What stream formats/protocols are delivered by the APIs?

Stream formats and protocols are dependent on provider. Please refer to our stream concepts guide for specific information.

How do I filter to a particular stream type?

You can control the stream filter in two ways:

• Create a global configuration setting for your partner ID. Every request to the API with your ID will apply the filter.
• Pass a filter override to the API. For OPML, this is the formats query string parameter; for OpenMedia it is a formats directive.

What is the stream reliability rating?

We assign a 0-100% value to every stream based on the experiences we collect from our testing and from use in the field. It is not an editorial value and is strongly influenced by recent events. When we have few data points we err on the optimistic side and assign a higher value.

A stream plays on the desktop but not in my application/device – why?

Streaming, especially among lower-tier or international stations who host with smaller ISPs, can be remarkably volatile. Among the many factors affecting performance:

• Client player variation. You control your player and should have a leg up on our general user base with their myriad combinations of operating systems, browsers, and media players. Nevertheless, your player may have trouble with certain kinds of streams (playlist formats, codecs, etc). The good news is that often these can be identified and supported or filtered.
• Station server outage. From time to time streams will simply become unavailable. Sometimes these blackout periods are scheduled, sometimes they are known informally (i.e., station X usually isn’t online at night), but most of the time they are transient.
• Station server bottleneck. Many listeners or a small pipe can rapidly degrade performance.
• Stream change. Some stations rotate streams, others switch providers frequently. We do a good job responding to these quickly, but we have to rely on user reports to catch them when they happen rather than hours or days after the fact.

Is the stream bitrate exact – what does “32″ mean?

The bitrates are an approximation and should be interpreted as kbps (kilobits per second). We round up or down depending on what we find when testing the stream.

How can I get song data from a stream?

Only certain AAC+ and MP3 streams offer song metadata. We’ll prioritize delivering these streams when there are multiple options.

We are working quickly on a song and playlist service that you can use to find this information as well.