Dropped frames troubleshooter
The default values show a common network/upload issue. Replace them with your OBS Stats counters after a 5 to 10 minute test stream.
OBS stream health
Find the real cause of dropped frames.
OBS dropped frames, skipped frames, rendering lag, and encoder overload mean different things. Enter the counters from View → Stats and get a first fix to test.
How to read OBS frame warnings
- Dropped frames: usually network, upload speed, Wi-Fi, or ingest server problems.
- Skipped frames: usually encoder overload from CPU or hardware encoder pressure.
- Rendering lag: usually GPU load, scene complexity, capture conflicts, or canvas scaling.
- Mixed counters: lower one variable, retest, then move to the next bottleneck.
Next, compare the dropped frames vs skipped frames guide, use the bitrate calculator to reduce upload pressure, or create a fresh preset in the OBS settings generator.