AltarPage

How to live stream audio only (with little data)

Answer · Updated

Use an audio broadcast, not a video platform with the camera covered. YouTube and Facebook still send video data even with a black screen. A real audio stream (about 22 MB an hour at speech quality) plays on any phone, keeps going on 2G and 3G, and members can lock their screens and keep listening.

Why not just YouTube with no picture?

YouTube needs a video track, so a "black screen" stream still costs listeners hundreds of megabytes an hour and drops when the signal is weak. YouTube also expects you to go live from a channel that's allowed to stream, and the audio stops when a phone locks unless you pay for YouTube Premium.

Audio-only with AltarPage Broadcast

  1. Open your studio (in the AltarPage app, in a browser, or AltarPage Studio on a computer).
  2. Choose a quality: Speech (about 22 MB an hour), Speech and songs (about 29 MB) or Worship music (about 43 MB).
  3. Tap Go live and share your link.

On a weak network, your audio is saved on the device and goes out as soon as the network is back, so listeners and the replay miss nothing.

Listeners don't need anything

They open the link in any browser, on any phone, with no account. It keeps playing with the screen locked, and there's Give, prayer requests and comments right under the player.

Questions people ask

Can I stream audio only on YouTube?

Not really. YouTube needs a picture, so a black-screen stream still uses video data. Use an audio broadcast and share that link instead, or alongside: you can even broadcast the sound of your YouTube live stream on your AltarPage link.

Is there a free way to stream audio?

AltarPage includes 4 broadcast hours a month on every plan, and it's free for 14 days with no card. Broadcast plans add 30 hours, 100 hours or 24/7.