Intro

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

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

Before you start calling your ISP to inquire about more than bandwidth, you need to know what a adept upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, in that location's no straightforward answer to this question.

A good upload speed allows y'all to stream the content yous want to the platform of your option without any major issues. It should also be capable of delivering your content at a quality that will not disadvantage you or make 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

Not a great answer, right? At that place are some generally accustomed values for skilful upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But we'll besides dig a scrap deeper to notice a good upload speed for your item live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What do you remember people do the most online? We know that the most popular website in the globe is Google. Information technology'due south followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. So that'south one search engine, an encyclopedia, ii social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People swallow content online. They seek it out, place it, and then read, listen, or watch it. To be able to do that, their devices demand to ingest data, which comes to them in the course of bits. Your internet connection's download charge per unit shows you lot how many bits of data your reckoner or device can take in from the internet using that connection. Usually, the rate (also referred to every bit bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per 2nd (Mbps).

Information technology's your connection'south upload charge per unit that matters the most.

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

👀 What is a good upload speed for streaming?

Streaming live video tin take up a lot of bandwidth. Only how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, but so does the type of content you want to stream. Platforms play a function, equally exercise the resolution (expressed in pixels, or p) and the frame rate (frames per 2d, or fps) of your stream.

Say you want to alive stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. Yous're choosing betwixt Facebook Live, YouTube Alive, and Twitch. Since all these platforms support live streaming video resolution of 720p, we'll utilise 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 1,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between two,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus up to 160 kbps for audio.

If y'all're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at 30 frames per 2d, you volition upload up to four,160 kilobits, or iv.16 Mbps, of data per second. And then having an upload bandwidth of around iv Mbps should comprehend you, right?

Non quite. Yous will need to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of information per second constantly. Considering these speeds fluctuate, it's a good idea to take a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts united states of america at an upload rate of around 5,700 kilobits per second, or 5.7 Mbps. All the same, if yous 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 various reasons, your ISP's declared upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed you lot can attain with your connection can be very different. That'due south why you should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you lot go from these tests should be up to v.vii Mbps if yous want to stream 720p video at xxx frames per 2nd.

Read later: The only multistreaming guide you'll always demand 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The 5.seven Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per 2d is the upper limit. You can even so live stream 720p video with a lower upload speed. If the whole video is a single shot of you lot talking, 4,000 kbps might be besides high of a bitrate. You would probably be fine if yous reduced it past half.

If, on the other hand, you want to stream video games or events with tons of visual data, four,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the footstep of the visuals, the college your bitrate should be. The type of content you stream affects what a good upload speed is for you.

Permit's stay with video games. If you lot're streaming games with fast-paced action, you should ensure that your viewers meet what'south going on as clearly as possible. You might want to stream at more than xxx frames per 2d.

However, more frames per 2d requires a higher bitrate. For Twitch, it pushes the range for 720p video to betwixt 3,500 and five,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to 6,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that'southward a half dozen.2 Mbps upload speed for Twitch and vii.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if you want to stream 720p video at 60 frames per second. Also, keep in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

A expert upload speed for your live streaming will vary from ane platform to another.

On Facebook, showtime streamers tin can but stream upwards to 720p video, so in that location'due south no need to have more than than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Total HD videos, y'all need to employ for their Level Up affiliate plan.

Twitch allows upwardly to 1080p video at 60 frames per 2nd. Y'all'll need an upload speed of upwards to 7.4 Mbps to support that.

YouTube Live supports 4k alive streaming at sixty frames per second. It 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 merely above the boilerplate upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the United states.

Finally, your competitors might bear upon your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to use the platforms to generate income. If you're streaming likewise, you cannot beget to fall behind on video quality. Meliorate quality requires higher upload speeds, and then the competition will eventually push you to increase your upload charge per unit.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

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

Which bitrates and corresponding upload rates practice the three major streaming platforms advise streamers to utilize? We'll segment past platform, resolution, and frames per second, where applicable.

Facebook Live:

  • Recommended max bitrate of four,000 kbps for video.
  • Recommended audio bitrate is up to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with 60 frames reproduced per 2nd. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to 7 Mbps (although Facebook limits near accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or 60 frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly 3 to four Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, bitrate should be between 2,500 and four,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between 3.ii Mbps and v Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate should be between 3,500 and 5,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 4.4 Mbps and six.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate should exist 3,500 to 5,000 kbps – same equally for 720p video at lx fps. The required upload speeds are the same as well, between 4.4 Mbps and half-dozen.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at sixty frames per second, the recommended bitrate is betwixt 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are between five.6 Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is one,500 to 4,000 kbps. That'south an upload speed between roughly 2 Mbps and five Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the range is two,250 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 2.9 Mbps and seven.iv Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is 3,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 3.eight Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate range is 4,500 to ix,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that ways between 5.vi Mbps and 11 Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at xxx frames per second, the bitrate range is half dozen,000 to 13,000 kbps. That's between 7.4 Mbps and 15.8 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's between 11 Mbps and 21.8 Mbps.
  • If you lot actually desire to alive stream 4k video, doing information technology at 30 frames per second volition require a bitrate between xiii,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that's 15.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate range is 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. Y'all'll need an upload speed between 24.2 Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

Every bit you can run into, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the most accessible, while Twitch is still the gamer'south oasis.

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 ane affair, but getting access to that speed is something completely different.

The upload speed you can achieve depends on the service packages your Internet service provider offers. For residential users, the download speed will ever be higher than the upload speed. The best way to get symmetry between the ii is to sign upward for a business-level service if possible. Information technology will guarantee you the ISP's declared upload speed at any time. This, in plough, provides stability and reliability to ensure polish alive streams.

In terms of sheer speed, the proficient news is that internet connections are condign faster across the board. Technologies such as fiber-optic internet are bringing higher speeds to your workplace or home — if fiber is offered in your surface area, that is.

So, the showtime step in obtaining a good upload speed for streaming is to switch to an ISP that offers the speed you need. Be prepared to pay more than for more than speed, though. Besides, make sure y'all enquire around almost the quality of their service.

If you lot're stuck with a provider that offers suboptimal speeds, you tin nonetheless do a couple of things to improve your situation:

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

🔥 How to stream with a low upload speed

With Restream Events, y'all tin can bypass the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our characteristic allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and ready them to go live later as if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't matter. After yous upload your video, Restream volition broadcast it at the scheduled time automatically, so you don't even have to exist online.

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

Bonus tip: Thanks to our multistreaming technology, you lot can schedule and alive stream your pre-recorded content to elevation platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and more than, all at the same time.

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Conclusion

Equally a live video streamer, the quality of your content will depend on the quality of your circulate. That'south a fact. Yous can take the best skills in the most popular games, or the all-time banter, or the greatest sense of humor. But if people can't run across and hear yous well, they're not going to stick around to watch your stream.

Upload speeds can significantly touch on the quality of your broadcasts. Use a connection with enough upload speed for the type of content yous broadcast.

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