Intro

Alive streaming requires two things: powerful hardware and a practiced internet upload speed.

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

Before you start calling your Isp to inquire nearly more bandwidth, you need to know what a good upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, at that place'south no straightforward answer to this question.

A skillful upload speed allows you to stream the content yous desire to the platform of your selection without any major issues. Information technology 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, anything between 672 kbps and 61.v Mbps is ideal.

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

Not a great answer, right? There are some generally accustomed values for adept upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But we'll also dig a chip deeper to find a practiced upload speed for your item live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What do y'all remember people exercise the most online? We know that the most popular website in the world is Google. It's followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. So that'southward 1 search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People eat content online. They seek it out, place it, and then read, heed, or watch information technology. To be able to do that, their devices need to ingest information, which comes to them in the form of bits. Your net connectedness's download rate shows y'all how many bits of data your computer or device can take in from the internet using that connection. Ordinarily, the rate (as well referred to every bit bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per 2d (Mbps).

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

When you lot create content and want to share it online, information technology's your connection'due south upload charge per unit that matters the most. It's the aforementioned equally the download charge per unit; it just works the other manner around, showing how many bits of data you tin share per 2d. Information technology's 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 can take up a lot of bandwidth. But how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, but so does the type of content y'all desire to stream. Platforms play a part, every bit do the resolution (expressed in pixels, or p) and the frame rate (frames per second, or fps) of your stream.

Say you want to live stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. Yous'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 4,000 kbps, plus a max audio bitrate of 128 kbps.
  • YouTube Alive recommends a range between i,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between two,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus up to 160 kbps for audio.

If you lot're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at thirty frames per second, y'all will upload up to 4,160 kilobits, or 4.16 Mbps, of data per 2nd. So having an upload bandwidth of effectually 4 Mbps should cover you, right?

Non quite. You will need to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of information per second constantly. Because these speeds fluctuate, it's a adept idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of effectually 5,700 kilobits per second, or five.seven Mbps. However, if you are sure your internet connection is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Retrieve, a stable connection is as of import 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 tin achieve with your connection tin be very different. That's why yous should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you go from these tests should be up to v.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at 30 frames per second.

Read after: The simply multistreaming guide you'll ever demand 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The five.vii Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per second 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 high of a bitrate. You would probably be fine if you reduced information technology by half.

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

Allow's stay with video games. If yous're streaming games with fast-paced action, you should ensure that your viewers see what'south going on as conspicuously every bit possible. You might want to stream at more 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 5,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to vi,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that'due south a half dozen.2 Mbps upload speed for Twitch and seven.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if y'all want to stream 720p video at 60 frames per 2d. Also, go on in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

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

On Facebook, beginning streamers can only stream upward to 720p video, so there'due south no need to have more than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Full HD videos, you demand to utilise for their Level Upwardly affiliate plan.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at threescore frames per 2nd. You'll need an upload speed of upwardly to vii.4 Mbps to support that.

YouTube Alive supports 4k live streaming at lx 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.eight Mbps to pull that off. That'due south just above the average upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the The 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 y'all're streaming too, you cannot afford to fall behind on video quality. Better quality requires higher upload speeds, so the contest will eventually push you to increase your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I exist aiming for?

With all these variables in mind, y'all shouldn't ask what a "good" upload speed is. Instead, it'due south ameliorate to ask which speed you should aim for in your circumstances.

Which bitrates and corresponding upload rates do the three major streaming platforms advise streamers to utilize? Nosotros'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 upward to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with 60 frames reproduced per second. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to vii Mbps (although Facebook limits nearly accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or threescore frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly iii to 4 Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at thirty frames per 2nd, bitrate should be betwixt 2,500 and four,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between three.2 Mbps and v Mbps.
  • For 720p video at lx frames per 2nd, the bitrate should be between 3,500 and v,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 4.four Mbps and six.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per 2nd, the bitrate should be iii,500 to 5,000 kbps – same as for 720p video at sixty fps. The required upload speeds are the same likewise, between 4.4 Mbps and vi.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate is between 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are between 5.vi Mbps and 7.four Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is one,500 to 4,000 kbps. That's an upload speed between roughly two Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per second, the range is 2,250 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 2.nine Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per 2d, the bitrate range is 3,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 3.8 Mbps and 7.4 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 11 Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is six,000 to 13,000 kbps. That'southward between seven.4 Mbps and 15.8 Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at threescore frames per 2d, the range is 9,000 to xviii,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that'southward between 11 Mbps and 21.8 Mbps.
  • If you really want to live stream 4k video, doing information technology at thirty frames per 2nd volition crave a bitrate betwixt thirteen,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 twenty,000 to 51,000 kbps. Yous'll demand an upload speed between 24.two Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

Every bit yous can see, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the near accessible, while Twitch is still the gamer's 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 1 thing, but getting admission 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 always be higher than the upload speed. The all-time way to get symmetry between the two is to sign upwardly for a business organisation-level service if possible. It volition guarantee yous the ISP'southward declared upload speed at any fourth dimension. This, in plough, provides stability and reliability to ensure smooth alive streams.

In terms of sheer speed, the practiced news is that internet connections are condign faster across the board. Technologies such equally fiber-optic internet are bringing higher speeds to your workplace or dwelling — if fiber is offered in your expanse, that is.

So, the first stride in obtaining a expert upload speed for streaming is to switch to an ISP that offers the speed yous need. Be prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Also, make sure you enquire around nigh the quality of their service.

If y'all're stuck with a provider that offers suboptimal speeds, you can still do a couple of things to better your situation:

  • Get a wired connectedness. Your WiFi might be groovy when it comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. Merely when live streaming, a wired connection with an ethernet cablevision is better. It gives you less interference and more stability, which leads to better stream quality.
  • Remove backlog devices from your network. You don't want your internet connection to exist crowded when you showtime streaming. Don't let any 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 figurer. The simply thing 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 look 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. It helps reach new audiences, saves time, and offers cracking tools from diverse platforms. Unfortunately, information technology can also be enervating on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with it, use a cloud-based multistreaming service to bear some of that load.
  • Remove malware; utilize ad blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can use up some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, stop, or block whatsoever of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Utilize up-to-date software and hardware. Old drivers can slow your computer down, and former modems tin bottleneck your upload speed. Brand sure your hardware and software are upwardly to the chore of streaming alive video.

🔥 How to stream with a low upload speed

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

Learn more 👉 Restream Events: Everything you need to know

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

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Conclusion

As a live video streamer, the quality of your content volition depend on the quality of your broadcast. That'south a fact. Y'all tin can have the all-time skills in the well-nigh pop games, or the all-time banter, or the greatest sense of humour. Simply if people can't come across and hear yous well, they're not going to stick around to watch your stream.

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

Call back, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed by default. Y'all simply need it if you're planning to stream at a very high bitrate. A skilful upload speed is the one that's advisable for your goals.