Read the info below to help you choose the Encoding, Bitrate, Resolution, and Framerate settings that provide the right balance for the game you're playing, 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 Performance
Encoding can be taxing on your system. x264 will utilize a
lot of your CPU, resulting in lower FPS. Alternatively, GPU
encoding (e.g. NVIDIA NVENC) utilizes a dedicated encoder in
the GPU, allowing you to play and stream without
compromising game performance . If you want to use x264,
start with veryfast preset, and experiment with them until
you find your sweet spot.
Encoding Quality
x264 offers a wide range of presets that change quality
significantly, and presets above Faster require CPUs with 6+
cores. NVIDIA NVENC offers consistent quality based on the
generation of the encoder. The updated NVIDIA Encoder
(NVENC) on Turing-based NVIDIA GeForce GPUs (RTX 20-Series
and GTX 1660/Ti) will typically produce superior quality
than x264 Fast and on par with x264 medium. While the older
generation (Pascal, Kepler) are similar with veryfast/faster
quality.
Your ingest bitrate is the amount of data you send to Twitch 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.
Resolution refers to the size of a video on a screen, and frame rate refers to how often animation frames are sent to Twitch. 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.
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bitrate: 6000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: Quality
B-frames: 2
Resolution: 1600x900
Bitrate: 6000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: Quality
B-frames: 2
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 4500 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: Quality
B-frames: 2
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 3000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 30 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: Quality
B-frames: 2
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bitrate: 6000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: veryfast <-> medium
Profile: Main/High
Resolution: 1600x900
Bitrate: 6000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: veryfast <-> medium
Profile: Main/High
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 4500 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: veryfast <-> medium
Profile: Main/High
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 3000 kbps
Rate Control: CBR
Framerate: 30 fps
Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
Preset: veryfast <-> medium
Profile: Main/High