Last updated: 2026-01-15

Start by simplifying your setup in a browser studio like StreamYard, matching your devices to 48 kHz and using the built‑in audio tools to rule out most delay issues. If you need deeper control in OBS/Streamlabs or an encoder, use their sync offset settings and render delays to line things up per device.

Summary

• Start in a browser studio with a recommended browser and minimal audio processing.
• Match sample rates (48 kHz in StreamYard; 44.1 or 48 kHz in encoders) across mics, interfaces, and software.
• Use per‑source sync offsets or render delays in OBS/Streamlabs for stubborn desync.
• Test with local or unlisted recordings before going live to confirm the fix.

What exactly is an audio delay—and how can you spot it fast?

Audio delay (or "lip‑sync" issue) is when your viewers hear sound noticeably before or after the matching video action—claps, lip movement, gameplay sounds, etc.

A quick test:

1. Clap once in view of the camera.
2. Watch the recording back.
3. If the clap sound lands before your hands meet, audio is early. If it lands after, audio is late.

You can repeat this with guests: ask them to clap, or say a short phrase while watching their mouth movements on a recording.

How do you eliminate easy causes first in a browser studio?

If you’re using a browser‑based studio, you want to make sure the basics are solid before you chase obscure settings.

In StreamYard, a simple baseline looks like this:

• Use a supported, modern browser. Our recommended browsers are Google Chrome and Firefox for the most reliable audio experience. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Use one mic and one camera at a time if you’re troubleshooting.
• Close other apps that might be grabbing your mic (Zoom, Meet, Discord, DAWs).

When you’re actively diagnosing audio quality or delay, set your microphone’s in‑studio audio controls to a neutral baseline. In StreamYard that typically means:

• Echo Cancellation: Off (unless you don’t have headphones)
• Reduce mic background noise: Off
• Stereo audio: Off
• Automatically adjust mic volume: On

These settings reduce extra processing so you can hear what’s really coming from your mic. (StreamYard Help Center)

This is where StreamYard quietly saves a lot of people time. There’s nothing to install, guests join with a link, and most US‑based creators find they can troubleshoot over the phone with someone who’s never streamed before.

Why does sample rate matter so much for audio delay?

Audio sample rate mismatches are a surprisingly common cause of weird artifacts and timing issues.

StreamYard’s studio is optimized for audio at a 48 kHz sample rate. (StreamYard Help Center) To keep things in sync:

• Set your audio interface or USB mic to 48 kHz in your operating system settings.
• Avoid running DAWs or virtual audio tools at a different rate (like 44.1 kHz) while you stream.
• If you use virtual devices like loopback or system audio capture, set those to 48 kHz too.

If you’re streaming from OBS/Streamlabs or another encoder into a relay service like Restream, check that sample rate as well. Restream, for example, recommends setting your encoder audio to AAC at 44.1 kHz for their pipeline. (Restream Help Center)

Here’s the key idea: pick one sample rate per workflow and stick to it. Don’t mix 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz in the same signal chain unless you’re very comfortable with how your software resamples.

How do you fix guest audio that’s delayed in a browser studio?

When guest audio is out of sync in a browser‑based studio, the culprit is usually network conditions, browser/device quirks, or how the guest’s audio is being routed—not obscure encoder settings.

Run this checklist with your guest:

1. Browser: Have them switch to Chrome or Firefox and rejoin the studio.
2. Headphones: Ask them to use wired headphones and select the correct mic in studio.
3. Devices: Make sure they’re not joined from multiple devices at once (phone + laptop).
4. Background apps: Close any other video call apps and recording tools.
5. Network: If possible, plug into Ethernet or move closer to the router.

In StreamYard, you can bring up a test recording to see if the delay is consistent. Because everything runs in the browser (up to 10 people in the studio and more backstage), you don’t have to debug separate installs or codec packs just to verify guests are in sync.

A quick scenario: You’re hosting a LinkedIn + YouTube interview, your guest’s audio seems late. Instead of walking them through advanced audio panels in OBS, you say, “Can you close Zoom, switch to Chrome, and plug in headphones?” In most everyday cases, that’s enough.

When should you reach for OBS/Streamlabs sync offsets instead?

Sometimes you do need low‑level control—especially if you:

• Use capture cards for gameplay or camera input.
• Mix multiple audio devices (interface + USB mic + system audio).
• Stream from OBS/Streamlabs into platforms or relay services.

OBS and similar tools expose a per‑source Sync Offset in their advanced audio settings so you can nudge audio earlier or later. In OBS, for example, you can right‑click an audio source, open Advanced Audio Properties, and set a sync offset in milliseconds. (OBS Project)

Practical steps:

1. Make a short local recording in OBS/Streamlabs (no streaming yet).
2. Do the clap test and note whether audio is early or late.
3. Start with an offset of about 200 ms for hardware like capture cards, since many vendor docs use that as a baseline. (Elgato Help)
4. Adjust in small increments (20–50 ms) until your clap is visually in sync.

If you’re pairing OBS or Streamlabs with StreamYard (sending an RTMP feed into our studio), it often works best to:

• Get things synced locally in the encoder first.
• Keep sample rates consistent (usually 48 kHz end‑to‑end).
• Then send that clean, in‑sync feed into StreamYard, where you can add guests, branding, and multistreaming without touching offsets again.

This hybrid approach keeps the complex tuning in one place (your encoder) and the on‑air production simple (your StreamYard studio).

How do platform relays like Restream affect audio delay?

Cloud relays or multistreaming services can add a small amount of additional latency on top of your encoder and the destination platform.

Restream notes that their added processing delay is typically under two seconds, which is usually acceptable for conversational live streams when everything else is in sync. (StreamYard Blog) The important nuance: if your audio and video are already aligned in OBS/Streamlabs, that extra platform delay tends to be uniform—so it won’t look like a lip‑sync problem to viewers.

Audio delay becomes visible when each hop (capture card → encoder → relay → platform) applies its own timing quirks. That’s why most workflows benefit from:

• Keeping the chain as simple as possible.
• Doing heavyweight mixing in one place.
• Using a browser studio like StreamYard when you mainly need guests, branding, and a few mainstream destinations instead of dozens of niche ones.

For many creators in the United States, the difference between two and eight destinations is theoretical; YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and sometimes Twitch cover almost all of their audience.

How can you prevent audio delay before your next big live show?

Think of this as a pre‑flight checklist for your audio:

• Lock in your workflow: Decide if you’re going direct from a browser studio (like StreamYard) or running a full encoder stack (OBS/Streamlabs + relay services).
• Standardize devices: Set all mics, interfaces, and virtual devices to the same sample rate.
• Limit moving parts: If you don’t truly need a capture card or extra audio routing, don’t add it.
• Dry run: Do an unlisted test stream or record‑only session, invite a guest, and run through your show format.

This is where StreamYard tends to become the default for recurring shows, webinars, and interviews: hosts can reuse a studio, invite guests with a link, and rely on browser‑level audio defaults that are already tuned for 48 kHz streaming.

If you do need OBS‑style scene control for a game or complex overlays, you can send that output into StreamYard as a single video source, then keep guest audio, branding, and multistreaming managed in one place.

What we recommend

• If you want the simplest path to "no‑drama" audio for interviews, webinars, and multi‑platform shows, start in StreamYard, match everything to 48 kHz, and test with a short recording.
• If you’re using OBS, Streamlabs, or capture cards, fix sync locally first with per‑source offsets and render delays, then layer on multistreaming or relays.
• Keep your tool stack focused on what you actually use—usually a handful of platforms and a small set of devices—so audio delay stays something you check off, not something you fight every week.