If forest-stream audio is aligned at first but increasingly early or late later, you have progressive drift—not a simple sync offset. A one-time delay can fix a constant mismatch, but it cannot stop audio and video timing from diverging. First measure the change, then isolate whether it comes from playback, the source and encoder, or the network.
Is it a fixed offset or progressive drift?
Choose a recognizable event—a bird call, a gust moving branches, or another sound with a visible counterpart—and compare it near the start of an observation period and again later. Record the times and whether the sound comes before or after the visible event. Check more than two points if possible.
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- Constant offset: the audio is early or late by roughly the same amount at each check. A measured sync offset may help.
- Progressive drift: the mismatch grows or changes over time. The audio and video timing are diverging; changing a fixed offset will align only one point.
A fixed timestamp shift moves audio by a common amount but preserves the timing difference that is growing. Do not diagnose drift from one moment alone. FFmpeg’s timestamp documentation explains why shifting timestamps cannot, by itself, correct an increasing mismatch.
Check whether the viewer or player is causing the mismatch
Before changing a live encoder, compare the same stream on another receiving device or player if one is available. If the mismatch appears only in one player, the encoder may not be the cause. Note the player, device, and observation time so you can make a meaningful comparison.
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For a more technical check, FFplay can display audio/video synchronization-drift statistics. Its audio, video, and external master-clock options can help investigate timing behavior, but selecting a master clock is a diagnostic aid—not proof that the encoder has been fixed.
Check OBS dropped frames separately
If you encode with OBS, look at its dropped-frame count. OBS identifies dropped frames as a network issue between the computer and the remote ingest server, commonly caused by an unstable connection or a bitrate the connection cannot sustain. A rising count calls for a connection and bitrate investigation; it does not establish that an audio sync offset is wrong. OBS’s dropped-frames guide covers this network problem.
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Keep network symptoms separate from timing symptoms. Record whether dropped frames rise at the same time as the mismatch, but do not assume that solving one will solve the other.
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Fix a constant offset in OBS
Use an offset adjustment only after your checks show that the mismatch stays approximately constant.
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- In OBS, open Advanced Audio Properties for the audio source that is out of sync.
- Adjust that source’s Sync Offset in milliseconds. Make a measured, small change, then test rather than guessing a universal value.
- Record a short stream or test segment and compare the same visible action and sound. If necessary, adjust again and retest.
Kick’s Help Center says that a positive sync offset delays audio and a negative value moves it forward. It describes 100–400 ms as typical guidance for its context, not a universal target. Kick also specifies stereo audio and a maximum sample rate of 48 kHz; those requirements apply to Kick. Check the current requirements for your own destination before applying them. Kick’s OBS sync-offset instructions explain its settings.
Investigate progressive drift at the source and encoder
When the mismatch grows, inspect timing rather than repeatedly adjusting the offset. Compare audio and video timestamps, input-device clocks, the capture chain, and encoder logs. The goal is to find where their timing begins to diverge; a global audio shift does not change the rate at which that divergence accumulates.
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Do not treat changing the output sample rate to 48 kHz as an automatic cure. A compatible output rate may help with compatibility, but it does not by itself correct a genuine clock-rate mismatch. A file-processing rate-correction example is not a drop-in fix for a live, continuously running stream.
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- Save or note the current configuration so you can restore it.
- Change one variable at a time. Keep a record of the setting, the time you changed it, and the result.
- Observe a representative duration. A momentary improvement is not enough; check whether the drift’s growth has changed.
- If a change makes the stream worse, roll it back before testing another variable.
A continuous stream needs enough observation time to tell whether a change controls progressive drift, rather than merely aligning one point. That is why measuring and changing one thing at a time is more useful than repeatedly nudging the offset.
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