To ensure compatibility for streaming it is important to understand broadcasting profiles, these can be especially important for mobile device compatibility. Most newer devices support higher profiles but not everybody has a recent smartphone and Android and iOS still recommend the usage of the Baseline profile. If you want to maintain compatibility with low end hardware you may also need to use the Baseline profile.
We have more detailed information available on streaming and encoding best practices here: Streaming & Encoding Best Practices - Media Control Panel (mediacp.net)
|
|
Baseline |
Main |
High |
|||
|
Resolution |
240p |
360p |
480p |
720p |
1080p |
4K |
|
Frame Size |
426x246 |
640x360 |
854x480 |
1280x720 |
1920x1080 |
3840x2160 |
|
Supported video bitrate |
300 - 700 Kbps |
400 -1200 Kbps |
512 – 2000 Kbps |
1600 – 4000 Kbps |
3200 – 6000 Kbps |
8000 - 20,0000 Kbps |
|
Recommended video bitrate |
512 Kbps |
1024 Kbps |
1600 Kbps |
2640 Kbps |
4400 Kbps |
12,000 Kbps |
To summarise the profiles:
- Baseline: Mobile devices and older playback devices
- Main: Standard-definition broadcast and desktop
- High: High-definition playback devices
OBS and most encoders have options for profiles so you can easily set your profile. And using transcoders profiles, you are able to offer multiple profiles at the same time. Please note however that transcoding can be very resource intensive, we have some benchmarks available here for you to review: https://www.mediacp.net/doc/quick-start/transcoder-benchmarks/
Troubleshooting
- If you are experiencing issues with device compatibility broadcasting in Baseline 240p to see if that fixes the issue is a good start. If that fixes compatibility you can then try moving up to higher profiles.
- If the device is still not streaming even on the lowest profile, you can find older versions of these profiles which maintain compatibility for even older devices.
- If you have transcoding enabled on your service, it could potentially change the format to be incompatible with some devices. Disabling all transcoding profiles on the service and testing the stream again will help you assess if this is the issue.
- If you are testing device compatibility using browser emulation this can fail where real devices will not. If you are running into compatibility issues with an emulated device, it is a good idea to test with the real hardware as you cannot always trust browser emulation.
If you are using Wowza Streaming Engine and still encountering issues contacting Wowza Media in regards to device compatibility may be helpful, as they created the software and may have more relevant the most knowledge on the subject.
For more information, refer the Wowza Media Mobile Troubleshooting website.
