Intro

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

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

Before you start calling your ISP to inquire almost more bandwidth, you demand to know what a practiced upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward respond to this question.

A good upload speed allows you to stream the content you lot want to the platform of your choice without whatsoever major problems. 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 61.5 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 by and large accustomed values for adept upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But nosotros'll besides dig a bit deeper to find a good upload speed for your particular alive stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What exercise you lot recall people do the most online? Nosotros know that the nigh popular website in the globe is Google. It's followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. And then that's one search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People eat content online. They seek it out, identify it, so read, listen, or watch it. To exist able to do that, their devices need to ingest data, which comes to them in the course of bits. Your internet connection'due south download rate shows yous how many bits of data your figurer or device tin can accept in from the internet using that connection. Usually, the rate (also referred to as bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per second (Mbps).

It'due south your connection's upload charge per unit that matters the near.

When you create content and want to share information technology online, information technology's your connection's upload rate that matters the most. It's the same as the download rate; it just works the other way around, showing how many bits of data you can share per second. Information technology's also expressed in Mbps. Information shows that, globally, upload rates are slower than download rates.

👀 What is a proficient upload speed for streaming?

Streaming alive video can take upwardly a lot of bandwidth. Just how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, just so does the type of content you lot want to stream. Platforms play a role, as do the resolution (expressed in pixels, or p) and the frame rate (frames per second, or fps) of your stream.

Say y'all want to live stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. Yous're choosing between Facebook Alive, YouTube Alive, and Twitch. Since all these platforms support live streaming video resolution of 720p, we'll apply the bitrate recommendations from each platform:

  • Facebook Alive 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 4,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between 2,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus upward to 160 kbps for audio.

If y'all're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at thirty frames per 2d, you volition upload up to iv,160 kilobits, or 4.sixteen Mbps, of data per second. So having an upload bandwidth of around 4 Mbps should encompass you, right?

Not quite. You will demand to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of data per second constantly. Because these speeds fluctuate, it's a adept idea to have a 35% to forty% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of around 5,700 kilobits per second, or five.7 Mbps. However, if you are sure your cyberspace connection is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Think, a stable connexion is as important every bit 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 can accomplish with your connection can 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 5.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at 30 frames per second.

Read later: The only multistreaming guide yous'll e'er need 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The 5.vii Mbps upload speed for 720p video at xxx frames per second is the upper limit. Yous tin yet 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 likewise high of a bitrate. You would probably exist fine if you reduced it by half.

If, on the other hand, you lot want to stream video games or events with tons of visual information, iv,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the pace of the visuals, the college your bitrate should be. The blazon of content you lot stream affects what a adept upload speed is for you.

Let'southward stay with video games. If you're streaming games with fast-paced activity, you should ensure that your viewers run across what's going on as clearly as possible. You might want to stream at more thirty frames per second.

Still, more than frames per second requires a higher bitrate. For Twitch, it pushes the range for 720p video to between iii,500 and 5,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to 6,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that'due south a six.two Mbps upload speed for Twitch and seven.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if you want to stream 720p video at 60 frames per second. Besides, keep in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

A adept upload speed for your live streaming will vary from i platform to some other.

On Facebook, commencement streamers can only stream up to 720p video, so there'due south no need to accept more than than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Full Hd videos, you need to apply for their Level Up affiliate program.

Twitch allows upward to 1080p video at 60 frames per second. You'll need an upload speed of upwardly to 7.4 Mbps to support that.

YouTube Live supports 4k live streaming at 60 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 average upload speed in the Commune of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the United 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. Improve quality requires higher upload speeds, so the competition will eventually push you to increase your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

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

Which bitrates and corresponding upload rates do the three major streaming platforms propose streamers to use? Nosotros'll segment by platform, resolution, and frames per second, where applicable.

Facebook Live:

  • Recommended max bitrate of iv,000 kbps for video.
  • Recommended audio bitrate is upwardly to 128 kbps.
  • Maximum resolution is 1080p, with 60 frames reproduced per second. Aim for an upload speed of 6 to 7 Mbps (although Facebook limits near accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or lx frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly 3 to 4 Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at thirty frames per second, bitrate should exist between 2,500 and iv,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between 3.two Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the bitrate should be betwixt 3,500 and 5,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt four.4 Mbps and 6.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at xxx frames per second, the bitrate should be iii,500 to 5,000 kbps – same every bit for 720p video at 60 fps. The required upload speeds are the same besides, betwixt 4.four Mbps and 6.ii Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per 2d, the recommended bitrate is betwixt 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are betwixt 5.half-dozen Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is 1,500 to iv,000 kbps. That's an upload speed betwixt roughly 2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at lx frames per 2d, the range is 2,250 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 2.9 Mbps and 7.four Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is three,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 3.8 Mbps and 7.four Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the bitrate range is 4,500 to 9,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that means between 5.half-dozen 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 seven.4 Mbps and 15.8 Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at sixty frames per 2d, the range is 9,000 to 18,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that's between 11 Mbps and 21.8 Mbps.
  • If you actually want to live stream 4k video, doing information technology at 30 frames per second will crave a bitrate between 13,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that'southward fifteen.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at threescore frames per second, the recommended bitrate range is 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. Yous'll need an upload speed between 24.2 Mbps and 61.v Mbps.

As yous tin come across, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the most accessible, while Twitch is however 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 matter, but getting access to that speed is something completely different.

The upload speed you can achieve depends on the service packages your ISP offers. For residential users, the download speed will ever be higher than the upload speed. The best way to get symmetry between the two is to sign up for a concern-level service if possible. It will guarantee you the ISP's declared upload speed at any fourth dimension. This, in turn, provides stability and reliability to ensure smooth alive streams.

In terms of sheer speed, the expert news is that internet connections are becoming faster beyond the lath. Technologies such equally fiber-optic internet are bringing college speeds to your workplace or home — if fiber is offered in your area, that is.

So, the outset step in obtaining a good upload speed for streaming is to switch to an Isp that offers the speed you need. Exist prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Also, brand sure you inquire around virtually the quality of their service.

If you're stuck with a provider that offers suboptimal speeds, you can still practice a couple of things to amend your situation:

  • Become a wired connexion. Your WiFi might be great when it comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. But when alive 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 excess devices from your network. You don't want your cyberspace connection to be crowded when yous start streaming. Don't permit whatsoever other device pig your upload speed, and disconnect them from your network or plow off their WiFi capabilities during your stream.
  • Close backlog programs and apps on your computer. The only thing that should be uploading when y'all stream is your encoder. Peer-to-peer networking has probably ruined its fair share of alive streams, so wait until y'all'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 fourth dimension, and offers cracking tools from diverse platforms. Unfortunately, it tin likewise be demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To bargain with it, use a cloud-based multistreaming service to deport some of that load.
  • Remove malware; use advert blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can use up some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, finish, or block whatsoever of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Employ up-to-engagement software and hardware. Sometime drivers can slow your computer down, and erstwhile modems can bottleneck your upload speed. Make sure your hardware and software are upwardly to the task of streaming live video.

🔥 How to stream with a low upload speed

With Restream Events, you can bypass the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our feature allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and set them to get live subsequently as if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't affair. Afterward yous upload your video, Restream will broadcast it at the scheduled time automatically, so you don't even have to be online.

Learn more 👉 Restream Events: Everything yous need to know

Bonus tip: Thanks to our multistreaming engineering science, yous tin schedule and live stream your pre-recorded content to top platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and more, all at the same time.

restream

Multiply your views and engagement

Accomplish a wider audience by streaming to multiple platforms simultaneously.

Get Started

Determination

Equally a live video streamer, the quality of your content volition depend on the quality of your broadcast. That's a fact. You can accept the best skills in the about popular games, or the best banter, or the greatest sense of humour. But if people can't meet and hear yous well, they're not going to stick around to sentry your stream.

Upload speeds tin can significantly affect the quality of your broadcasts. Use a connectedness with enough upload speed for the type of content you lot broadcast.

Remember, y'all shouldn't get for the highest possible upload speed by default. You lot only demand information technology if y'all're planning to stream at a very high bitrate. A good upload speed is the one that's appropriate for your goals.