What do I need to watch a live video?

The quality of your live playback experience is largely dependent on the download speed you have from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or mobile provider. Keep in mind that your overall Internet speed can vary depending on many factors, including but not limited to: time of day, Wi-Fi performance, other devices/users utilizing your connection, and the strength of the signal provided by your ISP.

Browsers and operating systems

In order to have a smooth experience watching a live video, you should make sure the device you're on meets these requirements:

Browser Operating System Version
Google Chrome OSX 10.12.6 or later, Windows 7 or later, Android 5.0+ 69+ 
Mozilla Firefox OSX 10.12.6 or later, Windows 7 or later 58+
Safari OSX 10.12.6 or later, iOS 9.3.5+ 10+
Microsoft Edge Windows 7 or later 15+
  • Supported mobile browsers: Chrome 45+, Safari 10+ (iOS)
  • Blackberry and Windows phone users: You may still be able to view Vimeo videos on devices that support HTML5; however, we do not test out our player in these environments and thus cannot guarantee support.
  • Samsung users: The Samsung Internet browser (all versions) is not supported for live streams. We recommend installing Chrome instead. 
  • Support TV devices: Xbox app, Samsung Tizen app*
    • *Works on Samsung TV 2018 models and later except Samsung 2018 Standard3 and Samsung 2018 Standard2 TV models.
    • Please be advised that browsers on Smart TVs are not supported at this time. It's also not possible to watch via the Android app on Chromebooks.    
    • ⚠️Note: All mentioned apps might not be available. Make sure to confirm the availability before making a purchase.

Currently, it is not possible to cast live videos from the web player. This is something we hope to add in the future, but in the meantime, we recommend connecting your device to your TV through an HDMI cable.

Download speeds

The following table shows the minimum speeds required for each playback quality:

Quality Required Minimum Bandwidth
240p 500 kbps
360p 1 Mbps
720p 3 Mbps
1080p 7 Mbps
2K 12 Mbps
4K & up 22 Mbps

Firewalls and whitelisted domains

If you're using a firewall service (e.g. a corporate or school network) and/or have restricted domains, you may need to whitelist a few ports and domains in order to watch your live event. Viewers should ensure the following ports are open on their network for playback:

  • TCP/UDP 80 (HTTP)
  • TCP/UDP 443 (HTTPS)

The following domains should be whitelisted:

  • cdn.livestream.com
  • api.new.livestream.com
  • playback.akamaized.net/*
  • livestream-f.akamaihd.net/*
  • secure-playlist.livestream.com/*
  • *.vhx.tv
  • *.vimeo.com
  • *.vimeocdn.com
  • *.akamaized.net
  • *.cloudfront.net