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To verify an automated YouTube live stream, check two separate things: whether YouTube is receiving the incoming video feed, and whether the viewer-facing broadcast is in its expected live state. The YouTube Live Streaming API exposes these as a liveStream resource and a liveBroadcast resource. An active input does not, by itself, prove the broadcast is live to viewers.
What “online” means for a YouTube live stream
YouTube models the incoming video and the public-facing event as separate resources. Google describes a liveStream as the feed transmitted to YouTube; its status indicates whether YouTube is receiving data and whether it knows of delivery or configuration issues. A liveBroadcast represents the event viewers watch and has its own lifecycle state.
| Signal | What it answers | What to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming feed | Is YouTube receiving the encoder or automation system’s stream? | liveStream.status.streamStatus and liveStream.status.healthStatus |
| Viewer-facing event | Is the intended broadcast in the lifecycle state expected for viewers? | The associated liveBroadcast lifecycle status |
For monitoring, report these signals independently—for example, “input received” and “broadcast live”—rather than combining them into an ambiguous single “online” result. A monitoring check should also confirm that it has matched the intended broadcast to its bound stream, not merely found some active stream on the channel.
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Check the incoming stream status and health
Read the target liveStream resource and evaluate status.streamStatus alongside status.healthStatus. The documented stream-status values answer whether the feed is being received or is ready, inactive, or in error; health status adds diagnostic information.
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| Field and value | Meaning | Monitoring interpretation |
|---|---|---|
streamStatus=active |
YouTube is receiving data via the stream. | Mark the input as received; do not infer from this alone that the broadcast is live. |
streamStatus=inactive |
YouTube is not receiving data. | Investigate the encoder, automation service, network path, or stream-key configuration. |
streamStatus=error |
An error condition exists. | Inspect the stream and health details for a cause. |
streamStatus=ready |
The stream has valid CDN settings. | Ready is not the same as receiving data; wait for or investigate the feed as appropriate. |
streamStatus=created |
The stream has been created but lacks valid CDN settings. | It is not a healthy, receiving input. |
healthStatus=good |
No configuration issue at warning severity or higher is reported. | No such issue is currently reported; still check the feed and broadcast state. |
healthStatus=ok |
No issue with error severity is reported. | Warnings may still exist, so inspect configuration issues if quality matters. |
healthStatus=bad |
One or more issues with error severity are reported. | Read the issue type, severity, reason, and description and address the indicated problem. |
healthStatus=noData |
YouTube’s live-streaming backend has no health-status information. | Treat health as unknown, not as proof that the stream is healthy. |
The health object also includes the most recent health-update timestamp and any reported configuration issues. Examples in the API documentation include low video bitrate, a frame-rate mismatch, and missing audio. Use the issue details to guide diagnosis; a broad health label alone may not identify the fix.
Check the associated broadcast lifecycle
Read the intended liveBroadcast and check its lifecycle status separately from the input. The broadcast resource includes a bound stream ID, which lets your monitor associate the event with the right liveStream. Confirm that the broadcast is the one you expect, then evaluate whether its state meets your definition of viewer-facing live.
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The broadcast-list method can filter by broadcastStatus using active, completed, upcoming, or all. It can also look up broadcasts by ID or list those owned by the authorized user. The method requires exactly one of broadcastStatus, id, or mine; when listing your own broadcasts, use mine=true. An account not enabled for live video may receive liveStreamingNotEnabled.
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Do not use the broadcast transition endpoint as a passive health check. It changes the broadcast’s state. YouTube documents that the bound stream must be active before a broadcast can be transitioned to testing or live.
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Build a monitoring check with the YouTube API
- Authorize access. Use OAuth for the account whose broadcasts you need to monitor. The broadcast-list method documents scopes including
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly, as well as YouTube and YouTube force-SSL scopes. Keep access tokens and other credentials private. - Find the intended broadcast. List broadcasts using exactly one of the supported selectors—
broadcastStatus,id, ormine—or retrieve the known broadcast by ID. Use the broadcast’s bound stream ID to identify its input. - Read both resources. Retrieve the associated
liveBroadcastandliveStreamthrough the official API. Inspect the stream’sstatus.streamStatusandstatus.healthStatus, then inspect the broadcast lifecycle status. - Evaluate each condition on its own. Emit an input-received result only when
streamStatusisactive. Emit a broadcast-live result only when the broadcast lifecycle state matches the live state your monitor expects. Preserve health issues and unknown health data as separate diagnostic information. - Choose alerting and polling behavior for your system. Set thresholds and retry handling to suit the consequences of a missed alert or a transient failure. The API references cited here do not establish a universal polling interval, detection latency, or quota budget; check current quota guidance and validate your implementation before relying on a particular cadence.
Interpret common monitoring results
- Input active, broadcast not live: YouTube is receiving the feed, but that does not establish that the audience-facing event is live. Check the broadcast lifecycle and whether the correct broadcast was matched to the stream.
- Input inactive: YouTube is not receiving data. Check whether the automation or encoder is running and whether its connection and stream configuration are correct.
- Input active, health bad: Data is arriving, but YouTube reports an error-severity configuration issue. Read the issue details; examples include low bitrate, frame-rate mismatch, or missing audio.
- Health is noData: The health signal is unavailable. Do not convert unknown health into a healthy result; use the stream and broadcast statuses for their distinct answers.
- API says live video is not enabled: If the list request returns
liveStreamingNotEnabled, check whether live streaming is enabled for the authorized account.
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