In this guide
Tech without the needless jargon
The glossary explains common terms from IRL streaming, OBS, mobile networks, and stream servers. The linked deep-dive pages then take you further into each topic.
A-F
- Advanced Scene Switcher
- OBS plugin for rule-based macros and automatic actions such as scene switches, timers, and HTTP or WebSocket commands. See the Scene Switcher guide.
- Aitum Multistream
- OBS plugin for several parallel stream outputs, for example to Twitch, YouTube, or other targets. See the Aitum Multistream guide.
- Aitum Vertical
- OBS plugin for an additional vertical production in 9:16, for example for YouTube Shorts or vertical live streams. See the Aitum Vertical guide.
- APN
- Your carrier's access point name. A wrong setting can block mobile data or certain connections.
- Audio Monitor
- OBS plugin that can send individual audio sources to headphones, speakers, or other output devices. See the Audio Monitor guide.
- Audio routing
- Deciding which device and which stream track your mic, alerts, and TTS play on. Clean routing prevents doubled or missing sound.
- Bitrate
- Amount of data per second. A higher bitrate can give better quality, but it permanently needs more upload and data volume.
- Bonding
- Several internet connections are used together for more stable transport. See SRTLA & bonding.
- Browser source
- A web page that OBS loads as a picture, audio, or overlay source, for example alerts, TTS, or GPS.
- Buffer
- Temporary storage for late data. More buffer often improves stability, but raises latency.
- CBR and VBR
- CBR keeps the bitrate as constant as possible. VBR adapts it more to the picture content. For live streams, platforms often require a largely constant bitrate.
- Codec
- A method for compressing video or audio, such as H.264 and AAC.
- Dropped frames
- Video frames that aren't processed or transmitted in time because of overload or connection problems.
- Encoder
- App or hardware that turns camera and audio into a stream ready to send.
- Failover
- Switching to a backup connection, backup source, or prepared OBS scene when something fails.
G-P
- GPS overlay
- A map or data display in the stream, for example for location, speed, heading, or route. Only share location data on purpose.
- Ingest server
- The entry server the encoder sends the live stream to. A well-chosen target can reduce latency and connection problems.
- IRL connection builder
- Free browser tool from IRL4YOU that puts server address, ports, application, and stream key together into SRTLA, SRT, RTMP, or RTMPS connection details for Moblin, IRL Pro, and OBS. See the connection builder.
- Jitter
- Variation in packet delay. High jitter can cause stutter even with enough bandwidth and is often smoothed out by a buffer.
- Keyframe
- A complete video frame that the following compressed frames depend on. A suitable interval makes processing easier for decoders and platforms.
- Latency
- Time between capture and playback on the viewer's end. Buffers often add stability, but also delay.
- LocalVocal
- OBS plugin for local speech recognition, live captions, and, depending on setup, translations. See the LocalVocal guide.
- Move Transition
- OBS plugin for smoothly moving, scaling, and showing or hiding sources during scene switches or filter actions. See the Move Transition guide.
- Multistreaming
- Sending one stream to several platforms or targets at once, directly from OBS or through a restreaming service or server.
- NDI™
- Network Device Interface carries video, audio, and metadata with low delay over IP networks. It is mostly used on a local production network. NDI™ HX needs less bandwidth than NDI™ High Bandwidth. See the NDI™ guide.
- NOALBS
- Automation that watches the stream's state and can switch OBS scenes. See the NOALBS guide.
- NOALBS config generator
- Local browser tool from IRL4YOU for creating a NOALBS v2 config.json for OBS plus SRT Live Server/SRTLA or nginx-rtmp. See the NOALBS generator.
- OBS Studio
- Free software for scenes, sources, audio, recording, and live streaming. In an IRL setup, OBS often receives the mobile signal and prepares it for platforms. See the OBS Studio guide.
- Packet loss
- Network packets don't reach their destination. Visible effects can be audio glitches, blocky picture, gray frames, or dropouts.
- Pull key
- A key a service uses to fetch data or overlays. Treat it like a password.
- Push key
- A key for sending data to a service.
Q-Z
- Restreaming
- Forwarding an incoming stream to one or more platforms. See the Restreamer guide.
- RIST
- A protocol family for reliable video transport over IP networks. See the RIST guide.
- RTMP/RTMPS
- A widely used streaming protocol; RTMPS additionally protects the connection with TLS. See RTMP and RTMPS.
- RTT
- Round trip time is the time a data packet needs to go out and come back. A low, steady RTT makes stable transport easier.
- Scene switching and BRB scene
- OBS switches between the live picture and prepared scenes when needed. A BRB scene bridges pauses or a temporary signal loss.
- Source Record
- OBS plugin for recording individual sources separately, for example a clean camera picture without overlays. See the Source Record guide.
- SRT
- Secure Reliable Transport evens out loss and fluctuation with a configurable buffer. See SRT.
- SRTLA
- An add-on that can carry SRT over several connections. See SRTLA.
- SRTLA relay server
- An intermediate station that receives the mobile stream and passes it on to OBS or a platform. See SRTLA relay server.
- Teleport
- OBS plugin for sending complete scenes between two OBS computers on a local network. Teleport is not compatible with NDI™. See the Teleport guide.
- Transcoding
- Converting a stream to a different resolution, bitrate, or codec. It needs extra processing power.
- Uplink or upload
- The data direction from the mobile encoder to the server. What matters is upload capacity that is consistently available and varies little.
- VPS
- A virtual server in a data center, for example for a relay, RTMP, SRTLA, or BelaRemoteUI.
- WebSocket
- A persistent two-way connection between a browser or app and a server, for example for OBS remote control.
Setup service & consulting
If you want help with your setup or with troubleshooting, reach out in the IRL4YOU Discord.