Technical Requirements for Video and Audio Streaming

Consistent high-speed Internet connection

• • For standard-definition streaming (i.e., Shouds at 1080p), you'll need at least an average speed of 7 Mbps. For 4K (new Cloud Classes and downloadables), you'll need a minimum of 22 Mbps, but we recommend a connection of 50 Mbps to cover all scenarios. If you don't have enough bandwidth, please set the quality of the video to "Auto." To learn how to do it, go to this article.

If you are not sure what speeds your device is receiving, please perform a speed test.  We recommend performing this test a few times since bandwidth can change.

• • If you stream only audio, your broadband speed should be at least 1.5 Mbps.
  • The player we use has adaptive bitrate streaming capabilities, so it will automatically reduce the quality and stream size to match the available bandwidth.

Test to Chicago and a couple of other cities to see if you have consistent speeds.

Satellite-based internet connections have, historically, been problematic for live streaming due in large part to the inconsistency of the download speed, which frequently falls below the minimum bandwidth.

Similarly, wireless high-speed internet (such as 4G providers) and data services for mobile devices, tend to have issues due to fluctuations in signal strength. For these reasons, we strongly recommend viewing the videos on a wired connection.

Also, make sure your Wi-Fi network is working properly and the signal is consistent and strong wherever you are located. 

Up-to-date browser and operating system

You must have the most up-to-date version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge and up. In the event of any issues, please try one of the other browsers as a solution.

Why do I need to update my browser and OS?

To find out if your browser is up to date, please go to this link.

Usage

For users with a data usage cap on their Internet service, Cloud Classes will use approximately 233 MBytes / min.