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FFmpeg still running does not prove that YouTube is receiving your feed—or that your broadcast is live. Check each layer separately: the local process and logs, whether the media input opens, YouTube’s ingest status, stream health, and the broadcast lifecycle. For an always-on stream, repeat these checks and alert on sustained failures rather than relying on one snapshot.
What each check can—and cannot—tell you
| Signal | What it supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| FFmpeg process exists | The local process has not exited. | That it has usable input, is sending output successfully, or that YouTube is receiving it. |
ffprobe opens the input and lists streams |
The URL was readable and recognized as media during that probe. | Continued availability, YouTube ingest, or viewer playback. |
YouTube streamStatus=active |
YouTube is receiving encoder data. | That stream health is free of issues or the broadcast lifecycle is live. |
YouTube health is good or ok |
No issue is present at the corresponding warning or error threshold described by the API. | Guaranteed playback for every viewer or future health. |
Broadcast lifecycle is live |
The broadcast is active on YouTube. | That the local encoder will remain healthy indefinitely. |
| Live Control Room health messages | Creator-facing, current feedback about stream health. | A permanent guarantee, or diagnostics for channels you do not control. |
These signals answer different questions. A process can exist while its input has failed; YouTube can receive data while reporting quality problems; and an active ingest does not by itself mean the broadcast has reached the live state.
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Check the FFmpeg process and recent logs
On the machine running FFmpeg, confirm the process has not exited, then inspect recent output or the log file configured for the job. Look for input-open failures, disconnects, output errors, and repeated retry messages. A process listing is only a local check: it cannot confirm that media is flowing correctly or that YouTube has accepted it.
If FFmpeg runs under a service manager or supervisor, check that service’s current status and recent logs as well. A supervisor may restart a failed process, so a process that is present now does not rule out repeated interruptions; the log history matters.
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Probe the media input with ffprobe
FFmpeg’s ffprobe documentation describes probing an input URL and returning media information. Replace INPUT_URL with an authorized, accessible input URL:
ffprobe -v error -show_streams -show_format -of json "INPUT_URL"When the URL opens and is recognized as media, the output includes stream and format information in JSON. A URL that cannot be opened or recognized as media returns a positive exit code according to the documentation. In a script, check the command’s exit status and parse its output rather than treating any non-empty process state as success.
A successful probe is a point-in-time result, not a continuity test. Its behavior depends on the URL and protocol. In particular, a private YouTube ingest endpoint is not automatically a publicly probeable viewer URL; do not assume that probing a watch-page address verifies encoder ingestion.
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Verify that YouTube is receiving the encoder feed
If you control the channel and have access to its YouTube Live Streaming API resources, inspect the liveStream resource bound to the broadcast and read status.streamStatus. Google defines active as the stream being in an active state, meaning the user is receiving data via the stream; inactive means data is not being received. See the YouTube LiveStreams resource.
This is a stronger signal of YouTube ingest than a local process check, but it is not a complete quality or broadcast-state check. It requires access to the relevant channel resource; someone who only watches the public stream cannot query the owner’s ingest state.
Read stream health separately from ingest status
Inspect status.healthStatus.status and configurationIssues[] on the stream resource. The issue details can identify problems involving bitrate, codec, frame rate, keyframes, or ingestion. YouTube documents the meanings of its issue messages in Configuration Issues for LiveStream Resources.
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videoIngestionStarvedmeans YouTube is receiving insufficient incoming video for smooth streaming; viewers may experience buffering.noDatameans YouTube has no health information. It is not affirmative proof that the stream is healthy.- A healthy status does not guarantee that every viewer can play the stream or that conditions will remain healthy.
Use the health status and issue details to diagnose quality warnings; do not infer health from streamStatus=active alone.
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Check the associated liveBroadcast.status.lifeCycleStatus in the LiveBroadcasts resource. The live value means the event is active. liveStarting is an intermediate state, not proof that the broadcast failed to start.
YouTube’s broadcast lifecycle guide says a transition typically takes 5 to 10 seconds and may take up to a minute. Poll the state rather than declaring a failure immediately. actualStartTime becomes available once the broadcast is live, and actualEndTime once it is complete.
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Use Live Control Room or the public watch page
For channel owners
If you do not want to build an API client, YouTube says you can check stream health in Live Control Room while streaming, where it provides messages and instructions. See YouTube Help: See your live stream’s metrics.
For an external viewer
Playing the public watch page is a useful end-to-end observation: it shows whether that viewer can see playback at that moment. It does not reveal owner-only ingest diagnostics, and one successful playback does not guarantee uninterrupted viewing for others or later.
Monitor an always-on stream over time
A single check can miss brief interruptions or a process that repeatedly fails and restarts. Schedule repeated checks and alert on a sustained failure, keeping each signal distinct:
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- Local FFmpeg process state and recent logs.
- Whether the input can be probed.
- YouTube’s ingest status.
- Broadcast lifecycle.
- Stream health and configuration issues.
Choose the alert tolerance for the stream’s purpose; the cited documentation does not establish a universal polling interval. A short transient state may warrant another poll, while a sustained inactive ingest, a broadcast that does not progress, or a health issue merits investigation.
What FFmpeg reconnect options can do
FFmpeg’s protocol documentation describes HTTP input options for reconnecting after a disconnect, at end-of-file (noted as useful for live or endless streams), on network errors, and for selected HTTP status codes. It also documents ways to limit retry counts or delays.
These controls are protocol-specific. Confirm that the options are available in your installed build’s help and choose them for the actual input protocol. The documentation also describes RTMP as multimedia transport over TCP/IP. Reconnect settings may help recover from certain transport failures, but they do not confirm that YouTube is receiving a healthy feed or that viewers can see the broadcast.
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Troubleshoot by the signal that failed
| Observation | What to check next |
|---|---|
| FFmpeg process is missing | Inspect the service or supervisor status and recent logs to find whether the job exited or is restarting. |
| Process exists, but the input probe fails | Check that the input URL is correct, accessible to that machine, and supported by the protocol/build being used. A probe only tests that input endpoint at that moment. |
Input probe succeeds, but YouTube reports inactive |
Inspect FFmpeg’s output-side logs and verify that the process is sending to the intended YouTube ingest resource; a readable input alone does not prove successful output. |
YouTube reports active, but health has issues |
Read configurationIssues[] and the corresponding health message for the specific bitrate, codec, frame-rate, keyframe, or ingestion issue. |
Ingest is active, but lifecycle is not live |
Poll the broadcast lifecycle through its startup transition; YouTube documents that it may take up to a minute. |
| API says live, but playback fails for a viewer | Check the public watch page from the viewer’s perspective and distinguish playback availability from owner-side ingest and health diagnostics. |
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