Setup tips for the best stream quality
A few minutes of setup goes a long way. Most stutter and dropped-frame complaints we see come from network or camera issues that are quick to fix once you know where to look.
Network
Wired ethernet beats WiFi, every time
If you can plug in, plug in. Wired uplink has lower jitter and far fewer surprise drops than WiFi. The upstream direction (your camera → us) matters more than downstream, and WiFi degrades upstream faster than down.
Close cloud-sync apps before going live
Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, Backblaze, Time Machine over network — anything that quietly uploads in the background. They consume your upstream bandwidth in unpredictable bursts and you'll see it as stutter on your stream output. Quitting them for the duration of your session is the simplest fix.
Don't share your connection during a session
Roommate streaming Netflix in 4K on the same connection? That's competing for upstream. So is a phone uploading photos to the cloud, a game console downloading an update, or a video call on another device. If your stream is critical, ask people to wait or pause the other use.
VPNs: probably skip
VPNs usually make this worse — they add a hop, add jitter, and most route over UDP which is where WebRTC already lives. Two specific cases where a VPN can help:
- Your corporate network blocks WebRTC traffic
- Your mobile carrier throttles UDP
If you fit either of those, a VPN that routes traffic over TCP may be necessary. Otherwise, try wired + closing other apps first — VPN is a last resort, not a first.
Camera
Recommended cameras
The performer dashboard now exposes camera capabilities (auto-exposure toggle, focus, white balance) on supported devices. The advanced controls only appear when your camera reports them as supported. A short list of cameras we've verified work well will appear here as we collect tester data.
| Camera | Manual exposure | Manual focus | Manual WB | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logitech BRIO 4K | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Tier-1 reference. All controls work in Chrome on Linux/macOS/Windows. |
| Logitech C920 / C922 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Solid baseline, widely available. |
| Razer Kiyo Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Good. |
| Elgato Facecam | ✅ | ✅ | partial | Decent. |
| Built-in laptop webcam | typically ❌ | typically ❌ | typically ❌ | Works as input but no controls. Auto-exposure stutter in low light is unfixable without changing camera. |
| iPhone front camera (Safari) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Works but no advanced controls. iOS Safari restricts the WebRTC API surface. |
If you're getting auto-exposure stutter
The dim-light fps drop pattern is the most common camera-side issue. If your camera supports it, the Auto-exposure: on toggle in the camera controls will switch the camera to manual exposure and lock your fps to your target. Otherwise, brighter lighting in the room is the fix.
If something still isn't right
Use the Report a bug / Give feedback button on the capture page. It attaches your session ID, recent logs, browser diagnostics, and current WebRTC stats automatically — that gives us almost everything we need to diagnose without going back and forth.