The URL redirected too many times
We follow up to three redirects; this URL exceeded that.
What it means
The origin kept answering with 3xx redirects rather than content, and the chain exceeded the three hops we are willing to follow.
Why it matters
Long redirect chains are usually a loop — commonly an authentication redirect bouncing back to a page that redirects again. Players apply their own limits, so a chain this long will fail for viewers too, and every hop adds start-up latency.
How to fix it
- Follow the chain by hand and find where it starts repeating.
- A redirect to a login page means the request is unauthenticated; add the token or Authorization header.
- Point at the final URL directly where you can — each hop costs a round trip on every playback.
Check your own stream
The free stream tester runs this check on every analysis and links each finding straight back here.
Open the stream tester →Frequently asked questions
- What does "The URL redirected too many times" mean?
- The origin kept answering with 3xx redirects rather than content, and the chain exceeded the three hops we are willing to follow.
- Why does it matter?
- Long redirect chains are usually a loop — commonly an authentication redirect bouncing back to a page that redirects again. Players apply their own limits, so a chain this long will fail for viewers too, and every hop adds start-up latency.
- How do I fix it?
- 1. Follow the chain by hand and find where it starts repeating. 2. A redirect to a login page means the request is unauthenticated; add the token or Authorization header. 3. Point at the final URL directly where you can — each hop costs a round trip on every playback.
- How can I detect this automatically?
- Paste your stream delivery URL into StreamTest's free stream tester. It runs this check on every analysis, flags the finding, and links straight back to this page — no sign-up required.
Related Fetching and delivery checks
- The browser blocked the request (CORS)Your browser refused to read the response because the origin did not send an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header.
- The origin returned an error statusThe server answered with a 4xx or 5xx status instead of the manifest, so there was nothing to analyze.
- That address cannot be reached from our serversThe URL resolves to a private or reserved address, so we will not connect to it from the server. Local mode tests it from your own browser instead.
- That is not a valid URLThe address could not be parsed, so no request was attempted.
- That URL scheme is not supportedOnly http and https can be fetched; schemes such as rtmp, rtsp and file cannot.
- The response was too largeThe document exceeded the size limit for a single analysis.