streamLama features

streamLama turns your phone into a small broadcast studio for YouTube. This page covers what each feature does, how it behaves while you are live, and what is included for free.

Scene canvas editor

A scene is a stream layout: your gameplay plus everything you place around or on top of it. The editor opens full screen and shows the canvas at the exact shape of your stream, so nothing gets cropped later.

You can add these elements, called layers:

• Gameplay video: move and resize the window that shows your screen, choose fit, fill or stretch, or hide it for intermission scenes.
• Text: your channel name, a schedule, a goal. Pick the size, color, alignment, bold and an optional background.
• Images: a logo, a frame or any picture from your photo library or files.
• Social badges: a platform icon plus your handle, so viewers know where else to find you.
• Icons: pick an icon and give it any color.
• LIVE badge: a red pill that tells viewers the stream is happening now.

Drag a layer to move it, pull its handles to resize it, and use the rotation slider for precise angles. Layers can be reordered, hidden, locked so you do not move them by accident, or deleted. Undo and redo cover every change, and the editor saves automatically. The image that goes to YouTube is rendered from the same layout you see, so the editor preview is what your viewers get.

Horizontal and vertical streams

Every scene stores two layouts: horizontal (16:9) for the classic YouTube player and TVs, and vertical (9:16) for people watching on phones. Vertical live streams can be shown in the YouTube Shorts feed, where many mobile viewers discover new channels. You pick the output orientation before you go live.

The two layouts are independent. A common setup is a horizontal layout with the game full screen and a small name tag, and a vertical layout with the landscape game in the middle band, your channel name above it and social handles below.

If your game runs in landscape while you hold the phone a certain way, the capture rotation setting turns the picture the right way up.

Ready-made scenes

New installs start with four scenes you can edit or delete: Gameplay (full-screen game, channel name and a YouTube badge), Starting soon (large centered text, game hidden), Be right back and Ending ("Thanks for watching"). Switching scenes while you are live updates the stream within a moment, so you can cover a loading screen or step away without ending the broadcast.

Auto-reconnect and backup servers

Phones change networks, walk out of Wi-Fi range and lose signal in elevators. streamLama is built for that:

• When the connection drops, it reconnects automatically, retrying after 1, 2, 3 and then every 5 seconds for up to 50 seconds in total, inside the short window before YouTube treats the stream as ended.
• It alternates between YouTube's primary and backup ingest servers while retrying, if you keep that option on. A key saved with another server has no backup.
• The Live screen shows that it is reconnecting, so you always know what is happening.
• If the stream cannot recover, streamLama posts a notification with sound so you notice even if you are deep in a match.

Streams to YouTube use RTMPS, the encrypted version of the RTMP protocol. If you save a key with your own server, use an rtmps:// address to keep it encrypted.

Quality and adaptive bitrate

You control resolution (480p, 540p, 720p, or 1080p with Pro), frame rate (30 or 60 fps), video bitrate and audio bitrate. A keyframe is sent every 2 seconds, which is what YouTube asks encoders to use.

With adaptive bitrate turned on, streamLama lowers the video bitrate when your upload speed dips and raises it again slowly once things settle. It never drops below a floor that keeps the picture watchable: 800 kbps at 480p and 540p, 1,500 kbps at 720p and 3,000 kbps at 1080p (or your own bitrate, if you set it lower). A short drop in sharpness is much better than a frozen stream.

Pro users can also choose HEVC (H.265) on phones that support it. HEVC gives a cleaner image at the same bitrate, which helps on slower connections.

Game audio and microphone

Game sound and your microphone have separate volume sliders, and you can change both during a live stream. A mute button silences the microphone instantly. On iPhone, the microphone is turned on or off in the system broadcast sheet when you start. On Android, game audio capture needs Android 10 or later; on older versions streamLama streams the microphone only.

Stream key and privacy

streamLama connects to YouTube with your stream key instead of a Google login. You can save a key for each channel and pick the one that goes live. Keys are saved in your phone's secure storage (the Keychain on iPhone and Keystore-backed encrypted storage on Android) and are only sent to YouTube's servers (or the server you saved with the key) when you go live or test them. A Test connection button checks the key before your audience is waiting. Read the privacy policy for the full picture.

Local recording

With Pro, streamLama can save an MP4 copy of your stream on the phone while you are live. You can save recordings to your photo library or share them to an editing app to cut highlights.

Free and Pro

Streaming is free, with no time limit set by streamLama. Free includes 3 scenes, 3 layers per layout, up to 720p with H.264, and a small streamLama watermark in the corner. Pro is an optional in-app purchase that unlocks unlimited scenes and layers, 1080p, HEVC, local recording and removes the watermark. Auto-reconnect, adaptive bitrate and both orientations are included for everyone.

Next: get your YouTube stream key on your phone, or read the frequently asked questions.