Guidelines
Read the info below to help you choose the Encoding, Bitrate, Resolution, and Framerate settings that provide the right balance for the type of content you’re streaming, your internet speed, and your computer’s hardware. Remember: it’s always better to have a stable stream than to push for a higher video quality that might cause you to drop frames or test the limits of your internet connection.
Encoding
Encoding Performance
Encoding can be taxing on your system. x264 will utilize a lot of your CPU, resulting in lower FPS, when gaming. Alternatively, GPU encoding (e.g. NVIDIA NVENC) utilizes a dedicated encoder in the GPU, allowing you to play and stream without compromising game performance.
Internet Speed (bitrate)
Your ingest bitrate is the amount of data you send to Us when you stream. A higher bitrate takes up more of your available internet bandwidth. Increasing your bitrate can improve your video quality, but only up to a certain point– our recommended bitrate settings have been tested to optimize video quality without wasting bandwidth.
Video Quality
Resolution refers to the size of a video on a screen, and frame rate refers to how often animation frames are sent to Us. Full HD resolution is typically 1080p, 60 frames per second (fps). Streaming at a higher resolution like 1080p requires a higher bitrate, and a higher frame rate takes more encoding power. If you have the bandwidth and encoding power to stream at 1080p, 60 fps, great! If not, try one of the recommended settings below to optimize your video quality and stability.
Settings
1080p 60fps
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Resolution | 1920×1080 |
Framerate | 60 |
Rate Control | CBR (Constant Bit Rate) |
Bitrate | 6 000 kbps |
Keyframe Interval | 2 seconds |
720p 60fps
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Resolution | 1280×720 |
Framerate | 60 |
Rate Control | CBR (Constant Bit Rate) |
Bitrate | 4 500 kbps |
Keyframe Interval | 2 seconds |
1080p 30fps
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Resolution | 1920×1080 |
Framerate | 30 |
Rate Control | CBR (Constant Bit Rate) |
Bitrate | 4 500 kbps |
Keyframe Inteval | 2 seconds |
720p 30fps
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Resolution | 1280×720 |
Framerate | 30 |
Rate Control | CBR (Constant Bit Rate) |
Bitrate | 3 000 kbps |
Keyframe Interval | 2 seconds |