Twitch is one of the largest, if not, the largest streaming platform in the world. It is owned by Amazon itself. It is the 31st most popular website in the world and receives more than 15 million visitors every day on the platform. Despite its huge popularity, twitch has one issue that is faced by many users who wish to watch their favourite broadcasters’ streams. Commonly known as “twitch black screen error”, it presents the user with an annoying black screen when they try to view a stream of their choice making them unable to watch the stream. Many viewers fall prey to this bothersome problem when they try to watch their desired stream.
This article helps and guides you through the causes and the solutions of the twitch black screen problem. The solutions range from quick fixes to fiddling deep inside your browser settings, maximizing your chance at solving the problem.
What causes the Twitch Black Screen Problem?
Twitch black screen error is simply a failure to load the twitch media player in your browser. There might be multiple reasons behind this error of twitch ranging from a bad internet connection, outdated browsers to javascript and flash errors and also due to incompatible video rendering codecs of your browser. Some of the common reasons why we face this problem are listed below:
- Bad Internet Connection: If you have a bad internet connection, there’s a high chance that Twitch is not loading properly and you are facing the black screen error. Bad internet connection refers to slow or misconfigured internet settings. In which case, configuring your internet settings might solve the problem.
- Browser issues: The main reason for the error is a problem in your browser or browser settings. Your browser may have corrupted residual files or misconfigured settings which might be stopping Javascript from running properly or even due to hardware acceleration. If that’s the case, you’ll have to tweak some browser settings to fix the problem.
- Server Issues: Twitch, like any other website, runs on a server and due to some technical problems, the servers might not respond sometimes. If that’s the case, the problems are not on your end and you can’t do anything to solve it. You should wait for the servers to get fixed before you can watch the streams.
How to solve the Twitch Black Screen Error?
The first step to solve any problem is to do the preliminary checks which include your internet connection and corrupted files in your RAM. If you don’t understand yet, don’t get intimidated, we will guide you. Do the following things to make sure Twitch Black Screen is not due to something as minor as bad internet connection or corrupted files in your RAM:
- Check your internet connection if it is working why accessing sites like Fast.com which also show you your internet speed. Make sure you have fast enough internet before you jump into more complex solutions.
- Restart your computer. Yes, you heard it right. Restarting your computer clears your RAM and removes any corrupted, unstable program or its thread on it, which might interfere with Twitch causing the black screen error.
Once you have taken these preliminary steps, and your problem persists of Twitch Black Screen , you can continue to the solutions listed below:
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Solution 1: Clear the Browsing Data:
The main cause other than internet connection for twitch black screen error is some problem in your browser settings. Your issue is also most probably because of some problems with your browser. In which case, the first logical thing to do would be to clear your browsing data. It clears all your browser data and removes any corrupted files in your browser cache and makes it easier to diagnose the problem of Twitch Black Screen. You can follow these steps to clear the browsing data:
- Open up the Chrome Browser and type “chrome://settings” on the address bar and press enter to open the Chrome settings page.
- On the settings page, scroll down to the bottom and locate the Advanced menu and click on it.
- It will load more settings among which scroll and find the settings under the Privacy and Security section.
- Click on Clear Browsing Data and a menu opens up.
- Go to the Advanced section of this menu and select All time under time range.
- Check all the boxes but Do Not check Passwords and Autofill data! You might lose your saved passwords and other autofill data.
- Click on Clear Data. All your Chrome data will be cleared.
Now try to access Twitch again and if it doesn’t work and you still see Twitch Black Screen, move to other solutions.
Solution 2: Allow Twitch to use Javascript permissions:
Your browser usually asks for Javascript permissions for websites when needed. If you accidentally deny the permission, your browser may not allow Javascript permissions to some websites, in which case you will have to grant the permissions manually. If thats the case then you can see Twitch Black Screen. It is not as difficult as it sounds to fix this. To do this, simply follow the steps below:
- Open up the Chrome Browser and type “chrome://settings” on the address bar and press enter to open the Chrome settings page.
- On the settings page, scroll down to the bottom and locate the Advanced menu and click on it.
- It will load more settings among which scroll and find the settings under the Privacy and Security section.
- Click on Site Settings and find the Javascript option under the Content Settings section.
- Click on Javascript.
- Locate the toggle key and enable the Javascript (if it isn’t enabled already).
- Then click on Add, which is next to the Allow label.
- A prompt opens up with a field. Type “https://www.twitch.tv/” and click on Add to add Twitch to the allowed list.
- Restart your browser and check if the problem has been solved.
If your problem persists of Twitch Black Screen, it might be due to the Hardware Acceleration of Chrome.
Solution 3: Disable Hardware Acceleration in Chrome:
Hardware acceleration makes your browser faster but it comes at a cost. It might not support some codecs that your browser media players run on. Which might cause errors like Twitch black screen error. In such cases, you will have to disable the hardware acceleration to make sure your browser hardware acceleration is not interfering with twitch media player codes. To disable the hardware acceleration, follow the following steps:
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- Open up the Chrome Browser and type “chrome://settings” on the address bar and press enter to open the Chrome settings page.
- On the settings page, scroll down to the bottom and locate the Advanced menu and click on it.
- It will load more settings among which scroll and find the settings under the System section.
- Disable hardware acceleration by clicking on the toggle key next to the Use hardware acceleration when available option if it is already enabled.
- Restart the browser and check if your problem has been solved.
If you are still getting the black screen in twitch, you will have to follow other solutions below:
Solution 4: Reinstall/Update your browser:
Using old and outdated versions of browsers might lead to many problems including incompatibility with newer browser media players like twitch. You might be getting the error due to an outdated or corrupted browser. To make sure this is not the case, it is in your best interests to update your browser or uninstall your current browser and download the latest version from the official page of Google Chrome. Simply uninstall your current browser and install the new browser and see if that fixes your problem. Usually, uninstalling and installing the browser is preferred as it will delete corrupted system files of the browsers. If this doesn’t fix your problem, you most probably have problems due to your internet connection.
Solution 5: Use a Virtual Private Network(VPN) or Proxy service:
Your Internet Service Provider(ISP) might have blocked access to Twitch servers due to some reason. Depending on the place you live, this might be the reason why you cannot access the Twitch server. You can use a Virtual Private Network(VPN) service to fix this problem. Use a trusted VPN service to change your IP and gain unblocked access to Twitch. Alternatively, if you have access to proxy service, you can also use proxy IP to access the servers. When choosing a VPN or Proxy service be sure to choose a trusted and secure service. It is suggested that you go for a premium VPN subscription instead of free VPNs as they are less secure and less effective.
Conclusion:
If you followed all the steps correctly, you should have fixed your problem. If you solved the problem, comment down the “fix” that solved your problem. If you couldn’t solve the problem, comment down, we will respond as soon as possible to help you with the situation. Sometimes playback issues are also caused by issues in the servers. If you can’t fix the black screen problem, you should check if other people are also facing the same issue. If many people are facing the issue at the same time, it is most probably due to an outage and in this case, you can only wait until the issues in the servers are fixed.
