What a session is
A broadcast session gives you one place to check your equipment and prepare before anyone sees or hears you. The preview in Broadcast Studio stays on your device. Nothing is broadcast or recorded until you select Go Live.
The session keeps the same watch link and stream key until you end the session.
Go Live, End Live, and End Session
Go Live puts the session on air. End Live takes it off air but keeps the session and stream key open, so you can go live again later.
Streaming with OBS or other software? Start your stream there first — the studio notices the connection within about ten seconds and the button becomes Go Live — encoder connected. Your stream stays private until you press it; setup time is never visible to viewers.
End Session is final. It ends the broadcast session and destroys its stream key. Use it only when you are completely finished.
If your browser closes or the page reloads while you are live, the broadcast goes off air but the session stays open — reopen it from My Broadcasts and go live again. Sessions that stay disconnected for a few minutes are ended automatically.
An open session is never a mystery: My Broadcasts labels it Off air (was live, can go live again) or Ready (never started), and says when it closes. Any session you leave open — off air or never started — closes on its own 24 hours after it was created, so there is nothing to clean up if you simply walk away. End Session yourself when you want the replay processed right away.
Broadcasts have a session time limit (currently 60 minutes of live time). The studio warns you as you approach it; when it is reached, the broadcast ends automatically and your replay is saved as usual.
Where broadcasts appear
While you are live, the broadcast appears in the community feed with a LIVE banner. The watch link works before you go live, so you can share it ahead of time. Before the broadcast begins, viewers see that the session is ready.
Replays
Streams sent through OBS automatically become normal long-form videos after the session ends. If Publish replay automatically was on, the replay is published to your feed. If it was off, the replay is saved as a draft for you to review first.
A replay follows the same lifecycle as all your other content. Open My Content to edit it, unpublish it back to a draft, or publish it again later. Replays appear under the Broadcasts filter there — and under Long-Form Videos too, because a replay is a long-form video; the filters are lenses, not folders.
Browser broadcasts record too: the studio captures your broadcast as you stream and uploads it in the background, and when you end the session the recording becomes a replay just like an OBS stream's. Two caveats: switching cameras or microphones mid-broadcast ends that recording (the broadcast itself continues), and if the upload cannot finish, the broadcast simply stays live-only.
Off-air gaps shorter than about a minute stay in one recording. With a longer gap, the replay currently keeps only the first recorded segment.
Audio-only broadcasts
Turn on Audio only when creating a session to broadcast just your microphone — local live radio. Viewers see a branded cover with your name instead of video, and their player offers a clear "Listen live" tap if their browser blocks sound from starting automatically.
Broadcasting audio-only from the browser studio just works: the studio sends the branded cover as the video track automatically, because the streaming provider requires one.
If you stream an audio-only session through OBS instead, that requirement is yours to meet: add a static image source (your cover art or logo) to your OBS scene alongside your microphone. A pure audio stream will not play or record. The studio reminds you of this in the Stream with OBS panel.
When an audio-only OBS session ends, its replay is saved as podcast-style audio content with cover art, and it plays as audio everywhere your other content does.
Streaming with OBS
OBS is free professional broadcast software. It can combine multiple cameras, overlays, screen sharing, and mixed audio from call-in guests.
Create a session in Broadcast Studio, then open Stream with OBS to find the RTMPS URL and stream key. Put both into OBS. Keep the stream key private: anyone who has it can broadcast to that session. OBS streams get automatic replays too, recorded by the streaming provider itself.
My Broadcasts in Settings
Open My Broadcasts in Settings to see every session. You can end an open session from anywhere or return to Broadcast Studio and resume it with the same watch link and stream key.