Intro

Live streaming requires ii things: powerful hardware and a practiced net upload speed.

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

Before you start calling your Internet service provider to inquire about more bandwidth, you need to know what a good upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward respond to this question.

A good upload speed allows you to stream the content you desire to the platform of your pick without any major issues. Information technology should too exist capable of delivering your content at a quality that will not disadvantage you or brand your stream less highly-seasoned than others.

Basically, anything between 672 kbps and 61.five Mbps is ideal.

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

Not a great answer, right? In that location are some by and large accepted values for good upload speeds, which are worth knowing. Merely we'll also dig a bit deeper to find a skilful upload speed for your particular live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What do you think people do the virtually online? We know that the well-nigh pop website in the globe is Google. Information technology's followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. And so that'southward i search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People consume content online. They seek it out, identify it, and and then read, listen, or watch it. To be able to practise that, their devices need to ingest information, which comes to them in the class of bits. Your cyberspace connexion's download rate shows you how many bits of information your computer or device can take in from the cyberspace using that connexion. Usually, the rate (as well referred to as bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per second (Mbps).

It'due south your connection's upload rate that matters the virtually.

When you create content and want to share it online, it'southward your connectedness'south upload rate that matters the most. It's the aforementioned as the download rate; it just works the other way around, showing how many bits of data you tin can share per second. It'due south as well expressed in Mbps. Data shows that, globally, upload rates are slower than download rates.

👀 What is a skilful upload speed for streaming?

Streaming live video can take upwards a lot of bandwidth. Just how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, but and then does the type of content you desire to stream. Platforms play a role, equally do the resolution (expressed in pixels, or p) and the frame rate (frames per 2nd, or fps) of your stream.

Say you want to alive stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. You're choosing between Facebook Live, YouTube Alive, and Twitch. Since all these platforms support live 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 betwixt 1,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for sound.
  • Twitch recommends a range between 2,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus upwards to 160 kbps for audio.

If y'all're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at thirty frames per second, you will upload upward to 4,160 kilobits, or iv.16 Mbps, of information per second. And then having an upload bandwidth of effectually 4 Mbps should embrace you, correct?

Not quite. You volition need to upload upwardly to 4,160 kilobits of data per second constantly. Considering these speeds fluctuate, information technology's a good idea to take a 35% to forty% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of around 5,700 kilobits per second, or v.7 Mbps. Notwithstanding, if you lot are sure your internet connexion is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Remember, a stable connection is every bit important as upload speed!

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

For diverse reasons, your Isp'southward declared upload bandwidth and the bodily upload speed you lot can achieve with your connectedness tin be very different. That's why you should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you lot get from these tests should exist upwards to 5.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at 30 frames per 2nd.

Read later: The merely multistreaming guide you lot'll always need 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The v.7 Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per second is the upper limit. You tin 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 too high of a bitrate. Yous would probably be fine if you reduced it by half.

If, on the other manus, you desire to stream video games or events with tons of visual data, iv,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the pace of the visuals, the higher your bitrate should be. The type of content y'all stream affects what a expert upload speed is for you.

Permit's stay with video games. If you're streaming games with fast-paced action, you should ensure that your viewers run across what'due south going on equally conspicuously as possible. You might want to stream at more than 30 frames per second.

Withal, more frames per second requires a college bitrate. For Twitch, it pushes the range for 720p video to between iii,500 and v,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to half-dozen,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that'due south a vi.ii Mbps upload speed for Twitch and 7.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if you desire to stream 720p video at 60 frames per second. Likewise, keep in mind that these are merely the highest optimal values.

A skillful upload speed for your live streaming will vary from i platform to another.

On Facebook, get-go streamers tin only stream upwards to 720p video, so there's no demand to have more than than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Full Hd videos, you need to use for their Level Upwardly chapter program.

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

YouTube Live supports 4k live streaming at 60 frames per second. Information technology recommends a bitrate in the range of 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'd need an upload speed of 68.8 Mbps to pull that off. That's just to a higher place the average upload speed in the Commune of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the United 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 too, you cannot afford to fall behind on video quality. Amend quality requires college upload speeds, and so the competition volition somewhen push you to increment your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

With all these variables in mind, yous shouldn't inquire what a "good" upload speed is. Instead, it's better to enquire which speed you lot should aim for in your circumstances.

Which bitrates and respective upload rates do the 3 major streaming platforms propose streamers to use? Nosotros'll segment by platform, resolution, and frames per second, where applicable.

Facebook Alive:

  • Recommended max bitrate of four,000 kbps for video.
  • Recommended audio bitrate is up to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with lx frames reproduced per second. Aim for an upload speed of six to 7 Mbps (although Facebook limits nigh accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or 60 frames per 2nd, aim for an upload speed of roughly three to 4 Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at thirty frames per 2d, bitrate should exist between 2,500 and 4,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between 3.2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at lx frames per second, the bitrate should be betwixt iii,500 and v,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 4.4 Mbps and vi.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate should be three,500 to v,000 kbps – aforementioned as for 720p video at sixty fps. The required upload speeds are the same too, between 4.four Mbps and 6.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate is between 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are betwixt 5.6 Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is 1,500 to 4,000 kbps. That'southward an upload speed betwixt roughly 2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at lx frames per second, the range is 2,250 to half dozen,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt ii.nine Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is three,000 to vi,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between iii.8 Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at threescore frames per second, the bitrate range is 4,500 to 9,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that means between v.6 Mbps and eleven Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is vi,000 to xiii,000 kbps. That's between 7.4 Mbps and 15.viii Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at 60 frames per 2d, the range is 9,000 to 18,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that's between eleven Mbps and 21.8 Mbps.
  • If you actually desire to live stream 4k video, doing information technology at 30 frames per second will require a bitrate between 13,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that'southward 15.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at lx frames per 2nd, the recommended bitrate range is 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. Y'all'll need an upload speed between 24.ii Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

Equally y'all can meet, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the almost accessible, while Twitch is still the gamer's haven.

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

👉 How to go a good upload speed for streaming

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

The upload speed y'all tin achieve depends on the service packages your Isp offers. For residential users, the download speed will always be college than the upload speed. The best way to get symmetry between the two is to sign upwards for a business concern-level service if possible. It volition guarantee y'all the ISP's declared upload speed at whatsoever time. This, in plough, provides stability and reliability to ensure smooth live streams.

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

Then, the first stride in obtaining a good upload speed for streaming is to switch to an Internet access provider that offers the speed you need. Exist prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Also, brand sure yous ask effectually about the quality of their service.

If you're stuck with a provider that offers suboptimal speeds, y'all can nonetheless do a couple of things to improve your state of affairs:

  • Get a wired connection. Your WiFi might exist great when information technology comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. But when live streaming, a wired connexion with an ethernet cable is improve. It gives you less interference and more than stability, which leads to meliorate stream quality.
  • Remove excess devices from your network. You don't want your internet connection to be crowded when you lot start streaming. Don't let any other device grunter your upload speed, and disconnect them from your network or turn off their WiFi capabilities during your stream.
  • Shut excess programs and apps on your figurer. The just affair that should be uploading when you stream is your encoder. Peer-to-peer networking has probably ruined its off-white share of live streams, so expect until you lot'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. Information technology helps attain new audiences, saves time, and offers nifty tools from various platforms. Unfortunately, it can as well exist demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with information technology, use a cloud-based multistreaming service to bear some of that load.
  • Remove malware; apply advertizing blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can apply up some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, stop, or block any of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Use upward-to-date software and hardware. Former drivers can slow your computer down, and erstwhile modems can bottleneck your upload speed. Make sure your hardware and software are up to the task of streaming live video.

🔥 How to stream with a depression upload speed

With Restream Events, yous can bypass the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our feature allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and set them to go live afterward equally if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't thing. After you upload your video, Restream will broadcast it at the scheduled fourth dimension automatically, and so you don't even have to exist online.

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

Bonus tip: Thank you to our multistreaming technology, y'all tin can schedule and live stream your pre-recorded content to meridian platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and more, all at the aforementioned time.

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Conclusion

Every bit a alive video streamer, the quality of your content will depend on the quality of your broadcast. That's a fact. Yous tin have the best skills in the most popular games, or the best banter, or the greatest sense of sense of humour. But if people can't run across and hear yous well, they're not going to stick around to sentry your stream.

Upload speeds tin can significantly affect the quality of your broadcasts. Use a connectedness with plenty upload speed for the blazon of content you broadcast.

Remember, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed by default. You only need it if you're planning to stream at a very loftier bitrate. A good upload speed is the i that's advisable for your goals.