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How to run a 24/7 looping live stream with your PC off

Short answer: Can I run a 24/7 live stream with my PC off? Yes. On the Max plan, Multistream Cloud plays a looping video with no time limit, so your PC can be off the whole time.

A 24/7 stream keeps your channel live all the time: music and lo-fi channels, a highlights reel between your real streams, a radio-style show or a shop window that never closes. Running one from your own PC means leaving it on day and night, and every power cut or update takes the stream down.

Multistream Cloud plays a looping video from our servers instead. Your PC can be off, and the stream carries on by itself.

What you need

Max. A looping video stream with no time limit is part of the Max plan. On Pro, a video stream ends after 24 hours, like any cloud stream, so Pro suits loops that run for a day or less. Compare the plans on your Account page.

A video made for looping. A loop shows the same video again and again, so make the end flow into the start: fade both to the same picture, or end on a short ident. Max holds 50 GB of videos, and each file can be up to 8 GB and 6 hours long. A playlist of several videos can loop too, and with Shuffle on, every round plays in a new order.

Platforms that welcome it. Not every platform does; see below.

Music for a radio-style channel. Sound files (MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or OGG) work too: each plays over its cover art, or a plain background, with a moving waveform. A shuffled loop of tracks makes a simple always-on music stream.

Set up the loop

On Multistream Cloud, with Max:

  1. Open Stream a video in the dashboard menu.
  2. Upload your video or videos, and wait for each to say it's ready.
  3. Tick the videos and turn on Loop the videos.
  4. Pick the platforms. Leave out Facebook and TikTok (see below).
  5. Read the pre-stream check, then go live Now or At a set time.
  6. Turn on emails for Your scheduled and video streams under Notifications, so you hear if the stream ever stops.

You can turn your PC off as soon as it's live.

What keeps it running

Restarts by itself. If the player hiccups, it restarts and picks up where it was. Only after three failures in a row does it stop, and then it emails you.

Survives our updates. If our server restarts, a playing video carries on where it was once the relay is back.

Your stream can take over. If you go live from OBS while the loop plays, your live stream takes over at once. That's a quick way to drop in live on a 24/7 channel.

A report each day. History shows a 24/7 stream as one report per day instead of one row that never ends.

Change it without going offline. Add new videos or take some out while it's live, then click Use this playlist next: the change starts after the current video, and the stream never stops.

Which platforms allow a 24/7 loop

YouTube is the usual home for 24/7 streams. Its help says a live stream longer than 12 hours may not be archived, so don't count on the replay.

Twitch asks for recorded streams to be marked as a Rerun: tick Rerun in Edit Stream Info and start the title with [Rerun].

Kick doesn't allow misleading content, so say it's a replay in the title.

Facebook's Live policy says Live isn't for looping videos. Leave Facebook out. Multistream's pre-stream check warns you when a loop includes it.

TikTok doesn't recommend recorded content on LIVE and may show it to fewer people.

More detail is in which platforms allow pre-recorded live streams.

Data and limits

A 24/7 stream sends a lot of data: at 1080p and 30 frames per second, every platform on the list gets a full copy all day. Max includes much more data per month than Pro; the Account page shows how much of this month's data you've used, and the platform limit of your plan still applies.

Questions, answered

Can I run a 24/7 live stream with my PC off?

Yes. On the Max plan, Multistream Cloud plays a looping video with no time limit, so your PC can be off the whole time.

Can I loop a video on Pro?

Yes, but on Pro a video stream ends after 24 hours, like any cloud stream. A loop with no time limit needs Max.

Can I loop a video on Facebook Live?

No. Facebook's Live policy says Live shouldn't be used for looping videos, so leave Facebook out of a looping stream.

What happens if the stream crashes?

It restarts by itself and picks up where it was. After three failures in a row it stops and emails you.

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