Skip to content
CornetaPortuguês

Corneta guides · Guide

Dropped frames in OBS: network, rendering or encoding?

“Dropped frames” usually points to the network, but OBS also measures rendering lag and encoding lag. Open Stats and fix the counter that actually went up.

Published
Reading time
2 min read
Corneta version
0.11.0
Tested with
OBS Studio 32.x (Windows 11), Corneta 0.6.0 (Windows 11)

Open the right counter

In OBS, open View → Stats during the same scene that usually lags. Don't draw conclusions from the CPU or the game's FPS alone.

What went upLikely bottleneckFirst test
Dropped Frames (Network)with Corneta, a local bottleneck between OBS and Cornetaclose heavy programs and cut transcodes
Frames missed due to rendering lagGPU without time to build the scenecap the game's FPS
Skipped frames due to encoding lagencoder not delivering in timelower resolution and FPS; then a faster preset
Drops or reconnects on one platform in Cornetaupload, Wi-Fi, route or ingestcable, no VPN and a lower bitrate

Network

When OBS sends straight to the platform, Dropped Frames (Network) measures your internet. With Corneta, OBS hands off the video inside your own PC (127.0.0.1), so that counter points to a local bottleneck, not to your internet.

Internet problems show up in Corneta, platform by platform, as reconnects and drops. That's when it pays to close backup and sync, test over a cable, turn off your VPN and lower the bitrate. If only one platform reconnects, look into that platform before you touch OBS as a whole. Don't change the OBS server: it has to keep pointing at Corneta.

Rendering

OBS uses the GPU to build the scene even when the video is encoded on the CPU. A game with uncapped FPS, heavy Browser Sources and filters can take up the time that ran short. Cap the game, run OBS as administrator and turn off one source at a time.

Encoding

Here the frame was built, but the encoder fell behind. Lower resolution and FPS; if that isn't enough, use a faster preset. Your graphics card's hardware encoder usually takes load off the CPU, and going from 60 to 30 FPS cuts the number of frames to encode in half. In multistream, cutting transcodes counts too.

Enlarge image

Fit
Quality screen with the upload estimate and the available encoders.

Once you find the cause, cut only the cost that is tight: upload, rendering or transcoding.

Once you find the cause, cut only the cost that is tight: upload, rendering or transcoding.Source: CornetaCorneta version: 0.11.0

Repeat the test in the same scene for a few minutes. If the counter settled, the change hit the cause. If another counter went up, you only moved the bottleneck.

For the full decision tree, go back to why your stream lags.