Intro

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

You can detect hardware that handles encoding for alive video (and playing video games simultaneously) in a smartphone or a decent calculator. Getting a proficient upload speed for streaming is trickier.

Before you offset calling your Isp to inquire near more bandwidth, you demand to know what a good upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward respond to this question.

A good upload speed allows y'all to stream the content you desire to the platform of your option without whatsoever major issues. Information technology should too be capable of delivering your content at a quality that will not disadvantage you lot or brand your stream less appealing than others.

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

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

Not a corking answer, right? At that place are some more often than not accustomed values for good upload speeds, which are worth knowing. Simply we'll also dig a scrap deeper to discover a good upload speed for your detail alive stream needs.

🤓 Agreement download/upload speeds

What practise y'all think people exercise the near online? We know that the most popular website in the world is Google. Information technology'southward followed past YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. And so that'south one search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People swallow content online. They seek it out, identify it, and so read, listen, or lookout it. To be able to practice that, their devices need to ingest data, which comes to them in the form of $.25. Your internet connection'southward download rate shows you how many bits of data your reckoner or device tin take in from the internet using that connection. Usually, the rate (also referred to as bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per second (Mbps).

It'south your connection'southward upload rate that matters the near.

When y'all create content and want to share it online, it's your connection'south upload charge per unit that matters the most. It'due south the same equally the download rate; it just works the other way around, showing how many bits of information you tin can share per 2d. It's also expressed in Mbps. Information shows that, globally, upload rates are slower than download rates.

👀 What is a expert upload speed for streaming?

Streaming live video can take upwardly a lot of bandwidth. Just how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, just so does the type of content y'all desire to stream. Platforms play a office, 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 Live, 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 4,000 kbps, plus a max audio bitrate of 128 kbps.
  • YouTube Alive recommends a range between one,500 and four,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between 2,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus up to 160 kbps for audio.

If you're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at xxx frames per 2nd, you will upload up to iv,160 kilobits, or iv.16 Mbps, of data per second. And so having an upload bandwidth of around 4 Mbps should cover you, right?

Not quite. You lot will need to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of data per second constantly. Considering these speeds fluctuate, it's a good idea to have a 35% to twoscore% buffer. That puts united states of america at an upload rate of around v,700 kilobits per second, or v.seven Mbps. Yet, if you are sure your net connection is stable, such a buffer might not exist needed. Recall, a stable connectedness is every bit important as upload speed!

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

For various reasons, your ISP'southward alleged upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed you lot can achieve with your connection can be very different. That's why you should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you get from these tests should be up to v.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at 30 frames per second.

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

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The 5.vii Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per 2nd 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 too loftier of a bitrate. You would probably be fine if you lot reduced information technology past half.

If, on the other hand, you desire to stream video games or events with tons of visual information, 4,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the footstep of the visuals, the higher your bitrate should be. The type of content yous stream affects what a practiced upload speed is for you.

Let's stay with video games. If yous're streaming games with fast-paced activeness, you should ensure that your viewers see what's going on as clearly every bit possible. You might desire to stream at more than than 30 frames per second.

However, more frames per second requires a higher bitrate. For Twitch, it pushes the range for 720p video to between 3,500 and v,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to half-dozen,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that's a vi.2 Mbps upload speed for Twitch and 7.4 Mbps for YouTube Alive if you want to stream 720p video at 60 frames per second. Too, continue in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

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

On Facebook, beginning streamers can only stream up to 720p video, so there'southward no demand to take more than five Mbps. In order to live stream Full HD videos, you need to utilise for their Level Up chapter program.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at 60 frames per second. You'll need an upload speed of up to 7.4 Mbps to support that.

YouTube Live supports 4k alive streaming at 60 frames per 2d. Information technology recommends a bitrate in the range of 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. Y'all'd need an upload speed of 68.8 Mbps to pull that off. That's only to a higher place the boilerplate upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the U.s.a..

Finally, your competitors might bear upon your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to employ the platforms to generate income. If yous're streaming likewise, you cannot afford to fall behind on video quality. Better quality requires college upload speeds, and then the contest will eventually push button y'all to increase your upload charge per unit.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

With all these variables in mind, yous shouldn't inquire what a "skilful" upload speed is. Instead, information technology's meliorate to ask which speed you should aim for in your circumstances.

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

Facebook Live:

  • Recommended max bitrate of 4,000 kbps for video.
  • Recommended sound bitrate is upward to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with 60 frames reproduced per second. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to seven Mbps (although Facebook limits most accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at thirty or 60 frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly 3 to 4 Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at thirty frames per second, bitrate should be between two,500 and 4,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds betwixt 3.2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate should be between 3,500 and 5,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 4.4 Mbps and vi.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per 2d, the bitrate should be 3,500 to 5,000 kbps – same every bit for 720p video at lx fps. The required upload speeds are the same besides, between 4.iv 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 v.6 Mbps and 7.iv Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is one,500 to iv,000 kbps. That's an upload speed betwixt roughly 2 Mbps and five Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the range is 2,250 to six,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 2.9 Mbps and vii.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at xxx frames per second, the bitrate range is 3,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between three.8 Mbps and vii.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 xi Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is six,000 to 13,000 kbps. That'due south betwixt 7.4 Mbps and 15.8 Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at sixty frames per second, the range is 9,000 to eighteen,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that's between 11 Mbps and 21.viii Mbps.
  • If you really want 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's 15.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at lx frames per second, the recommended bitrate range is 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'll demand an upload speed betwixt 24.2 Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

Equally you can see, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the most accessible, while Twitch is still the gamer's oasis.

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

👉 How to become a good upload speed for streaming

Computing your desired upload speed is one thing, but getting access to that speed is something completely unlike.

The upload speed you tin can attain depends on the service packages your Internet access provider offers. For residential users, the download speed will e'er be higher than the upload speed. The best style to become symmetry between the two is to sign up for a business concern-level service if possible. Information technology will guarantee you lot the Internet service provider'due south alleged upload speed at any time. This, in turn, provides stability and reliability to ensure smoothen live streams.

In terms of sheer speed, the practiced news is that net connections are becoming faster beyond the lath. Technologies such every bit fiber-optic internet are bringing college speeds to your workplace or habitation — if fiber is offered in your surface area, that is.

So, the first step in obtaining a good upload speed for streaming is to switch to an Internet service provider that offers the speed yous need. Exist prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Besides, make sure yous ask around near the quality of their service.

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

  • Become a wired connection. Your WiFi might be great when it comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. But when alive streaming, a wired connection with an ethernet cable is amend. Information technology gives you less interference and more stability, which leads to amend stream quality.
  • Remove excess devices from your network. You don't desire your cyberspace connection to be crowded when you starting time streaming. Don't let whatever 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 only thing that should be uploading when y'all stream is your encoder. Peer-to-peer networking has probably ruined its off-white share of live streams, so 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. Information technology helps accomplish new audiences, saves time, and offers corking tools from diverse platforms. Unfortunately, it can also be demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with it, use a cloud-based multistreaming service to bear some of that load.
  • Remove malware; use ad blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking tin use up some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, cease, or block whatsoever of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Utilise upwardly-to-date software and hardware. Quondam drivers can boring your computer down, and old 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 low upload speed

With Restream Events, you lot can bypass the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our feature allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and set them to become live later every bit if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't matter. Later you upload your video, Restream will circulate information technology at the scheduled time automatically, so you lot don't fifty-fifty have to be online.

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

Bonus tip: Thanks to our multistreaming technology, you can schedule and live stream your pre-recorded content to top platforms, similar YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and more, all at the same time.

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Conclusion

As a live video streamer, the quality of your content will depend on the quality of your broadcast. That'due south a fact. You lot tin accept the best skills in the most popular games, or the all-time banter, or the greatest sense of sense of humour. But if people tin can't see and hear you well, they're not going to stick effectually to spotter your stream.

Upload speeds tin can significantly bear on the quality of your broadcasts. Use a connectedness with enough upload speed for the blazon of content you circulate.

Call back, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed past default. You merely need it if you're planning to stream at a very high bitrate. A good upload speed is the ane that'due south advisable for your goals.