Going live on Twitter using HLS – FAQs
What kind of HLS streams are supported? Producer in Media Studio accepts HLS streams in the form of .m3u8 or .m3u URLs. When specifying an HLS stream URL in Twitter’s Media Studio, you are specifying a URL to a playlist. We accept both types – so-called ‘master playlists’ and ‘media playlists’.
Producer in Media Studio will automatically select a video variant, and if audio is not multiplexed together with video, an audio variant from your ‘master playlist’ using the following logic: the video variant with highest bitrate and resolution such that the resolution is 720p or lower, unless the only video variants available are above 720p video, where the variant closest to 720p will be chosen.
If audio and video are multiplexed together and separate audio renditions are provided, we will use the audio in the chosen video variant. If multiple AAC audio tracks are provided, we choose the audio track included in the rendition with the highest bandwidth.
Which HLS source region should I use? Choose the region that is closest to the source location of your encoder:
US West (N. California) – Oregon, USA US East (N. Virginia) – Northern Virginia, USA EU (Frankfurt) – Frankfurt, Germany Asia Pacific (Tokyo) – Tokyo, Japan
How can I use a restricted HLS stream as a source in Producer in Media Studio? If you have a restricted HLS URL (by IP or geo-restriction), you may be able to use it in Media Studio by allowlisting all of the Twitter IP addresses that may attempt to read your stream. These IPs are specific to the source region that you choose, so they may be different across different sources. To view these IPs, go to the Sources tab and click into your HLS source. Expand the ‘Recommended encoder settings’ and scroll down to the ‘IP range’ field.
Why does my HLS stream seem to be ingesting a low variant? For live broadcasts on Twitter, we ignore variants that don’t work for us (bad codecs and too high bitrate), and then choose the variant with the highest resolution as long as it’s 1280×720 or lower.
Within LiveCut, the editor may display a lower-quality variant, even if you are ingesting a higher-quality stream.
Why is my HLS stream skipping or having other issues? The live window (the set of media segments listed in each update of the media playlist) should contain at least 5 segments and not more than 100 segments.
If the live window is shorter, it’s possible that due to network latencies a segment may leave the window before our system has a chance to download it. This may cause the broadcast on Twitter to skip or stop playing the portion of your stream corresponding to the missed segment(s). Please ensure your media playlist contains a minimum of 5 segments and does not exceed 100.
Otherwise ensure your HLS stream matches our recommended specifications, as any deviations can result in various issues on Twitter and in LiveCut.
Why does my HLS stream have audio issues? Your stream’s HLS audio must be AAC-encoded. The audio must be mono or stereo audio, not multichannel.
Going live on Twitter using HLS – Common errors and warnings
Error: ‘You must enter a valid HLS URL scheme beginning with http or https’ The HLS URL must start with http or https and end with an .m3u8 or .m3u extension. Your URL will look something like this: https://[yourHLSstream].m3u8. If you are not sure if you have a supported stream, please contact your IT or video production team.
Error: ‘The stream failed to connect.’ Ensure the HLS URL is entered correctly in the Source and that it is currently live. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream.
Error: ‘The stream could not be accessed due to certificate validation failure.’ Ensure the HLS URL is entered correctly in the Source and that it is currently live. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream.
Error: “The stream is not accessible. Please check access restrictions on the stream.’ The stream is not accessible due to either geo-restrictions or authentication on your stream set by your IT team. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream (error 401 or 403).
Error: ‘Please ensure the stream is on, and then attempt to create a new broadcast.’ There is currently no video detected on this stream URL. Ensure the HLS URL is entered correctly in the Source and that it is currently live. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream (error 404).
Error: ‘There is an issue with the stream.’ There is an issue with the HLS manifest or playlist. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream and reference the recommended HLS specification.
Error: ‘Oops. Something went wrong.’ The stream is not accessible due to a server error. If you continue to receive this error, please contact the team managing your stream (error 500).
