---
title: "Playback Buffer"
slug: "triton-digital-streaming-specification-playback-buffer"
updated: 2025-07-08T19:48:28Z
published: 2025-07-08T19:48:28Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.tritondigital.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Playback Buffer

For stream stability, a player has some amount of buffering between the network connection and its audio playback mechanism. To attempt to fill the buffer as quickly as possible, the Triton Digital streaming server sends an initial “burst” of audio data at the start of a connection. The server does this because a player usually waits to fill its buffer before starting audio playback.

To get the optimal balance between stream stability and low playback start-up time or low latency for on-air radio, the server’s ideal burst duration should be equal to, or slightly larger than, the size of the player’s buffer. Your player can accomplish this by adding either the `burst-time` or `burst-time-ms` query parameters in the stream’s connection URL:

- Use `burst-time` with a value equal to the playback buffer’s size, in seconds. For example, if your playback buffer is 10 seconds, the player should specify `burst-time=10`.
- Use `burst-time-ms` with a value equal to the playback buffer's size, in milliseconds. This is useful for Triton Digital Super-Low-Delay Streaming where player buffers are less than one second.

If you don’t know or don’t have control over the playback buffer’s size, you should not send the `burst-time`  or `burst-time-ms`  parameters. Specifying a burst duration that is too small or too large will unnecessarily delay the start of audio playback.

Each Triton Digital mount is configured with its own default and maximum burst durations that are suitable for general usage:

- Default: If `burst-time`  and `burst-time-ms`  are not present in your player's connection URL, the server uses the mount's default burst duration. This is typically between 12 and 45 seconds.
- Maximum: If `burst-time`  or `burst-time-ms` is greater than the mount's maximum burst, then the server limits the burst to the mount's maximum. This is typically between 25 and 60 seconds.

To get or change the default and max burst durations for a mount, see [Contact Support](/user/docs/contact-support).