Question / Help MP3 starts and stops stuttering at random intervals

[d3fin3d]

Hey all,

So, I'll briefly run through my experience of MP3's and OBS:

When I first tried to bring in an MP3 into one of my OBS scenes, I found that the MP3 stuttered every time it was loaded despite my desktop audio/game audio being absolutely fine.

A random search lead me to a thread on here which explained that iTunes needs to be installed due to the way OBS handles audio files. I installed iTunes and my MP3 no longer stuttered on stream... Until I created a long "mix-MP3" of several tracks!

I'm finding that, my new MP3 file stutters seemingly at random. It looks as though, when I switch to a scene where the MP3 is loaded, sometimes OBS will correctly stream the file, and sometimes it will stutter-stream the track. I can't seem to figure out a pattern here.

Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQZMw-b7euc

Note that:

0:00:00 - MP3 is stuttering
0:24:20 - MP3 stops stuttering (if you rewind a little, you can almost hear the MP3 catching up with itself?)
4:35:15 - MP3 is stuttering

If you look through the other "HND: Overwatch Open II" videos, you'll hear similar random stuttering, sometimes for hours, sometimes for short periods.

Does anyone know of a fix for this random MP3 stuttering?

 

[d3fin3d]

Sorry for the bump, but does anyone have a solution to MP3 audio stuttering?

I don't mind creating a spotify playlist, but sadly I can't isolate spotify from my desktop audio so that isn't really viable either :(.

 

[Sapiens]

What type of source are you using to add the MP3? If you're using a media source, try a VLC source instead.

 

[d3fin3d]

Thanks for the reply Sapiens!

I've tried adding the MP3 as a VLC source, but no audio level bar pops up in OBS Studio: http://i.imgur.com/8CZBiXj.png

Any other ideas? We're going live on Saturday, so I'm hoping to fix the stutter problem by then!

 

[d3fin3d]

Just a quick update on this issue:

After lots of tweaking, messing around with different formats and changing settings, I was sadly unable to resolve this issue.

Instead, I am now using a combination of "Virtual Audio Cable" (http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/) and "Audio Router" (https://github.com/audiorouterdev/audio-router) to route Spotify to OBS's desktop 2 input.

This allows for a dedicated music channel that I can't hear myself and is isolated from my main desktop audio (where I need to pick-up Discord and in-game sounds separately).

This method has, so far, eliminated all audio stutter and given me more control over track lists, however I now need to manage audio transitions manually (unless there's a way to assign a specific desktop 2 volume to a specific scene?)

Thanks for all of your help anyway, and hopefully this is helpful for others that are experiencing this issue!