[FIXED] Internet radio URLs not connecting or very slow since recent updates

[bembe]

Hi,
For the last few versions (about a month or two), I’ve noticed that either I can’t connect to most (but not all) of internet radio URLs (I’m using M3U files with verified working links), or it takes much much longer than before to connect.
Mostly the player even freezes shortly while trying to connect.
Has something changed in the recent updates regarding this?

Wacup public preview x86 #22656 (September 12 2025)
Windows 11 24H2

[dro]

A lot has potentially changed depending on what build(s) are being compared against as part of trying to make the x64 build more comparable to the x86 along with doing more to be able to finally drop the nullsoft in_mp3 plug-in from being used with the x86 build.

In the most recent builds, ogg vorbis, opus & flac based streams should now be better supported along with wacup's in_url plug-in being used for mp3 & aac streams which was introduced early this year but become the default handler recently. in_url will also off-load the stream to some of the other input plug-ins as needed based on an initial detection of things if the url / format type isn't clearly obvious as can happen with the ogg / opus based urls which can in some instances be a bit slow but shouldn't cause things to hang (a few seconds at most).

The first option is to go to preferences -> general -> internet | online -> toggle the option to use the alternate ssl backend from what it's currently set to, allow wacup to restart & see if that makes any difference or not. If it does then I'd need to know if it's checked or not. If that doesn't help then I could do with some examples of the urls you're trying to play to see if I can replicate of if there's something common to the ones having issues that might give me an idea of what I need to consider trying to change for them.

[bembe]

Thanks for the guidance.
Toggling the option to use the alternate SSL backend didn’t do anything I think.
Here is one URL example:
https://ice6.somafm.com/lush-128-mp3
When I put the URLs into Firefox, for example, they start playing instantly — so the link is working, that’s for sure.
And attached is the example as an .m3u file.

[dro]

The direct url & all from the playlist are taking about a second or so to start playing for me (test under both x86 & x64 wacup builds) though I'm only testing this on Win10 & maybe Win11 is messing with the connection that's being made (as it seems to trigger more update failures from prior feedback so maybe that's somehow also involved but I honestly don't know). Maybe soma is potentially rate limiting you as well or the servers are overloaded but that doesn't then explain it seemingly just working as it did for me.

When it does play for you, what does the bottom of preferences -> about | updates -> about tab -> running stats group box show for the active input & output plug-ins?

[bembe]

This specific radio station that I used as an example doesn’t start. Funny enough, it did this morning for a brief time until I stopped it for a test, and when I hit connect again, it didn’t start.
Here are the running stats for another radio station that is working (and again, funny enough, this one wasn’t always connecting on many previous builds). For it, it takes a second or so, yes.

[dro]

It's using what I'd expect for playback of an AAC or MP3 based stream. The example not working has me stumped as I just can't replicate it not working & what is shown for the working stream is what should be seen with that url as well. Maybe others can comment if things are or aren't working for them otherwise I don't have anything to suggest to resolve it for you at this time until some means to replicate it arises.

[bembe]

Okay, I understand. Anyway, thank you for trying to help and for your continuous effort in building and perfecting a great player.

[Eris Lund]

Been testing it myself on Linux with Wine 10.15, it connects to the stream successfully every time.

[bembe]

I've recently installed the latest WACUP 1.99.41.22982 (x86), and I no longer have any issues with Internet Radio. It now takes just a second or two to connect to every station that hadn’t been working since summer (previously they worked fine, but not this fast).
I glanced the changelog but didn’t notice anything related to Radio on Windows 11 (only Mac and Linux).
Since I started this topic, I’ve installed a couple of Windows 11 updates, including 25H2.
Whatever was done, it’s been working wonderfully for the past two days.
Thank you!

[dro]

Thanks for the confirmation it appears to be much better behaved for you. The only obvious thing is that libcurl had been updated.