Choosing the right resolution and bit-rate settings for twitch.tv broadcasting!
Going to keep this as short as possible and leave out alot of the technical related info since it will not really matter due to all the non standard streaming setups currently used for broadcasting.I have created a chart with recommended resolutions and bitrate (kbps requirement) settings with color codes. The color codes legend are listed here:
High motion / FPS / First person games
Medium motion / RTS Games, usually has scrolling
Low motion / static action, turn based games
Update - 3/30/2017
- Bitrate cap has increased to 6000, which will allow for 720p60 streaming and some 1080p60 streaming depending on the game.
- New Bitrate Guide now available for 2020.
Other stream settings recommendations are as follows:
- Enable CFR for compatibility with streaming services
- Enable CBR for improved stability and QOS
- Max Bitrate and Buffer size recommend to be same value
Base line resolution standard is 1280x720 at 30 FPS with bitrate setting of 3500.
For non partner streamers recommended bitrate would be around 2300 with 720p30.
Make sure to pay attention to CPU usage, if you are spiking your CPU over 60% with the streaming software running you should downscale the resolution lower until its manageable. Also know your upload rate provided by your ISP service. If you have a low upload rate you will be force to stream at lower resolution settings.
Another setting that will help with adding more quality is the x264 CPU Preset, if you have extra CPU Power you can drop that option down to a lower preset. I currently use Preset of medium, with dual xeons I have alot of extra cpu capacity.
If anyone has any questions or comments fill free to post here or you can find me on my twitch channel at twitch.tv/daopa.
