Intro

Live streaming requires 2 things: powerful hardware and a good internet upload speed.

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

Before yous start calling your ISP to ask well-nigh more than bandwidth, you need to know what a proficient upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward answer to this question.

A good upload speed allows y'all to stream the content you want to the platform of your choice without any major problems. It should also be capable of delivering your content at a quality that will not disadvantage you or make your stream less highly-seasoned 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 bang-up answer, right? There are some more often than not accustomed values for expert upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But we'll besides dig a bit deeper to find a good upload speed for your particular live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What do you recall people do the near online? We know that the most popular website in the world is Google. It'south followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. And so that'due south one search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People consume content online. They seek it out, identify it, then read, listen, or watch information technology. To be able to do that, their devices demand to ingest data, which comes to them in the form of bits. Your internet connexion's download rate shows you how many bits of data your computer or device can take in from the internet using that connexion. Commonly, the rate (also referred to as bitrate) is expressed in millions of $.25 — or megabits — per second (Mbps).

It's your connection's upload rate that matters the well-nigh.

When you lot create content and want to share information technology online, it'south your connection'south upload charge per unit that matters the most. It's the same as the download rate; it just works the other manner effectually, showing how many bits of information y'all tin can share per 2d. It'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 accept up a lot of bandwidth. Just how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, simply so does the type of content yous desire to stream. Platforms play a function, 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 live stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. You're choosing betwixt Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and Twitch. Since all these platforms back up live streaming video resolution of 720p, we'll use the bitrate recommendations from each platform:

  • Facebook Alive recommends a max bitrate of iv,000 kbps, plus a max sound bitrate of 128 kbps.
  • YouTube Alive recommends a range between 1,500 and four,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between 2,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus upward to 160 kbps for audio.

If you're streaming alive video at a resolution of 720p, at thirty frames per 2d, you volition upload upwards to 4,160 kilobits, or four.16 Mbps, of information per second. Then having an upload bandwidth of around 4 Mbps should encompass you, right?

Not quite. You volition demand to upload upwardly to four,160 kilobits of data per second constantly. Because these speeds fluctuate, information technology'due south a good idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of around 5,700 kilobits per second, or v.vii Mbps. However, if y'all are sure your net connection is stable, such a buffer might non be needed. Think, a stable connectedness is as important as upload speed!

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

For various reasons, your ISP'south declared upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed y'all can achieve with your connection tin be very different. That'southward why you should e'er test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you get from these tests should exist up to v.seven Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at thirty frames per 2d.

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

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The five.7 Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per second is the upper limit. You can still alive 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 lot would probably be fine if you lot reduced it by one-half.

If, on the other mitt, you want to stream video games or events with tons of visual data, 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 you lot.

Permit's stay with video games. If you're streaming games with fast-paced action, you should ensure that your viewers see what'due south going on as conspicuously equally possible. You lot might desire to stream at more than xxx 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 6,000 Kbps. When you lot cistron in these requirements, that's a half dozen.ii Mbps upload speed for Twitch and seven.iv Mbps for YouTube Alive if yous desire to stream 720p video at 60 frames per 2nd. Too, keep in listen 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 tin simply stream upwards to 720p video, so in that location'south no need to have more than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Full Hd videos, you need to utilize for their Level Up affiliate program.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at threescore frames per second. You'll need an upload speed of up to 7.iv Mbps to support that.

YouTube Live supports 4k live streaming at lx frames per second. Information technology 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 just above the boilerplate upload speed in the Commune of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the United states of america.

Finally, your competitors might bear on your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to apply the platforms to generate income. If y'all're streaming besides, you cannot afford to autumn behind on video quality. Better quality requires college upload speeds, so the competition will eventually push yous to increase your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I exist aiming for?

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

Which bitrates and respective upload rates practise the three major streaming platforms advise streamers to utilise? 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 up to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with lx frames reproduced per second. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to 7 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 four Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at xxx frames per 2nd, bitrate should be between 2,500 and iv,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds betwixt iii.2 Mbps and five Mbps.
  • For 720p video at threescore frames per second, the bitrate should be between three,500 and 5,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between iv.iv Mbps and six.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate should exist three,500 to 5,000 kbps – aforementioned as for 720p video at 60 fps. The required upload speeds are the same too, between four.4 Mbps and 6.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at lx frames per second, the recommended bitrate is between 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are betwixt v.vi Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is 1,500 to 4,000 kbps. That'south an upload speed between roughly 2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at sixty frames per 2d, the range is 2,250 to vi,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 2.nine Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is 3,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt three.viii Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate range is 4,500 to nine,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 vi,000 to xiii,000 kbps. That'due south between seven.4 Mbps and fifteen.8 Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at threescore frames per second, the range is 9,000 to xviii,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that's betwixt 11 Mbps and 21.8 Mbps.
  • If y'all really desire to live stream 4k video, doing it at 30 frames per second volition require a bitrate between xiii,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that'due south fifteen.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at 60 frames per 2d, the recommended bitrate range is xx,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'll demand an upload speed between 24.2 Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

As yous can see, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the well-nigh accessible, while Twitch is notwithstanding the gamer's haven.

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 one thing, but getting admission to that speed is something completely unlike.

The upload speed you lot can achieve depends on the service packages your ISP offers. For residential users, the download speed will always exist higher than the upload speed. The best way to get symmetry between the ii is to sign up for a business-level service if possible. It will guarantee you the ISP'south declared upload speed at any time. This, in plough, provides stability and reliability to ensure smoothen alive streams.

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

And so, the first pace 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 for more than speed, though. Besides, make sure y'all enquire around nigh the quality of their service.

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

  • Get a wired connection. Your WiFi might be great when information technology comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. But when live streaming, a wired connection with an ethernet cable is better. It gives you less interference and more stability, which leads to amend stream quality.
  • Remove backlog devices from your network. Yous don't want your internet connection to be crowded when you get-go 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 but matter that should be uploading when you stream is your encoder. Peer-to-peer networking has probably ruined its fair share of alive streams, so wait until you're off the air.
  • Apply cloud-based multistreaming. Multistreaming, or streaming live to several platforms at the aforementioned time, is incredibly useful for content creators. It helps reach new audiences, saves time, and offers great tools from various platforms. Unfortunately, information technology can as well exist enervating on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with it, use a deject-based multistreaming service to carry some of that load.
  • Remove malware; use advertizement blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking tin can utilize up some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, stop, or block any of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Use up-to-date software and hardware. Old drivers can slow your reckoner downwardly, and old modems tin can bottleneck your upload speed. Make sure your hardware and software are upwards to the task of streaming live video.

🔥 How to stream with a low upload speed

With Restream Events, you can featherbed the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our characteristic allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and prepare them to become live subsequently every bit if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't matter. Later on you upload your video, Restream volition broadcast information technology at the scheduled time automatically, so y'all don't even have to be online.

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

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Conclusion

Equally a alive video streamer, the quality of your content volition depend on the quality of your broadcast. That's a fact. You lot can have the best skills in the nigh pop games, or the best banter, or the greatest sense of humour. But if people can't encounter and hear you well, they're non 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 y'all broadcast.

Remember, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed by default. You merely need information technology if y'all're planning to stream at a very high bitrate. A good upload speed is the ane that's advisable for your goals.