{"id":1151,"date":"2026-10-11T10:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T08:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudliveon.com\/en\/srt-srtla-rtmp-bonding-irl\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T16:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:03:32","slug":"srt-srtla-rtmp-bonding-irl","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cloudliveon.com\/en\/srt-srtla-rtmp-bonding-irl\/","title":{"rendered":"SRT, SRTLA, RTMP and bonding: how to stream IRL without drops"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you stream from the street, coverage comes and goes: an elevator, a tunnel, a block with a weak signal. What decides whether your stream holds is not the camera or the phone but how the video reaches the server<\/strong>: which protocol you use and over how many connections you send it.<\/p>\n

This guide brings together three questions that are usually answered separately: what the difference is between RTMP, SRT and SRTLA, when bonding with a second SIM pays off, and what really happens when the signal drops.<\/p>\n

The three protocols, without the jargon<\/h2>\n

RTMP<\/strong> is the long-standing protocol: a single connection over TCP. It works very well on a stable network (a PC on a cable, for example). On a phone it copes worst: if the network stalls for a moment, the video waits and the stream freezes or lags.<\/p>\n

SRT<\/strong> sends video over UDP and, when packets are lost, asks for them again<\/strong> within a time window you choose (the \u201clatency\u201d). Even on a single connection it handles patchy coverage far better than RTMP, because it recovers what is lost instead of stopping.<\/p>\n

SRTLA<\/strong> is SRT spread across several connections at once<\/strong>: your phone’s and a 4G or 5G router with a SIM from another carrier, for example. That is what bonding means. The server joins the pieces arriving over each path and rebuilds the video. If one connection fails, the other keeps carrying the signal.<\/p>\n

Which protocol to use, depending on how you go out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Your setup<\/th>\nRecommended protocol<\/th>\nWhy<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Phone only, one SIM<\/td>\nSRT<\/td>\nIt recovers lost packets and is far steadier than RTMP on mobile data.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Phone plus a router with a SIM from another carrier<\/td>\nSRTLA<\/td>\nIt splits the video across both connections: if one fails, the other carries on.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PC at home on a cable<\/td>\nRTMP or SRT<\/td>\nBoth work on a stable network; SRT adds margin if there are micro drops.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dedicated encoder (Belabox, LiveU, TvU)<\/td>\nWhatever your encoder supports<\/td>\nSend it to a server that accepts it; the cloud OBS composes the stream.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Moblin (iPhone) and IRL Pro (Android) include SRT and SRTLA and are free. The step by step is in the Moblin guide<\/a> and the IRL Pro guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bonding with a second SIM: when it pays off<\/h2>\n

On the street the problem is almost never speed: it is that coverage is uneven<\/strong>. One carrier fails exactly where the other works fine. With two lines from different carriers you add bandwidth and, above all, stop depending on a single antenna<\/strong>.<\/p>\n