One number, three consequences — and only two are its own.

A live stream is cut into fixed-length pieces, and that length is a single setting. The live edge sits (segments the player buffers + 1) × the segment behind the event. The request rate is 60 ÷ the segment, per rung, per viewer. Both belong to the segment. The bitrate does not: a group of pictures runs from one keyframe to the next, so it is as long as the keyframe interval whether a segment holds one group or five.

The engine is free and needs no account. An ordinary 6 s stream cut at 2 s keyframes puts the live edge 24 s back. Taking the segment to 2 s brings that to 8 s and costs nothing in bitrate, because the keyframes were already at 2 s and still divide it. Taking it to 2.5 s — the longest segment that meets a 10 s budget exactly — costs +29.5%, because 2.5 s is 75 frames at 30 fps and the longest interval that divides 75 is 25. The shorter segment is three times cheaper than the longer one. And underneath all of it, a keyframe interval that does not divide the segment in whole frames means that rung cannot be cut on its own boundary, which is what a player reports as a stall. Every lane ships a worked example that costs nothing. Writing the report needs credits.