If you're streaming using OBS & Streamlabs, you know how important it is to have a good bitrate for your video quality. Bitrate is the amount of data that is transmitted per second when you stream.
It affects the quality and smoothness of your video. If your bitrate is too low, your video may look pixelated or blurry. If your bitrate is too high, your video may lag or buffer if your internet connection is not stable enough.
So how do you find the best bitrate for your stream? And how do you change it on OBS and Streamlabs? In this article, we will answer these questions and give you some tips to optimise your stream quality.
By the way, if you want to read even more, make sure to take a look at our article on how to ban people in Twitch chat. Also, here's our guide on how to raid on Twitch, feel free to check it out.
How to Find the Best Bitrate for Your Stream
To find the best bitrate for your stream, you need to consider your upload speed, your video resolution, and your frame rate. These are the main factors that determine how much data you need to send to your streaming platform.
Your upload speed is the maximum amount of data that your internet connection can send per second. You can check your upload speed using online tools like Speedtest. Ideally, you want to have an upload speed that is higher than your bitrate, so that you can stream without any interruptions.
Your video resolution is the number of pixels that your video has in width and height. The higher the resolution, the more data you need to send. Common resolutions for streaming are 720p (1280 x 720 pixels), 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels), and 1440p (2560 x 1440 pixels).
Your frame rate is the number of frames that your video has per second. The higher the frame rate, the more data you need to send. Common frame rates for streaming are 30 fps (frames per second) and 60 fps.
A general rule of thumb is to multiply your resolution by your frame rate, and then multiply that by a factor of 0.1. For example, if you want to stream at 1080p and 60 fps, your bitrate should be around 1080×60×0.1=6480 Kbps (kilobits per second).
However, different streaming platforms may have different bitrate limits or recommendations. For example, Twitch recommends a maximum bitrate of 6000 Kbps for 1080p and 60 fps streams, while YouTube allows up to 9000 Kbps. You can check the official guidelines of your streaming platform to find the optimal bitrate for your stream.
How to Change Your Bitrate on OBS and Streamlabs
OBS and Streamlabs are two popular software that allow you to stream your video to various platforms. Both of them have similar settings to change your bitrate.
To change your bitrate on OBS Studio or Streamlabs OBS, you need to go to the Settings menu, select Output, and then enter your desired bitrate in the Bitrate field under the Streaming tab. You can also adjust the rate control and the keyframe interval settings to optimise your stream quality.
That's all you need to know about fixing bitrate in OBS and Streamlabs. But if you want to read more guides, feel free to take a look at our article on how to add emotes to Twitch chat.