Testing latency

Keeping viewers in sync is crucial in many live-streaming contexts, such as online auctions and games.

How to test latency

To evaluate this, simultaneously test your streaming products - ideally on different networks - and compare the playout when injecting audio or visual cues into the stream. Remember to subject one or more devices to network congestions, or try disabling the internet connection briefly to assess how well playout resumes at the proper pace.

Vindral has a demo site where you can test this.

Stability

Any live streaming technology should be evaluated under real-world network conditions to determine how stable the end-user experience will be. We recommend that you shape your device's network to lower bandwidth, induce packet loss, and increase round trip times to put some pressure on the services you are evaluating. Keep an eye on bitrate switching both when conditions worsen and upon recovery.

Compatibility

Users need to be able to consume your content no matter what device they are using. When comparing streaming products/services, test on iOS browsers, Android browsers, and native applications simultaneously to ensure that sync and low latency works across the board.