Stop Auto Changing Resolution when Tabbing Out
When tabbing out, there is a "feature" to reduce resolution, but causes the stream to stutter, pause, and skip around when coming back to normal when the video is tabbed out, or in the background. Please allow us to turn off this "feature" tabbing out to do moderation, or check on something then missing something that happened, like an alert, or action in the game is a terrible "feature" when the stream tries to catch up.

-
wiseOldDude commented
I'm pretty sure they did something this year where they made sound drop further in quality when not in focus.It either becomes a bit tinny or random pops/clicks start to happen when not in front.
They're probably trying to cheap out on bandwidth or something just like how they axed korea from certain stuff.Sad thing is this thread will be 4 years old soon and nothing is being done.
-
LunacyAndPirates commented
Let us choose whether to use this "feature" or at least choose to only drop the video quality and leave the audio quality, because weirdly I can still hear it even if I can't see it, and I'm not paying subscriptions on channels to listen to them through a tin can on a piece of string whilst checking other sites.
-
anqvu_music commented
This is probably not a big deal when lurking in gaming streams, but this causes a huge drop in quality of experience when in music streams. The drop in audio quality ruins the listening experience.
-
maxdefcon commented
I agree. Please stop doing this as I use Safari... if I change tabs and go back to the stream... it buffers for a moment and audio gets tinny.
-
simtubes commented
I've recently started noticing this, too, in NA. The audio bitrate is definitely being downscaled, as verified by selecting various video qualities, manually downloading .ts chunks seen in the browser "Developer Tools" "Network" tab, and running ffmpeg -i on them:
1080p (original): 160kbps
720p60: 160kbps
480p: 160kbps
360p: 64kbps
160p: 50kbpsRecently (in the last month), 480p and above sound fine, but 360p and lower sound absolutely terrible (sounds "watery", like an old Fraunhofer MP3 encoder).
The problem is that Twitch is auto-downgrading the "quality" to the 360p when the tab is obscured, and so I immediately hear the difference (when the browser does not interfere with the stream change) and get upset and re-expose the tab so that the quality improves again.
I would much rather that this feature merely switch to the audio-only mode (like used by the mobile app) rather than trying to also stream 360p video that is only visible for a split second when the tab is unobscured. Or stop scaling the audio. Or select a quality that does not downgrade the audio.
-
wiseOldDude commented
That explains why I sometimes notice audio stutters on streams when I play games and have streams in the background.It's probably the stream adjusting quality around.
Frankly seems nothing has changed since 2020.This whole "forum" seems dead too.
-
idoin commented
I don't like drop quality while watching another stream. Stop auto-change resolution when tabbing other steam to Twitch. Because I watch multiple streams.
-
SaintGolubets commented
On PC, when the twitch tab is not active, the video quality automatically drops to 360p.
The problem is that the quality of audio drops together with it and it's incredibly frustrating. It forces you to keep the tab on screen while you only want to listen to the stream
Please make the sound quality for 360p normal or introduce a sound-only mode
-
이재석플레이리스트 commented
Recently, Twitch Web(South Korea) has been updated to reduce video quality and sound quality when not maintaining watching.
However, twitch streaming is not just for watching, but for watching and listening.
Moving to other tab doesn't mean not listening.
So, please don't lower the sound quality when moving to other tab in web-twitch