Hello,

We are experiencing an issue with our vMix setup where YouTube randomly drops our stream and vMix starts a new one (changing the url so we lose all current viewers). We also stream to two other services and those streams do not have any issues, which is strange.

We have reviewed the logs and all we see is a vague error saying the stream was closed due to: a local internet outage, a provider issue, provider shutdown stream, or third-party software issue.

av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error
av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error

We've investigated the above causes and haven't found any valid reason why this could be happening, let alone how to resolve it.

Has anybody had experience resolving this type of error?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Thanks Tom. We did reach out to them, however, they simply shared the same help article I referenced.

We have not solved the underlying problem, but we were able to remove the symptom. We discovered that the YouTube Live Stream Now option launches a new stream whenever it experiences an interruption, regardless of the cause. We switched to YouTube Live, and that will reconnect to the original stream, same as when using the custom RTMP server option. The only caveat is that you need to start a live event in YouTube first, launching a stream from vMix will not auto-launch a stream in YouTube, which Live Stream Now does.

+1 to the pre-created event approach. The other setting worth checking is auto-stop in the event's settings in YouTube Studio. With it on, a short drop can end the broadcast, and vMix then starts a fresh one with a new URL.

I'm researching how often this kind of thing bites people running streams for clients or churches (I build live video ingest software and am looking at whether a "keep the stream alive with a slate during drops" service is worth building). If you've had this cost you viewers or an awkward conversation with a client, I'd really value a quick chat. PM me if you're open to it.

Liam