What Is a CCU in Pixel Streaming? How Concurrent Users Work

A CCU in pixel streaming is one concurrent user, meaning one person streaming your app at a given moment. If 100 people use your app across a day but never more than 6 stream together, you use 6 CCUs. Eagle 3D Streaming counts the peak, not the total, as its capacity and regions doc explains.

That one idea shapes your plan size, your event planning, and what viewers see when demand spikes. This guide covers how Eagle 3D Streaming counts CCUs, what happens at the limit, and how to stop idle sessions from eating your capacity.

Epic's Pixel Streaming overview describes the basic setup: your Unreal Engine app runs on a remote computer, and viewers watch the rendered stream in a browser. On Eagle 3D Streaming, every dedicated session gets its own GPU machine, so a CCU maps to real hardware in use.

What does CCU mean in pixel streaming?

CCU stands for concurrent users. On Eagle 3D Streaming, it is the number of people streaming at the same moment, not the number who visit in a day. The capacity and regions doc says capacity is about the peak.

Here is how that plays out:

The last two rows come from the shared and dedicated sessions doc.

How Eagle 3D Streaming counts a CCU

A few rules decide when a slot is taken or freed:

• A session takes one slot. In dedicated mode, each viewer gets an independent session on its own machine, so each viewer counts.
• Ending a session frees the slot at once. The next person waiting can use it right away, according to the capacity doc.
• Idle sessions still count. A tab that nobody touches holds a slot that someone else may want.
• Preallocated apps count all the time. An app kept preallocated uses one CCU for as long as it is held, even when nobody is streaming it.

The same doc boils planning down to two practical questions. How many people arrive together, and how long does each one stay?

Dedicated vs. shared sessions: how each one uses CCUs

The way people join your app changes the CCU math more than anything else. Eagle 3D Streaming offers two modes, and the shared and dedicated sessions doc compares them like this:

Shared mode runs on the meeting system. The host starts the session with a Host Link and shares a Guest Link. Guests watch by default and cannot drive the app unless the host hands them control.

If everyone looks at the same thing while one person drives, shared mode uses one machine instead of twenty. For a deeper comparison, read our guide to dedicated vs. shared game views, or see the meeting feature page.

How many CCUs does each plan include?

The capacity doc lists these limits:

Plans can change, so confirm the current details on the pricing page and in the plans and billing doc.

Region matters too. With the region left on Global, viewers are served from Eagle 3D Streaming's own datacenters first, then from the nearest cloud region. If a region has no capacity, the session moves to another one instead of failing, though the stream then has more latency.

Planning an event far from the USA and Europe? The capacity doc notes that a dedicated VM in your audience's region is the fix, and it needs arranging in advance. Our guide to datacenter routing shows how Eagle 3D Streaming picks a region for each session, and the scalable cloud infrastructure page covers the enterprise side.

What happens when you reach your CCU limit?

When every slot is taken, the next viewer does not get a stream right away. The page shows CCU Limit Reached. Trying Again in 10 sec, counts down, and tries again. The viewer gets in as soon as a session ends, and the account owner receives a CCU limit alert by email. Both details come from the capacity and regions doc.

A Trial plan allows one concurrent stream, so a second session hits that limit quickly. To free the slot, end the first session from the Running Streaming Sessions list. Our guide to the stream monitor walks through the steps.

How to plan how many CCUs you need

Start with your busiest hour, not your daily total. Count how many people will be inside the stream at once, and how long each one stays.

Here is an illustration with example numbers (not Eagle 3D Streaming limits). Say 30 people join a webinar demo within the first ten minutes, and each stays about 20 minutes. Their sessions overlap, so you need close to 30 CCUs at the peak. If they all watch the same presenter, a shared session needs one.

Before you change plans, check your numbers in the plans and billing doc and the capacity and regions doc.

5 ways to stop wasting CCUs

1. Set an idle timeout. The "Log Out Automatically After Inactivity" setting ends sessions that nobody is using. The session and access doc calls it the one limit that tells "still being used" apart from "still open".
2. Review Max Session Time. A new configuration starts at 15 minutes, and a session ends at the limit even if the viewer is active. Raise it if your viewers work longer.
3. Watch live sessions. Open Running Streaming Sessions to see who is streaming and end any session that should not be running.
4. Use shared sessions for presentations. One host, many guests, one CCU.
5. Preallocate only when the wait matters. The load time doc lists rough, illustrative waits of under 10 seconds for preallocated apps, 10 to 20 seconds for apps streamed often, and 20 to 30 seconds the first time. Preallocation costs a machine running continuously, so it is a trade.

If streams end unexpectedly, check these settings before blaming the app. Our post on why a session stops mid-stream covers five common causes.

FAQ

What does CCU stand for?

CCU stands for concurrent users. It is the number of people streaming your apps at the same moment. You can find more terms in the Eagle 3D Streaming glossary.

Is a CCU the same as a visitor?

No. A visitor is anyone who opens your link, while a CCU is someone streaming right now. Many visitors across a day can share a handful of CCUs if they arrive at different times.

What happens when I hit my CCU limit?

Viewers see "CCU Limit Reached. Trying Again in 10 sec" and the page retries on its own. They get in as soon as a session ends.

Do guests in a shared session use a CCU?

No. A shared session uses one CCU in total, no matter how many guests watch.

How many CCUs does the Core plan include?

The capacity doc lists 10 concurrent streams for Core. Check the pricing page for the latest plan details.

Does a preallocated app use a CCU when nobody is streaming it?

Yes. A preallocated app counts as one CCU the whole time it is held. See the preallocated apps doc for the trade-offs. The FAQ on load time and CCUs has short answers to related questions.

Plan your CCUs around your busiest hour

A CCU in pixel streaming is a measure of overlap, not popularity. Count how many people stream together, choose dedicated or shared mode to match what they do, and set timeouts so idle tabs do not block anyone. Then watch your analytics before you buy more capacity.

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Sources

• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Capacity and regions
• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Shared and dedicated sessions
• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Session and access
• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Monitoring and analytics
• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Load time
• Eagle 3D Streaming docs: Preallocated apps
• Epic Games: Overview of Pixel Streaming in Unreal Engine