AlexxIT/go2rtc · error

miss: packet header too small

Error message

miss: packet header too small

What it means

ReadPacket expects every media packet header to be at least 32 bytes (hdrSize). A shorter header means the stream is corrupted, misaligned, or coming from an unexpected firmware/protocol version, so the packet is rejected rather than parsed.

Solutions

1. Drop the bad packet and resynchronize the stream (reconnect or skip)
2. Update the library and camera firmware to matching versions
3. Check the transport layer for partial-read bugs that could split frames
4. Log the short header length to diagnose whether it is a systematic protocol mismatch

Example fix

// before
for { pkt, err := client.ReadPacket(); if err != nil { return err } } // aborts on one bad packet
// after
for {
    pkt, err := client.ReadPacket()
    if err != nil {
        if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "header too small") { continue } // skip corrupt packet
        return err
    }
}

pkt, err := client.ReadPacket()
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "header too small") {
        // skip/resync: reconnect or continue
        continue
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ReadPacket when the transport returns a header shorter than 32 bytes — stream desynchronization after a partial read, protocol mismatch, or truncation bug in the transport layer.

Common situations: Connecting to a camera whose firmware emits a different packet layout; corrupted stream after a network hiccup; library/firmware version mismatch.

Related errors

• rtmp: unknown command:
• wrong auth response
• wrong start byte
• read error
• eseecloud: wrong start byte

AI-assisted analysis of AlexxIT/go2rtc@c245815e75 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/13be8c45e5fc4d1c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at pkg/xiaomi/miss/client.go:231

	switch c.model {
	case ModelDafang, ModelXiaofang, "isa.camera.hlc6":
		return codecPCM
	case "chuangmi.camera.72ac1":
		return codecOPUS
	}
	return 0
}

const hdrSize = 32

func (c *Client) ReadPacket() (*Packet, error) {
	hdr, payload, err := c.Conn.ReadPacket()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("miss: read media: %w", err)
	}

	if len(hdr) < hdrSize {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("miss: packet header too small")
	}

	payload, err = crypto.Decode(payload, c.key)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	pkt := &Packet{
		CodecID:  binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(hdr[4:]),
		Sequence: binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(hdr[8:]),
		Flags:    binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(hdr[12:]),
		Payload:  payload,
	}

	switch c.model {
	case ModelDafang, ModelXiaofang, ModelLoockV2:
		// Dafang has ts in sec
		// LoockV2 has ts in msec for video, but zero ts for audio

View on GitHub (pinned to c245815e75)