Stream lag, freezes, and connection issues

If a YOM stream is lagging, freezing, or refusing to load, the cause is almost always on your end (network, browser, or device), not on the server side. The YOM network monitors every active session and would route you to a different host if its own infrastructure was the bottleneck. Walk through these in order.

the stream is laggy

Lag has two flavors: input lag (you press a key, the game responds late) and frame-rate stutter (visuals freeze and skip).

Both are usually network-related. Check:

• Are you on Wi-Fi? Switch to wired ethernet if possible. Wi-Fi adds 10-30 ms of variable latency. 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi is the worst, 5 GHz is acceptable, ethernet is best.
• Are other devices on your network downloading or streaming? A 4K Netflix or a Steam download can saturate your connection. Pause everything else, then retry.
• Run a quick speed test (fast.com). You need at least 15 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, latency under 50 ms to your nearest server. If any of those are short, that’s the bottleneck.
• Try a different network. If you have mobile hotspot or a different Wi-Fi available, switch and retest. If a different network works, the issue is your home network or ISP.

the stream is black or won’t load

This usually means the WebRTC connection couldn’t be established.

• Try an incognito / private browser window. This disables most extensions. If the stream works in incognito, an extension is blocking it. Most common culprit: ad blockers or privacy extensions that filter WebRTC traffic.
• Check the URL. YOM streams only work from official integration sites. If you got the link from elsewhere, the player won’t initialize.
• Restart the browser. Closes any stale WebRTC connections that might be in a bad state.
• Try a different browser. Chrome, Edge, and Brave use the same engine but each handles WebRTC slightly differently. Firefox and Safari are separate codepaths.

audio is missing or out of sync

• Click on the player area to ensure it has focus. Some browsers require a user gesture before allowing audio.
• Check your system volume. The browser respects OS-level mute.
• If using Bluetooth headphones, try wired. Bluetooth audio adds 100-200 ms of latency which can cause sync drift in interactive content.

the game crashed mid-session

Most common cause: the host node went offline mid-session. The network detects this and you’ll typically see a “session ended” dialog. Click play again to start a new session on a different host. Your progress is usually preserved if the publisher has cloud-save integration; if not, you’ll start over.

If sessions consistently crash for a specific game, the container might be unstable. Try a different game to rule out a network issue, then contact us with the game name and approximate session time.

input keeps getting dropped

The game responds to some inputs but not others, or seems to ignore long key holds.

• Click on the player to ensure pointer focus. If you’ve clicked outside the player frame, input may go to the browser instead of the game.
• Press F (or click fullscreen) to enter fullscreen mode. This often resolves input-routing issues.
• Check for browser keyboard shortcuts that might intercept game keys. Cmd/Ctrl + W closes the tab; F11 fullscreens but may interfere with the game’s own F11.

fps drops despite a good connection

If your latency is healthy but framerate stutters or drops below the target:

• The host node may be under heavy load. Other sessions on the same node might be competing for the GPU. The network’s matchmaker tries to avoid this but it happens. Close and reopen the session to get rerouted to a different host.
• Browser hardware acceleration may be off. In Chrome, go to chrome://settings/system and verify “Use hardware acceleration when available” is on. Restart the browser after enabling.
• Your device’s CPU might be the bottleneck. Decoding the incoming video stream uses local CPU. Old laptops can struggle, especially with high-bitrate 1080p+ streams. Lower the resolution in the YOM player settings if available.

still stuck

If none of the above works, the issue is specific enough that we need to look at logs.

Contact the team →

Include the URL you were trying to play, your approximate region, the game name, your browser + OS, and the time of your last session attempt. We can pull telemetry on the specific session and identify the issue.