diff --git a/js/web/src/components/player/hls-player.tsx b/js/web/src/components/player/hls-player.tsx
index 2ed0f67b..54f21e28 100644
--- a/js/web/src/components/player/hls-player.tsx
+++ b/js/web/src/components/player/hls-player.tsx
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ export function HLSPlayer({
         const status = (data.response as Response | undefined)?.status;
         if (status === 404) {
           onError?.("Stream not live");
+          hls.stopLoad();
           return;
         }
         switch (data.type) {
@@ -145,7 +146,9 @@ export function HLSPlayer({
     } else if (video.canPlayType("application/vnd.apple.mpegurl")) {
       video.src = src;
       const onCanPlay = () => {
-        video.play().catch(() => {});
+        video
+          .play()
+          .catch((err) => console.warn("[hls-player] play() rejected", err));
         video.removeEventListener("canplay", onCanPlay);
       };
       video.addEventListener("canplay", onCanPlay);
diff --git a/js/web/src/components/player/player.tsx b/js/web/src/components/player/player.tsx
index 657d330f..894526c8 100644
--- a/js/web/src/components/player/player.tsx
+++ b/js/web/src/components/player/player.tsx
@@ -223,7 +223,21 @@ export function Player({
       onPlaying?.();
     };
     const onLoadedMetadata = () => setManifestReady(true);
-    const onErrorEvt = () => surfaceError("Video element error");
+    const onErrorEvt = () => {
+      const code = video.error?.code;
+      // MediaError code 1 (MEDIA_ERR_ABORTED) fires when the user or
+      // a backend tears down the source — not a real error to surface.
+      if (code === 1) return;
+      surfaceError(
+        code === 2
+          ? "Network error"
+          : code === 3
+            ? "Playback error"
+            : code === 4
+              ? "Stream format not supported"
+              : "Playback error",
+      );
+    };
 
     video.addEventListener("play", onPlay);
     video.addEventListener("pause", onPause);
@@ -287,7 +301,9 @@ export function Player({
         const video = videoRef.current;
         if (!video) return;
         if (video.paused) {
-          video.play().catch(() => {});
+          video
+            .play()
+            .catch((err) => console.warn("[player] play() rejected", err));
         } else {
           video.pause();
         }
diff --git a/js/web/src/components/player/webrtc-player.tsx b/js/web/src/components/player/webrtc-player.tsx
index 7ddf10e9..2be0765e 100644
--- a/js/web/src/components/player/webrtc-player.tsx
+++ b/js/web/src/components/player/webrtc-player.tsx
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ const RECONNECT_DELAY_MS = 3000;
 const STUCK_THRESHOLD_MS = 2000;
 const ICE_GATHERING_TIMEOUT_MS = 1000;
 const STATS_POLL_MS = 1000;
+// After this many consecutive failed reconnect attempts, give up and
+// surface a terminal error instead of looping. Picked to give transient
+// network blips time to clear (e.g. ~45s at the default 3s delay) but
+// stop hammering a clearly-broken stream.
+const MAX_RECONNECT_ATTEMPTS = 15;
 
 /**
  * Extracts the streamer handle/DID from a Streamplace playlist URL.
@@ -67,6 +72,8 @@ export function WebRTCPlayer({
   const pcRef = useRef<RTCPeerConnection | null>(null);
   const statsIntervalRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null>(null);
   const reconnectTimerRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null>(null);
+  const reconnectAttemptsRef = useRef(0);
+  const gaveUpRef = useRef(false);
   const agentRef = useRef<StreamplaceAgent | null>(null);
 
   // WebRTC doesn't have quality levels — expose a no-op so the chrome
@@ -125,11 +132,17 @@ export function WebRTCPlayer({
       // When tracks arrive, attach the first stream to the video element.
       peerConnection.addEventListener("track", (event) => {
         if (cancelled) return;
+        // First media arriving means the connection actually works. If
+        // we later stall and have to reconnect, start the failure count
+        // from scratch — this isn't a string of broken attempts.
+        reconnectAttemptsRef.current = 0;
         if (event.streams && event.streams[0]) {
           const v = videoRef.current;
           if (v) {
             v.srcObject = event.streams[0];
-            v.play().catch(() => {});
+            v.play().catch((err) =>
+              console.warn("[webrtc-player] play() rejected", err),
+            );
           }
         }
       });
@@ -176,11 +189,17 @@ export function WebRTCPlayer({
     const pendingCleanup = { current: null as (() => void) | null };
 
     function scheduleReconnect() {
-      if (cancelled) return;
+      if (cancelled || gaveUpRef.current) return;
       if (reconnectTimerRef.current) return;
+      reconnectAttemptsRef.current += 1;
+      if (reconnectAttemptsRef.current > MAX_RECONNECT_ATTEMPTS) {
+        gaveUpRef.current = true;
+        onErrorRef.current?.("Stream unavailable — stopped reconnecting");
+        return;
+      }
       reconnectTimerRef.current = setTimeout(() => {
         reconnectTimerRef.current = null;
-        if (!cancelled && activeRef.current) {
+        if (!cancelled && activeRef.current && !gaveUpRef.current) {
           // Tear down old connection, spin up a new one.
           pcRef.current?.close();
           pcRef.current = null;