What Is an Ingest and Why Do I Need One?
Ingests are the backbone of IRL streaming. We explain what a video ingest does, why you need one, and how FizzyPeak runs it for you.
What Is an Ingest and Why Do I Need One?
A term that comes up in every IRL streaming discussion but is rarely actually explained: the ingest. Once you know what an ingest is, you'll immediately understand why IRL streaming works differently from normal PC streaming — and why FizzyPeak couldn't exist without one.
The short definition
An ingest is a server that receives your video stream before it's passed on to Twitch, YouTube, or other platforms. Think of it as a receiving station between your camera and the world.
Why you need an ingest
If you streamed directly from your phone or camera to Twitch, you'd have three problems:
- Every packet loss = your stream dies. Mobile networks are unstable. Between tower handoffs, fluctuating signal strength, and congested cells, your connection constantly drops for a moment. Twitch doesn't tolerate that.
- No reconnection. If you're offline for 10 seconds, Twitch ends your stream. Your viewers are gone.
- No overlays, no scenes, no chat overlay. Direct stream = raw camera feed with nothing on top.
An ingest solves all three:
- It buffers your stream on the server side
- It keeps the connection to Twitch stable, even when your phone has no signal for 10 seconds
- It's the entry gate to your Cloud-OBS, where overlays, scenes, and chat integration run
How FizzyPeak does it
At FizzyPeak the ingest is fully integrated. As soon as you create your account, you automatically get:
- An SRTLA ingest for Belabox and Moblin
- An SRT ingest for desktop OBS
- An RTMP ingest as a fallback for older apps
All three protocols land in the same Cloud-OBS, and you can switch between them seamlessly during a stream.
Why SRTLA is better than RTMP
SRTLA (Secure Reliable Transport Link Aggregation) was built specifically for mobile streaming. Three advantages over RTMP:
- Bonding: SRTLA combines multiple connections (e.g. 2× SIM + Wi-Fi) into a single data stream
- Forward error correction: small packet losses are repaired computationally
- Low latency: 1–3 seconds end-to-end instead of 5–10 seconds with RTMP
Geographic ingests
FizzyPeak runs ingests in multiple regions (EU, NA, APAC). When you travel, you can request an additional ingest in your destination region from the dashboard. Both ingests run in parallel, and you can switch during the stream — with no downtime.
In practice: plan your trip 24 hours ahead. Then we'll set up the new ingest, test it, and push the credentials to your dashboard.
What you don't have to do
As a FizzyPeak user, you don't have to rent your own server, create a Belabox cloud account, or configure any SRTLA relays. Everything runs out of the box. If you use Belabox hardware, the FizzyPeak ingest is selectable directly from the Belabox UI — you just enter our credentials.
How to check ingest status
In the FizzyPeak dashboard, under Stream Health, you'll find a live graph with:
- Incoming bitrate (how much your camera sends)
- Outgoing bitrate (how much goes to Twitch/YouTube)
- RTT (round trip time to your ingest)
- Packet loss in %
When incoming and outgoing match cleanly and RTT is under 100 ms, you're in top shape.
Noch Fragen? Öffne das Dashboard oder schreib im Discord #support.