No | No |
| Covers your other platforms | No | No | No |
If you reconnect within the window, the broadcast and the VOD continue. If you don't, the stream ends, and going live again starts a new broadcast.
Why a BRB scene in OBS isn't enough
Many streamers set up a "be right back" scene in OBS, often switched automatically with a plugin such as Advanced Scene Switcher. That works when a source inside OBS fails, for example a capture card or camera stops sending, because OBS is still streaming and can send the BRB scene.
It does nothing in the three cases that end most streams: OBS crashes, the PC restarts, or the internet connection goes down. In each of them nothing leaves your PC, so the BRB scene never reaches the platform. The fallback has to come from a machine that stays online when yours doesn't.
A BRB scene in OBS covers
- • A camera or capture card that stops sending
- • A game or source you switch away from on purpose
- • Planned breaks
It cannot cover
- • OBS crashing or freezing
- • A Windows update or PC restart
- • Your internet connection going down
Fewer drops by setup
Fix the most common cause for your setup first. Then decide whether you need protection for the drops that remain.
PC with OBS
Gaming PC streaming to Kick, Twitch, or both
- •Check Help, then Crash Reports in OBS after a crash. A single plugin or browser source is often the cause.
- •Set active hours in Windows Update so the PC doesn't restart during a stream.
- •Use hardware encoding (NVENC, AMF, or Quick Sync) so the game and the encoder don't compete for the CPU.
- •Stay at or below the platform's recommended bitrate and leave upload headroom. A bitrate close to your upload limit causes reconnect loops.
- •Use Ethernet. If your ISP drops often, a 4G or 5G router as a backup connection helps.
Mobile games from your phone
Phone streaming a game over home Wi-Fi
- •Turn off Wi-Fi Assist (iPhone) or "switch to mobile data" (Android). The switch changes your IP address and ends the stream.
- •Stay on 5 GHz Wi-Fi close to the router, or use a USB-C Ethernet adapter.
- •Lower the stream to 720p at 30 fps and around 2,500 to 3,500 kbps. Playing and encoding at once heats the phone.
- •Keep the phone charging and out of battery saver, and exclude the streaming app from battery optimization.
- •Use a streaming app that lets you set a custom RTMP or SRT server, so you can send the stream through a streaming server.
Console
Xbox or PlayStation
- •Console apps stream straight to the platform, so the platform's built-in protection is the only safety net.
- •Use a wired connection for the console.
- •For longer protection, capture the console with a capture card into OBS and send OBS to a streaming server.
How a streaming server keeps the broadcast live
A streaming server sits between OBS and the platform. The platform only sees the server, so it never notices when your PC or connection goes away.
Your PC
OBS
Streaming server
Shows fallback when OBS stops
Kick
Twitch
OBS stops sending
A crash, a restart, or an internet outage. The server notices within seconds.
Fallback goes live
The server keeps streaming to every platform and shows your BRB image or video.
OBS comes back
The server switches back to your stream. Same broadcast, same VOD, chat never left.
Because each platform is connected to the server, one setup protects Kick, Twitch, and YouTube at once. The same server can also multistream, so OBS uploads one stream instead of one per platform.
There are three common ways to get one:
A managed streaming server
A service runs the server and the fallback for you. You point OBS at it and upload a BRB image or video. Check how long it holds the platform connection, because limits range from a couple of minutes to much longer.
A cloud OBS
A second copy of OBS runs on a server, receives your stream, and switches scenes when it drops. It gives full OBS control in the cloud, but you build and maintain a second set of scenes.
A self-hosted server
A VPS running a media server such as SRS or nginx-rtmp with a fallback video. It is cheap and fully under your control. You set up and test the switching yourself, and you fix it if it breaks mid-stream.
Any of these adds a small amount of delay and a monthly cost. Test the fallback before you rely on it: start a private stream, close OBS, and check that the platform stays live and shows your BRB screen.
How Streamrun fits into this
Streamrun is a cloud streaming engine between your encoder and your platforms. It isn't a hosted copy of OBS: your scenes, alerts, and overlays stay in OBS on your PC.
With Streamrun Go, you point OBS or your phone app at Streamrun instead of at Kick or Twitch. When OBS crashes, your PC restarts, or your internet drops, Streamrun stays connected to the platform and shows your BRB image or video, then switches back when your stream returns. If nothing comes back for 15 minutes, the session ends.
Go streams to up to two destinations, for example Kick and Twitch from a single upload, and can add a chat overlay on the server. It costs $25 a month with unlimited streaming hours. Streamrun Pro is for custom workflows, with HTML overlays and independent encoding for each destination.
Frequently asked questions
How do I keep my Kick stream live when my internet drops?
Turn on Disconnect Protection in the Kick Creator Dashboard under Stream URL & Key, then Advanced Settings. You can only change it while you are offline. It keeps the stream live for up to 60 seconds while OBS reconnects, so also enable Automatically Reconnect in OBS. For outages longer than a minute, send OBS to a streaming server with disconnect protection. The server stays connected to Kick and shows a "be right back" image or video until your stream returns.
How long does Twitch Disconnect Protection last?
About 90 seconds. Viewers see a Twitch backup image while your encoder reconnects. If you reconnect in time, the broadcast and the VOD continue. If not, the stream ends. You cannot replace the backup image with your own graphic.
Does Twitch Disconnect Protection work on Kick or YouTube?
No. It is a Twitch feature and protects only your Twitch broadcast. Kick has its own Disconnect Protection with a 60-second limit. If you multistream, a streaming server with disconnect protection covers every platform at once, because each platform stays connected to the server rather than to your PC.
Can OBS show a BRB screen when my internet goes down?
Not to your viewers. A BRB scene in OBS only reaches the platform while OBS is still streaming. When your internet goes down, OBS crashes, or your PC restarts, nothing leaves your PC, including the BRB scene. The fallback has to come from something that stays online, such as a streaming server between OBS and the platform.
What happens to my stream if OBS crashes?
The platform stops receiving video. Kick and Twitch hold the broadcast for their grace period (up to 60 seconds on Kick, about 90 on Twitch) and then end it. Restarting OBS and reloading scenes often takes longer than that, and a Windows update restart almost always does. With a streaming server in between, the server keeps the broadcast live with fallback content until OBS sends video again.
Is Streamrun a cloud OBS?
No. Streamrun is a cloud streaming engine, not a hosted copy of OBS. You keep OBS, your scenes, and your alerts on your own PC. Streamrun sits between OBS and your platforms, holds the platform connection when OBS stops sending, and shows your fallback image or video until you are back.
Related
How to Stream Without Disconnects
Why streams drop at the network and protocol level, and the fixes for each cause.
OBS Streaming Setup
Send OBS to Streamrun over RTMP or SRT and keep your scenes on your PC.
Stream to Multiple Platforms Without Lag
Stream to Kick and Twitch at once without doubling your upload.
Cloud OBS: How It Works and the Alternatives
When a cloud OBS is worth it, and when a streaming server without OBS does the job.
Stay live through crashes and outages
Point OBS at Streamrun Go and keep your stream live with fallback content when OBS or your connection drops. Kick, Twitch, and YouTube stay connected while you get back.