Intro

Alive streaming requires two things: powerful hardware and a good internet upload speed.

You can find hardware that handles encoding for live video (and playing video games simultaneously) in a smartphone or a decent computer. Getting a skilful upload speed for streaming is trickier.

Earlier you first calling your ISP to inquire about more than bandwidth, you demand to know what a good upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, in that location's no straightforward answer to this question.

A good upload speed allows you to stream the content you want to the platform of your selection without whatsoever major issues. It should also be capable of delivering your content at a quality that will non disadvantage you or brand your stream less appealing than others.

Basically, annihilation between 672 kbps and 61.5 Mbps is ideal.

A good upload speed for streaming is between 672 kbps and 61.5 Mbps

Non a slap-up answer, right? At that place are some more often than not accepted values for adept upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But nosotros'll too dig a bit deeper to notice a good upload speed for your particular live stream needs.

🤓 Agreement download/upload speeds

What do you lot think people exercise the most online? We know that the near popular website in the world is Google. It'due south followed past YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. And so that's one search engine, an encyclopedia, 2 social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People swallow content online. They seek it out, identify information technology, and then read, listen, or watch it. To be able to do that, their devices need to ingest data, which comes to them in the grade of $.25. Your cyberspace connection's download rate shows yous how many bits of data your estimator or device can take in from the net using that connection. Unremarkably, the rate (also referred to every bit bitrate) is expressed in millions of $.25 — or megabits — per second (Mbps).

It's your connectedness'due south upload rate that matters the most.

When you create content and want to share it online, information technology's your connection's upload charge per unit that matters the almost. Information technology's the same as the download rate; it just works the other way effectually, showing how many $.25 of data you can share per 2nd. It'south also expressed in Mbps. Information shows that, globally, upload rates are slower than download rates.

👀 What is a adept upload speed for streaming?

Streaming alive video can take up a lot of bandwidth. But how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, but and then does the type of content y'all want to stream. Platforms play a part, as do the resolution (expressed in pixels, or p) and the frame rate (frames per second, or fps) of your stream.

Say you want to live stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. You're choosing between Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and Twitch. Since all these platforms support alive streaming video resolution of 720p, we'll use the bitrate recommendations from each platform:

  • Facebook Live recommends a max bitrate of iv,000 kbps, plus a max audio bitrate of 128 kbps.
  • YouTube Live recommends a range between i,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range betwixt 2,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus upwardly to 160 kbps for audio.

If you're streaming alive video at a resolution of 720p, at 30 frames per second, you volition upload up to 4,160 kilobits, or four.xvi Mbps, of data per second. So having an upload bandwidth of effectually 4 Mbps should cover you, right?

Not quite. You volition demand to upload up to iv,160 kilobits of information per second constantly. Because these speeds fluctuate, information technology's a proficient idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of effectually 5,700 kilobits per second, or v.7 Mbps. However, if you are sure your net connexion is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Remember, a stable connection is as of import as upload speed!

It's generally a good idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer

For diverse reasons, your ISP'due south declared upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed you lot can reach with your connectedness tin exist very dissimilar. That's why you should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you get from these tests should exist up to 5.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at 30 frames per second.

Read later: The only multistreaming guide you'll ever need 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The 5.7 Mbps upload speed for 720p video at xxx frames per 2d is the upper limit. You can still live stream 720p video with a lower upload speed. If the whole video is a single shot of you talking, 4,000 kbps might be also loftier of a bitrate. You would probably be fine if you lot reduced information technology past one-half.

If, on the other paw, y'all want to stream video games or events with tons of visual information, 4,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the stride of the visuals, the higher your bitrate should be. The type of content y'all stream affects what a good upload speed is for you.

Let's stay with video games. If yous're streaming games with fast-paced action, y'all should ensure that your viewers see what'southward going on as clearly equally possible. You might desire to stream at more than xxx frames per second.

However, more frames per second requires a higher bitrate. For Twitch, information technology pushes the range for 720p video to between 3,500 and 5,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to half-dozen,000 Kbps. When yous cistron in these requirements, that's a 6.two Mbps upload speed for Twitch and vii.iv Mbps for YouTube Alive if you want to stream 720p video at threescore frames per 2d. Also, go along in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

A skilful upload speed for your live streaming will vary from one platform to another.

On Facebook, showtime streamers tin can simply stream up to 720p video, so there's no demand to take more than 5 Mbps. In club to alive stream Full Hard disk drive videos, you demand to apply for their Level Upward chapter program.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at 60 frames per second. You'll need an upload speed of up to 7.four Mbps to back up that.

YouTube Live supports 4k live streaming at lx frames per second. It recommends a bitrate in the range of 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. Y'all'd demand an upload speed of 68.8 Mbps to pull that off. That'due south only to a higher place the boilerplate upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the The states.

Finally, your competitors might affect your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to use the platforms to generate income. If you're streaming besides, yous cannot afford to autumn backside on video quality. Better quality requires college upload speeds, so the competition volition eventually push you to increase your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I exist aiming for?

With all these variables in heed, you lot shouldn't ask what a "proficient" upload speed is. Instead, it'due south better to ask which speed you should aim for in your circumstances.

Which bitrates and corresponding upload rates do the 3 major streaming platforms suggest streamers to employ? We'll segment by platform, resolution, and frames per 2d, where applicable.

Facebook Live:

  • Recommended max bitrate of 4,000 kbps for video.
  • Recommended sound bitrate is up to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with 60 frames reproduced per 2nd. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to vii Mbps (although Facebook limits most accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or 60 frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly three to 4 Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, bitrate should be betwixt 2,500 and 4,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between 3.2 Mbps and five Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per 2d, the bitrate should be between 3,500 and five,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between iv.4 Mbps and 6.ii Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at thirty frames per second, the bitrate should be 3,500 to v,000 kbps – same as for 720p video at 60 fps. The required upload speeds are the aforementioned too, betwixt 4.four Mbps and half-dozen.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the recommended bitrate is between 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are betwixt five.6 Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is 1,500 to 4,000 kbps. That's an upload speed between roughly two Mbps and five Mbps.
  • For 720p video at lx frames per 2nd, the range is ii,250 to vi,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 2.9 Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is iii,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 3.8 Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate range is 4,500 to 9,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that means between 5.6 Mbps and 11 Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is 6,000 to 13,000 kbps. That'southward between 7.iv Mbps and xv.eight Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at 60 frames per second, the range is 9,000 to 18,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that'south between 11 Mbps and 21.viii Mbps.
  • If you really want to live stream 4k video, doing it at thirty frames per second will require a bitrate between xiii,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that'due south 15.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate range is xx,000 to 51,000 kbps. Y'all'll demand an upload speed between 24.2 Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

Every bit you can see, YouTube offers the highest-quality alive streaming. Facebook is the almost accessible, while Twitch is however the gamer'south haven.

What is a good upload speed for streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch?

👉 How to get a good upload speed for streaming

Calculating your desired upload speed is one thing, simply getting access to that speed is something completely different.

The upload speed you can reach depends on the service packages your ISP offers. For residential users, the download speed will ever exist higher than the upload speed. The best way to go symmetry between the ii is to sign up for a business-level service if possible. It will guarantee you the Isp'southward declared upload speed at any fourth dimension. This, in turn, provides stability and reliability to ensure smoothen live streams.

In terms of sheer speed, the good news is that internet connections are becoming faster across the board. Technologies such as cobweb-optic internet are bringing higher speeds to your workplace or abode — if fiber is offered in your expanse, that is.

So, the get-go step in obtaining a practiced upload speed for streaming is to switch to an ISP that offers the speed yous need. Exist prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Also, make sure you enquire around well-nigh the quality of their service.

If you're stuck with a provider that offers suboptimal speeds, you can nevertheless do a couple of things to meliorate your situation:

  • Get a wired connectedness. Your WiFi might be great when it comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. Only when live streaming, a wired connexion with an ethernet cable is better. Information technology gives you less interference and more stability, which leads to meliorate stream quality.
  • Remove backlog devices from your network. Y'all don't want your net connection to be crowded when y'all showtime streaming. Don't let any other device hog your upload speed, and disconnect them from your network or turn off their WiFi capabilities during your stream.
  • Close excess programs and apps on your computer. The merely thing that should exist uploading when you stream is your encoder. Peer-to-peer networking has probably ruined its fair share of live streams, then wait until you're off the air.
  • Use cloud-based multistreaming. Multistreaming, or streaming live to several platforms at the same time, is incredibly useful for content creators. It helps attain new audiences, saves fourth dimension, and offers great tools from diverse platforms. Unfortunately, it can too be demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with information technology, apply a cloud-based multistreaming service to bear some of that load.
  • Remove malware; utilize advertising blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can use upward some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, finish, or block any of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Use upwards-to-date software and hardware. Old drivers tin slow your estimator down, and erstwhile modems tin clogging your upload speed. Make sure your hardware and software are up to the task of streaming live video.

🔥 How to stream with a low upload speed

With Restream Events, yous tin featherbed the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our feature allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and set them to go live later as if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't affair. After you upload your video, Restream will circulate it at the scheduled time automatically, so you don't even have to exist online.

Learn more 👉 Restream Events: Everything you lot demand to know

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Conclusion

Equally a live video streamer, the quality of your content will depend on the quality of your broadcast. That'due south a fact. You can have the best skills in the most popular games, or the best banter, or the greatest humour. Simply if people tin't see and hear you lot well, they're non going to stick around to watch your stream.

Upload speeds can significantly bear upon the quality of your broadcasts. Use a connection with enough upload speed for the blazon of content you broadcast.

Recall, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed by default. You but need it if y'all're planning to stream at a very loftier bitrate. A good upload speed is the one that's appropriate for your goals.