Reduce delay before video playback starts in Wowza Streaming Engine

When using Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software, you can reduce the delay that occurs between the time a client receives a stream and video begins to play by using the instantOn application properties.

Enabling these properties speeds playback start time at the expense of greater latency. They cause playback to start further behind the live point, so only enable them if a quick start time is important. If low latency is important, don't use these properties.

Use of these properties requires some experimentation and testing. They're valid for incoming RTMP and RTP streams.

You can configure the properties in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager or by editing [install-dir]/conf/[application]/Application.xml. When you make changes to Application.xml, any supported settings are displayed in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager the next time it's started.

Enable instantOn in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager

1. Click the Applications tab at the top of the page.
2. In the Applications contents panel, click the name of your live application.
    
3. On the application page Properties tab, click Custom in the Quick Links bar.
    
   Note: Access to the Properties tab is limited to administrators with advanced permissions. For more information, see Manage credentials.
4. In the Custom area, click Edit.
    
5. Click Add Custom Property, specify the following settings in the Add Custom Property dialog box, and then click Add:
    
   • Path - /Root/Application/Streams
      
   • Name - instantOn
      
   • Type - Boolean
      
   • Value - true
6. Repeat step 5 to add the instantOnBufferTime property using the following values:
    
   • Path - /Root/Application/Streams
      
   • Name - instantOnBufferTime
      
   • Type - Integer
      
   • Value - 3000
7. Click Save, and then restart the application to apply the changes.

Enable instantOn in Application.xml

1. Use a text editor to open the [install-dir]/conf/[application]/Application.xml file for your live application and add the following property to the Streams/Properties container. Be sure to add the properties to the correct <Properties> container in Application.xml as there are several such containers in the file.
    

   <Property>
       <Name>instantOn</Name>
       <Value>true</Value>
       <Type>Boolean</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>instantOnBufferTime</Name>
       <Value>3000</Value>
       <Type>Integer</Type>
   </Property>

2. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine.