How to Remove Delay in Your Twitch Broadcast

First, identify the source of the delay

Delay on Twitch isn't always a single problem. A viewer may see an event later due to the broadcast mode, intentional delay, slow encoding, or an overflowing player buffer. So first, figure out exactly where the gap between the streamer's action and the viewer's reaction appears.

If a chat message appears almost instantly but the video lags behind, check your broadcast and OBS settings. If both the video and chat lag, the cause may be your connection, encoding, or an overloaded computer. When the delay is noticeable for only one viewer, the problem is usually in their browser, app, device, or network.

• Broadcast delay — the time from an action in front of the camera to the picture appearing for the viewer.
• Intentional delay — extra time enabled to protect against sniping and stream sniping during competitive games.
• Buffering — the video reserve the player loads when the connection is unstable.
• Encoding delay — the time the computer spends processing the image before sending it to Twitch.

To check, you can ask a viewer to type in chat after a noticeable action in the game. This doesn't give an exact measurement, but it helps you understand whether the problem shows up the same way for all viewers.

Enable Low Latency mode on Twitch

Low Latency mode reduces the time between when your broadcast is sent and when it appears for viewers. It doesn't eliminate the delay completely, but it helps shorten it without changing image quality.

The setting is in the Twitch Creator Dashboard. Open Creator Dashboard, go to Settings, then select Stream. In the block related to delay or broadcast mode, find the Latency Mode option and select Low Latency. In the Russian version, the names may appear as "Панель автора," "Настройки," "Трансляция," and "Низкая задержка."

1. Open the Twitch Creator Dashboard.
2. Go to Settings → Stream.
3. Find the Latency Mode option.
4. Select Low Latency.
5. Confirm the change if the interface shows a save button.

Low Latency mode has a quirk: with an unstable internet connection, the player may interrupt playback more often. So after enabling it, test your broadcast on another device and ask viewers to refresh the page. For some of them, the old buffer will persist until the player reloads.

Check Stream Delay in the Twitch dashboard

Separately from Low Latency mode, Twitch may have an intentional Stream Delay enabled. It adds wait time to the entire broadcast and is primarily needed in competitive games when a streamer doesn't want to show opponents their position in real time.

To check this setting, open Creator Dashboard → Settings → Stream. On the page, find the Stream Delay block. Depending on the language and interface version, it may be called "Задержка трансляции" or be located among the channel settings. In some dashboard variants, the screen you need opens through Channel Settings, after which you need to go to the stream settings and find the Stream Delay option.

1. Open Creator Dashboard.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Select Stream.
4. Find the Stream Delay section.
5. Disable Enable Stream Delay or set a mode without additional delay if you don't need this feature.

If the delay is intentional, you can only remove it completely after disabling Stream Delay. Low Latency mode doesn't cancel the extra time set by this option. After changing the settings, refresh the viewing page and check the stream again.

Check Stream Delay in OBS

A streamer may have a separate delay enabled in the broadcasting software. In OBS, open Settings, go to Advanced, and find the Stream Delay block. If you're not using delay intentionally, uncheck Enable Stream Delay. If the feature is enabled, also check the duration you've set.

The delay set in OBS and the delay in the Twitch dashboard work separately. When both are enabled, the wait times add up. So changing quality, restarting the browser, or clearing the cache won't fully fix the cause.

• Disable Stream Delay in OBS if you don't need it for your broadcast format.
• Check Stream Delay in Twitch via Creator Dashboard → Settings → Stream.
• Don't judge the result from an old open tab — refresh the viewing page.
• If you're keeping the delay to protect against sniping, let viewers know it's enabled intentionally.

Check your internet, encoding, and computer load

High delay often appears not because of Twitch itself, but because of dropped frames or OBS overload. Open the program's stats during a broadcast and check whether there are dropped frames due to network, rendering lag, or encoder overload.

• If the number of dropped frames due to network is growing, check your connection stability and lower the bitrate. If possible, connect your computer to the router with a cable.
• If rendering lag appears, reduce the load from the game, scenes, filters, and additional sources in OBS.
• If the encoder can't keep up, close unnecessary programs, reduce the load on the CPU or GPU, and review your quality settings.
• If you're using Wi-Fi, don't place the router far from the computer and don't overload the network with parallel downloads, cloud syncing, or video streaming.

Use hardware encoding

If OBS is currently encoding your broadcast via the CPU, check whether hardware encoding is an option. In OBS, open Settings → Output, enable advanced output mode if needed, and go to the stream settings. In the Encoder field, select an available hardware option, such as NVIDIA NVENC for NVIDIA graphics cards or AMD AMF for AMD graphics cards.

Hardware encoding moves part of the work from the CPU to the GPU and can reduce processing delay, especially when the CPU is busy with the game or other tasks. It doesn't fix a poor internet connection, so after switching encoders, still check the OBS stats. If rendering lag grows or game performance drops, compare the settings and choose the option where the program can process scenes without drops.

For additional connection checks, you can use Twitch Inspector and the broadcast stats in the Creator Dashboard. This data helps distinguish network problems from computer overload.

What the viewer can do

If the delay is only affecting one viewer, first refresh the broadcast page. Then select auto quality or a lower resolution so the player doesn't accumulate a large buffer. Don't leave the stream paused: after resuming, playback may continue with a noticeable lag.

• Open the broadcast in another browser or a private window.
• Temporarily disable VPN and extensions that change how the page works or block certain player elements.
• Restart the Twitch app if you're watching from a phone, tablet, or other device.
• Check whether a file, game, or update is downloading at the same time.
• If you're using Wi-Fi, move closer to the router or temporarily connect the device to another network.
• Open another broadcast and compare the delay. This helps you figure out whether the problem is related to a specific channel.

If all broadcasts lag after these steps, the problem is most likely related to the viewer's connection, browser, or device. If the delay is noticeable for all viewers of one channel, the streamer needs to check Low Latency, Stream Delay, OBS, encoding, and network status.

A viewer can't disable an intentional delay set by the channel owner. In that case, refreshing the page will only reduce the local buffer, but won't remove the time added in the broadcast settings.

Quick action plan

1. Check whether the delay is the same for all viewers.
2. In Twitch, open Creator Dashboard → Settings → Stream and enable Low Latency.
3. In the same section, find Stream Delay and disable it if extra delay isn't needed.
4. In OBS, open Settings → Advanced and check Stream Delay.
5. In Settings → Output, consider hardware encoding NVENC or AMF if available.
6. Use OBS stats to check network, rendering, and encoder.
7. If the problem is only with the viewer, refresh the player, change quality, and check the browser or app.