Frigate intelligently displays your camera streams on the Live view dashboard. By default, Frigate employs "smart streaming" where camera images update once per minute when no detectable activity is occurring to conserve bandwidth and resources. As soon as any motion or active objects are detected, cameras seamlessly switch to a live stream.
Frigate intelligently uses three different streaming technologies to display your camera streams on the dashboard and the single camera view, switching between available modes based on network bandwidth, player errors, or required features like two-way talk. The highest quality and fluency of the Live view requires the bundled `go2rtc` to be configured as shown in the [step by step guide](/guides/configuring_go2rtc).
| jsmpeg | same as `detect -> fps`, capped at 10 | 720p | no | no | Resolution is configurable, but go2rtc is recommended if you want higher resolutions and better frame rates. jsmpeg is Frigate's default without go2rtc configured. |
| mse | native | native | yes (depends on audio codec) | yes | iPhone requires iOS 17.1+, Firefox is h.264 only. This is Frigate's default when go2rtc is configured. |
| webrtc | native | native | yes (depends on audio codec) | yes | Requires extra configuration, doesn't support h.265. Frigate attempts to use WebRTC when MSE fails or when using a camera's two-way talk feature. |
- Video codec: **H.264** - provides the most compatible video codec with all Live view technologies and browsers. Avoid any kind of "smart codec" or "+" codec like _H.264+_ or _H.265+_. as these non-standard codecs remove keyframes (see below).
- Audio codec: **AAC** - provides the most compatible audio codec with all Live view technologies and browsers that support audio.
- I-frame interval (sometimes called the keyframe interval, the interframe space, or the GOP length): match your camera's frame rate, or choose "1x" (for interframe space on Reolink cameras). For example, if your stream outputs 20fps, your i-frame interval should be 20 (or 1x on Reolink). Values higher than the frame rate will cause the stream to take longer to begin playback. See [this page](https://gardinal.net/understanding-the-keyframe-interval/) for more on keyframes. For many users this may not be an issue, but it should be noted that a 1x i-frame interval will cause more storage utilization if you are using the stream for the `record` role as well.
The default video and audio codec on your camera may not always be compatible with your browser, which is why setting them to H.264 and AAC is recommended. See the [go2rtc docs](https://github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc?tab=readme-ov-file#codecs-madness) for codec support information.
MSE Requires PCMA/PCMU or AAC audio, WebRTC requires PCMA/PCMU or opus audio. If you want to support both MSE and WebRTC then your restream config needs to make sure both are enabled.
You can configure Frigate to allow manual selection of the stream you want to view in the Live UI. For example, you may want to view your camera's substream on mobile devices, but the full resolution stream on desktop devices. Setting the `live -> streams` list will populate a dropdown in the UI's Live view that allows you to choose between the streams. This stream setting is _per device_ and is saved in your browser's local storage.
Additionally, when creating and editing camera groups in the UI, you can choose the stream you want to use for your camera group's Live dashboard.
Frigate's default dashboard ("All Cameras") will always use the first entry you've defined in `streams:` when playing live streams from your cameras.
:::
Configure the `streams` option with a "friendly name" for your stream followed by the go2rtc stream name.
Using Frigate's internal version of go2rtc is required to use this feature. You cannot specify paths in the `streams` configuration, only go2rtc stream names.
- For internal/local access, unless you are running through the HA Add-on, you will also need to set the WebRTC candidates list in the go2rtc config. For example, if `192.168.1.10` is the local IP of the device running Frigate:
- For access through Tailscale, the Frigate system's Tailscale IP must be added as a WebRTC candidate. Tailscale IPs all start with `100.`, and are reserved within the `100.64.0.0/10` CIDR block.
This extra configuration may not be required if Frigate has been installed as a Home Assistant Add-on, as Frigate uses the Supervisor's API to generate a WebRTC candidate.
However, it is recommended if issues occur to define the candidates manually. You should do this if the Frigate Add-on fails to generate a valid candidate. If an error occurs you will see some warnings like the below in the Add-on logs page during the initialization:
If you are having difficulties getting WebRTC to work and you are running Frigate with docker, you may want to try changing the container network mode:
-`network: host`, in this mode you don't need to forward any ports. The services inside of the Frigate container will have full access to the network interfaces of your host machine as if they were running natively and not in a container. Any port conflicts will need to be resolved. This network mode is recommended by go2rtc, but we recommend you only use it if necessary.
-`network: bridge` is the default network driver, a bridge network is a Link Layer device which forwards traffic between network segments. You need to forward any ports that you want to be accessible from the host IP.
As a starting point to check compatibility for your camera, view the list of cameras supported for two-way talk on the [go2rtc repository](https://github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc?tab=readme-ov-file#two-way-audio). For cameras in the category `ONVIF Profile T`, you can use the [ONVIF Conformant Products Database](https://www.onvif.org/conformant-products/)'s FeatureList to check for the presence of `AudioOutput`. A camera that supports `ONVIF Profile T`_usually_ supports this, but due to inconsistent support, a camera that explicitly lists this feature may still not work. If no entry for your camera exists on the database, it is recommended not to buy it or to consult with the manufacturer's support on the feature availability.
Frigate provides a dialog in the Camera Group Edit pane with several options for streaming on a camera group's dashboard. These settings are _per device_ and are saved in your device's local storage.
- Stream selection using the `live -> streams` configuration option (see _Setting Streams For Live UI_ above)
- Streaming type:
- _No streaming_: Camera images will only update once per minute and no live streaming will occur.
- _Smart Streaming_ (default, recommended setting): Smart streaming will update your camera image once per minute when no detectable activity is occurring to conserve bandwidth and resources, since a static picture is the same as a streaming image with no motion or objects. When motion or objects are detected, the image seamlessly switches to a live stream.
- _Continuous Streaming_: Camera image will always be a live stream when visible on the dashboard, even if no activity is being detected. Continuous streaming may cause high bandwidth usage and performance issues. **Use with caution.**
- _Compatibility mode_: Enable this option only if your camera's live stream is displaying color artifacts and has a diagonal line on the right side of the image. Before enabling this, try setting your camera's `detect` width and height to a standard aspect ratio (for example: 640x352 becomes 640x360, and 800x443 becomes 800x450, 2688x1520 becomes 2688x1512, etc). Depending on your browser and device, more than a few cameras in compatibility mode may not be supported, so only use this option if changing your config fails to resolve the color artifacts and diagonal line.
Cameras can be temporarily disabled through the Frigate UI and through [MQTT](/integrations/mqtt#frigatecamera_nameenabledset) to conserve system resources. When disabled, Frigate's ffmpeg processes are terminated — recording stops, object detection is paused, and the Live dashboard displays a blank image with a disabled message. Review items, tracked objects, and historical footage for disabled cameras can still be accessed via the UI.
For restreamed cameras, go2rtc remains active but does not use system resources for decoding or processing unless there are active external consumers (such as the Advanced Camera Card in Home Assistant using a go2rtc source).
Note that disabling a camera through the config file (`enabled: False`) removes all related UI elements, including historical footage access. To retain access while disabling the camera, keep it enabled in the config and use the UI or MQTT to disable it temporarily.
When your browser runs into problems playing back your camera streams, it will log short error messages to the browser console. They indicate playback, codec, or network issues on the client/browser side, not something server side with Frigate itself. Below are the common messages you may see and simple actions you can take to try to resolve them.
- **startup**
- What it means: The player failed to initialize or connect to the live stream (network or startup error).
- What to try: Reload the Live view or click _Reset_. Verify `go2rtc` is running and the camera stream is reachable. Try switching to a different stream from the Live UI dropdown (if available) or use a different browser.
- Possible console messages from the player code:
-`Error opening MediaSource.`
-`Browser reported a network error.`
-`Max error count ${errorCount} exceeded.` (the numeric value will vary)
- **mse-decode**
- What it means: The browser reported a decoding error while trying to play the stream, which usually is a result of a codec incompatibility or corrupted frames.
- What to try: Ensure your camera/restream is using H.264 video and AAC audio (these are the most compatible). If your camera uses a non-standard audio codec, configure `go2rtc` to transcode the stream to AAC. Try another browser (some browsers have stricter MSE/codec support) and, for iPhone, ensure you're on iOS 17.1 or newer.
- Possible console messages from the player code:
-`Safari cannot open MediaSource.`
-`Safari reported InvalidStateError.`
-`Safari reported decoding errors.`
- **stalled**
- What it means: Playback has stalled because the player has fallen too far behind live (extended buffering or no data arriving).
- What to try: This is usually indicative of the browser struggling to decode too many high-resolution streams at once. Try selecting a lower-bandwidth stream (substream), reduce the number of live streams open, improve the network connection, or lower the camera resolution. Also check your camera's keyframe (I-frame) interval — shorter intervals make playback start and recover faster. You can also try increasing the timeout value in the UI pane of Frigate's settings.
- Possible console messages from the player code:
-`Buffer time (10 seconds) exceeded, browser may not be playing media correctly.`
-`Media playback has stalled after <n> seconds due to insufficient buffering or a network interruption.` (the seconds value will vary)
You must use go2rtc to hear audio in your live streams. If you have go2rtc already configured, you need to ensure your camera is sending PCMA/PCMU or AAC audio. If you can't change your camera's audio codec, you need to [transcode the audio](https://github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc?tab=readme-ov-file#source-ffmpeg) using go2rtc.
Note that the low bandwidth mode player is a video-only stream. You should not expect to hear audio when in low bandwidth mode, even if you've set up go2rtc.
Frigate intelligently selects the live streaming technology based on a number of factors (user-selected modes like two-way talk, camera settings, browser capabilities, available bandwidth) and prioritizes showing an actual up-to-date live view of your camera's stream as quickly as possible.
When you have go2rtc configured, Live view initially attempts to load and play back your stream with a clearer, fluent stream technology (MSE). An initial timeout, a low bandwidth condition that would cause buffering of the stream, or decoding errors in the stream will cause Frigate to switch to the stream defined by the `detect` role, using the jsmpeg format. This is what the UI labels as "low bandwidth mode". On Live dashboards, the mode will automatically reset when smart streaming is configured and activity stops. Continuous streaming mode does not have an automatic reset mechanism, but you can use the _Reset_ option to force a reload of your stream.
If you are using continuous streaming or you are loading more than a few high resolution streams at once on the dashboard, your browser may struggle to begin playback of your streams before the timeout. Frigate always prioritizes showing a live stream as quickly as possible, even if it is a lower quality jsmpeg stream. You can use the "Reset" link/button to try loading your high resolution stream again.
Errors in stream playback (e.g., connection failures, codec issues, or buffering timeouts) that cause the fallback to low bandwidth mode (jsmpeg) are logged to the browser console for easier debugging. These errors may include:
- Network issues (e.g., MSE or WebRTC network connection problems).
- Unsupported codecs or stream formats (e.g., H.265 in WebRTC, which is not supported in some browsers).
- Buffering timeouts or low bandwidth conditions causing fallback to jsmpeg.
- Browser compatibility problems (e.g., iOS Safari limitations with MSE).
To view browser console logs:
1. Open the Frigate Live View in your browser.
2. Open the browser's Developer Tools (F12 or right-click > Inspect > Console tab).
3. Reproduce the error (e.g., load a problematic stream or simulate network issues).
4. Look for messages prefixed with the camera name.
These logs help identify if the issue is player-specific (MSE vs. WebRTC) or related to camera configuration (e.g., go2rtc streams, codecs). If you see frequent errors:
- Verify your camera's H.264/AAC settings (see [Frigate's camera settings recommendations](#camera_settings_recommendations)).
- Check go2rtc configuration for transcoding (e.g., audio to AAC/OPUS).
- Test with a different stream via the UI dropdown (if `live -> streams` is configured).
- For WebRTC-specific issues, ensure port 8555 is forwarded and candidates are set (see (WebRTC Extra Configuration)(#webrtc-extra-configuration)).
- If your cameras are streaming at a high resolution, your browser may be struggling to load all of the streams before the buffering timeout occurs. Frigate prioritizes showing a true live view as quickly as possible. If the fallback occurs often, change your live view settings to use a lower bandwidth substream.
On the default Live dashboard ("All Cameras"), your camera images will update once per minute when no detectable activity is occurring to conserve bandwidth and resources. As soon as any activity is detected, cameras seamlessly switch to a full-resolution live stream. If you want to customize this behavior, use a camera group.
This is caused by incorrect dimensions set in your detect width or height (or incorrectly auto-detected), causing the jsmpeg player's rendering engine to display a slightly distorted image. You should enlarge the width and height of your `detect` resolution up to a standard aspect ratio (example: 640x352 becomes 640x360, and 800x443 becomes 800x450, 2688x1520 becomes 2688x1512, etc). If changing the resolution to match a standard (4:3, 16:9, or 32:9, etc) aspect ratio does not solve the issue, you can enable "compatibility mode" in your camera group dashboard's stream settings. Depending on your browser and device, more than a few cameras in compatibility mode may not be supported, so only use this option if changing your `detect` width and height fails to resolve the color artifacts and diagonal line.
Because a static image of a scene looks exactly the same as a live stream with no motion or activity, smart streaming updates your camera images once per minute when no detectable activity is occurring to conserve bandwidth and resources. As soon as any activity (motion or object/audio detection) occurs, cameras seamlessly switch to a live stream.
This static image is pulled from the stream defined in your config with the `detect` role. When activity is detected, images from the `detect` stream immediately begin updating at ~5 frames per second so you can see the activity until the live player is loaded and begins playing. This usually only takes a second or two. If the live player times out, buffers, or has streaming errors, the jsmpeg player is loaded and plays a video-only stream from the `detect` role. When activity ends, the players are destroyed and a static image is displayed until activity is detected again, and the process repeats.
Smart streaming depends on having your camera's motion `threshold` and `contour_area` config values dialed in. Use the Motion Tuner in Settings in the UI to tune these values in real-time.
If your camera is streaming (as indicated by a red dot in the upper right, or if it has been set to continuous streaming mode), your browser may be blocking audio until you interact with the page. This is an intentional browser limitation. See [this article](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Autoplay_guide#autoplay_availability). Many browsers have a whitelist feature to change this behavior.
7.**My camera streams have lots of visual artifacts / distortion.**
Some cameras don't include the hardware to support multiple connections to the high resolution stream, and this can cause unexpected behavior. In this case it is recommended to [restream](./restream.md) the high resolution stream so that it can be used for live view and recordings.
8.**Why does my camera stream switch aspect ratios on the Live dashboard?**
Your camera may change aspect ratios on the dashboard because Frigate uses different streams for different purposes. With go2rtc and Smart Streaming, Frigate shows a static image from the `detect` stream when no activity is present, and switches to the live stream when motion is detected. The camera image will change size if your streams use different aspect ratios.
To prevent this, make the `detect` stream match the go2rtc live stream's aspect ratio (resolution does not need to match, just the aspect ratio). You can either adjust the camera's output resolution or set the `width` and `height` values in your config's `detect` section to a resolution with an aspect ratio that matches.
Example: Resolutions from two streams
- Mismatched (may cause aspect ratio switching on the dashboard):
- Live/go2rtc stream: 1920x1080 (16:9)
- Detect stream: 640x352 (~1.82:1, not 16:9)
- Matched (prevents switching):
- Live/go2rtc stream: 1920x1080 (16:9)
- Detect stream: 640x360 (16:9)
You can update the detect settings in your camera config to match the aspect ratio of your go2rtc live stream. For example:
```yaml
cameras:
front_door:
detect:
width: 640
height: 360 # set this to 360 instead of 352
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/front_door # main stream 1920x1080
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/front_door_sub # sub stream 640x352
