SRT Media Source (ffmpeg_source) cannot recreate listener socket on reconnect while recording or streaming is active

[ollyirl]

Operating System Info

Windows 11

Other OS

No response

OBS Studio Version

32.1.2

OBS Studio Version (Other)

No response

OBS Studio Log URL

https://obsproject.com/logs/oWFDQTa6BvRLwM82

OBS Studio Crash Log URL

No response

Expected Behavior

A Media Source configured to receive SRT in listener mode (srt://0.0.0.0:PORT?mode=listener) cannot recreate its socket on reconnect while OBS has any active output (recording, streaming, or both).

When the upstream SRT caller disconnects, the source correctly logs [Media Source]: Disconnected. Reconnecting... and begins reconnection attempts. While an output is active, every reconnect attempt fails with error: Connection setup failure: unable to create/configure SRT socket, repeating once per second indefinitely. The source recovers within ~5 seconds of all outputs being stopped.

When OBS is idle (no active outputs), the same source disconnects and reconnects cleanly with no errors.

This appears to be a socket lifecycle bug where the SRT listener socket isn't released for re-binding while a downstream consumer (the active output's encoder pipeline) holds a reference to the source.

Expected Behavior

The SRT Media Source should be able to recreate its listener socket on reconnect regardless of OBS output state, matching its behaviour when OBS is idle.

Current Behavior

Actual Behavior

SRT socket recreation fails with Connection setup failure: unable to create/configure SRT socket for every reconnect attempt while any output is active. Source only recovers after all outputs are stopped.

Log Evidence

Single-session timeline (log file 2026-05-30 12-41-18.txt):

12:41:44.219: ==== Recording Start ===============================================
12:42:15.960: [Media Source 'Moblin SRT']: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
12:42:16.961: error:   Connection setup failure: unable to create/configure SRT socket
[... 83 identical errors at ~1s intervals ...]
12:43:40.413: ==== Recording Stop ================================================
12:43:45.151: [Media Source 'Moblin SRT']: Reconnected.

Same source had several subsequent disconnect/reconnect cycles between 12:43 and 15:54 with no output active — every one reconnected cleanly with zero Connection setup failure errors.

Pattern is consistent across multiple sessions:

Log file	Connection setup failure errors during recording
2026-05-26 17-31-01.txt	248
2026-05-26 18-25-09.txt	178
2026-05-27 08-38-54.txt	117
2026-05-30 08-43-56.txt	90
2026-05-30 09-00-21.txt	617
2026-05-30 12-41-18.txt	83

Variables Ruled Out During Diagnosis

To save triage time, the following were eliminated as causes:

• obs-websocket plugin (5.7.3): Independently verified that new WebSocket client connections succeed during recording (tested with the Simple WebSocket Client Chrome extension connecting to ws://localhost:4455 directly).
• External network layer (Cloudflare Tunnel): Bug reproduces with all external network paths bypassed.
• Encoder load: CPU usage was ~3-4% on NVIDIA NVENC during reproduction. Bug also reproduces with x264 software encoder.
• WebSocket clients: No third-party WS clients (e.g. IRLLink, control apps) need to be connected for the bug to reproduce.
• Plugin interference: Bug reproduces with default plugin set.

Workaround

Stop all active outputs to allow the SRT source to reconnect, then restart outputs.

Environment

• OBS Studio version: 32.1.2 (64-bit, Windows)
• Operating system: Windows 11 24H2 (Build 26200)
• CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, driver 32.0.16.1047
• Memory: 32 GB
• Encoder used during repro: NVIDIA NVENC (HEVC); also reproduces with x264
• obs-websocket plugin: 5.7.3 (irrelevant to bug, listed for completeness)
• OBS launched with admin privileges: No
• Crash on this issue: No

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add a Media Source with input URL srt://0.0.0.0:9999?mode=listener&latency=2000
2. Stream SRT into port 9999 from any caller-mode source (in my case, an iPhone running Moblin)
3. Confirm the source is active and rendering
4. Start Recording (or Streaming) in OBS
5. Cause the upstream SRT input to disconnect (e.g., put the streaming device into airplane mode)
6. Wait briefly for OBS to register [Media Source]: Disconnected. Reconnecting...
7. Restore the upstream SRT input. Observe: the source does not reconnect; OBS logs Connection setup failure: unable to create/configure SRT socket every ~1 second indefinitely.
8. Stop Recording (and/or Streaming). Observe: within ~5 seconds, the source reconnects normally.

Anything else we should know?

No response