The playback URL

The playback URL is there to consume what you’re sending: it’s the other side of your key. With it, any player and any OBS can watch the signal coming in at that moment.

How to copy it

1. Go to Stream Keys.
2. Hit Playback on the key’s row.
3. Paste it into the player, into the OBS source, or wherever you’re going to use it.

Its shape is the same as the publish URL but with read: instead of publish::

• RTMP: rtmp://<server>/<your-key> (the same one as the publish URL).
• SRT and SRTLA: srt://<server>:<port>?streamid=read:<your-key>.

Even if you broadcast over SRTLA, playback goes over SRT like on every other key.

Latency adapts to your connection

On SRT and SRTLA the playback URL ends with a &latency=: the margin the player has to recover the packets lost on the way. The further you are from your key’s server, the more margin it needs.

That margin isn’t fixed. When you hit Playback, the dashboard measures right then how long your connection takes to reach the key’s server and works out the latency from that. That’s why the notice you get when copying tells you which latency was used.

• Copy it from the device where you’ll use it. It’s measured from the device that copies it: if you copy it on your phone and paste it into your OBS at home, you get your phone’s latency.
• If you move, copy it again. A URL copied at home and used from another country can fall short and cut out now and then.
• If it couldn’t be measured, it’s copied with the region’s standard latency and the notice says so.
• On RTMP there’s no latency to adjust: the URL doesn’t change.

What it’s used for

1. Checking what’s actually arriving. Open it in a player and look at what came in: framing, audio, whether it’s the camera you think. It’s the fastest way to know whether the problem is in your encoder or further down the line. Pair it with the Current bitrate on the dashboard.

2. Bringing it into your own OBS. If you’ve got OBS at home, add a media source with this URL and your phone’s signal is inside your scenes, with your overlays and your alerts. It’s the classic setup for someone who broadcasts from the street and produces from home: see Broadcasting from your own OBS and Control your OBS from My OBS.

3. Handing it to a co-host or your moderator. Whoever has it can watch your signal without logging into your account or touching anything in the dashboard. Handy for someone to keep an eye on quality while you’re out walking, or for a guest commenting on what you’re seeing.

Careful about who has it

Whoever has this URL sees your signal

The playback URL doesn’t expire on its own and doesn’t ask anyone’s permission: it’s a key. If it leaks, anyone can watch your feed raw, even when your channel is on a BRB or a pause scene. And in RTMP the playback URL and the publish URL are the same one, so sharing it also hands over permission to broadcast in your place.

Simple rules:

• Only share it with people you trust, and privately.
• Don’t show it on screen and don’t leave it in a VOD.
• If you have to share it often, use SRT or SRTLA: there the playback and publish URLs are different.
• To cut someone off, rotate the key: the previous playback URL stops working instantly (Rotating and security).

When it stops working

The playback URL lives off the same key as the publish URL, so it stops working when:

• You rotate the key.
• You change region or protocol (the URL changes).
• Your subscription stops being active and the key is deactivated.

And, obviously, when you’re not broadcasting there’s nothing to read: the player won’t find a signal.

See also

• What a stream key is — where both URLs come from.
• Caps and states — what each state of the key means.