Intro

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

You can find hardware that handles encoding for alive 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 most more than bandwidth, you lot demand to know what a practiced upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward answer to this question.

A practiced upload speed allows yous to stream the content y'all want to the platform of your selection without whatsoever major issues. 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 betwixt 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, correct? There are some by and large accepted values for practiced upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But nosotros'll too dig a fleck deeper to detect a good upload speed for your detail live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What exercise you lot think people do the most online? We know that the about pop website in the earth is Google. It'south followed past YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. So that's one search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

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

It's your connection's upload rate that matters the most.

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

👀 What is a good upload speed for streaming?

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

Say yous want to live stream a video of yourself interviewing someone. You lot're choosing betwixt Facebook Alive, 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 Live recommends a max bitrate of 4,000 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 betwixt 2,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus upwardly to 160 kbps for audio.

If you're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at 30 frames per second, yous will upload up to four,160 kilobits, or 4.16 Mbps, of data per second. And so having an upload bandwidth of effectually four Mbps should embrace you, right?

Not quite. You will need to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of information per second constantly. Considering these speeds fluctuate, it'south a adept idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts us at an upload rate of around v,700 kilobits per second, or five.7 Mbps. However, if yous are sure your internet connection is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Remember, a stable connection is as important as upload speed!

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

For various reasons, your ISP'southward alleged upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed you tin achieve with your connection can be very unlike. That's why you should always test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number yous get from these tests should exist upwards to 5.7 Mbps if you want to stream 720p video at thirty frames per second.

Read later: The only multistreaming guide you lot'll ever need 📍

💁‍♂️ The many variables affecting upload speed requirements

The 5.7 Mbps upload speed for 720p video at 30 frames per second 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 talking, 4,000 kbps might be too high of a bitrate. You would probably be fine if you lot reduced it by half.

If, on the other manus, 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 you lot.

Let'due south stay with video games. If you're streaming games with fast-paced activeness, you should ensure that your viewers meet what's going on as conspicuously as possible. You might desire to stream at more than than 30 frames per second.

Yet, more frames per second requires a college bitrate. For Twitch, information technology pushes the range for 720p video to between 3,500 and 5,000 kbps. YouTube Alive recommends 2,250 to 6,000 Kbps. When you factor in these requirements, that's a 6.2 Mbps upload speed for Twitch and seven.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if you want to stream 720p video at 60 frames per second. As well, keep in mind that these are just the highest optimal values.

A good upload speed for your alive streaming will vary from ane platform to another.

On Facebook, first streamers can only stream upwards to 720p video, so at that place's no demand to have more than 5 Mbps. In gild to alive stream Full Hard disk drive videos, y'all need to use for their Level Upward affiliate plan.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at threescore frames per 2nd. You'll need an upload speed of up to 7.iv Mbps to support that.

YouTube Live supports 4k alive streaming at 60 frames per second. Information technology recommends a bitrate in the range of 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'd demand an upload speed of 68.eight Mbps to pull that off. That'south just above the average upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the United States.

Finally, your competitors might touch your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to apply the platforms to generate income. If you're streaming too, y'all cannot afford to fall behind on video quality. Better quality requires higher upload speeds, then the contest will eventually button you to increase your upload rate.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

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

Which bitrates and respective upload rates do the three major streaming platforms suggest streamers to use? We'll segment by platform, resolution, and frames per 2d, where applicable.

Facebook Live:

  • Recommended max bitrate of 4,000 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 vii Mbps (although Facebook limits about accounts to 720p resolution).
  • For 720p video at 30 or 60 frames per second, aim for an upload speed of roughly iii to iv Mbps.

Twitch:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, bitrate should be betwixt 2,500 and 4,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds betwixt 3.2 Mbps and 5 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 four.iv Mbps and 6.ii Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at xxx frames per 2d, the bitrate should exist 3,500 to 5,000 kbps – aforementioned as for 720p video at 60 fps. The required upload speeds are the same too, between 4.4 Mbps and 6.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate is between 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are betwixt 5.6 Mbps and vii.4 Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per 2nd, the range is ane,500 to iv,000 kbps. That'southward an upload speed betwixt roughly 2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per second, the range is two,250 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 2.ix Mbps and seven.four Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at xxx frames per 2d, the bitrate range is 3,000 to six,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between 3.8 Mbps and seven.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per 2d, the bitrate range is 4,500 to 9,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that means between 5.six Mbps and 11 Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per second, the bitrate range is 6,000 to 13,000 kbps. That'due south between 7.4 Mbps and xv.viii Mbps in recommended upload speeds.
  • For 1440p video at sixty frames per 2nd, the range is 9,000 to 18,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that'southward between eleven Mbps and 21.eight Mbps.
  • If yous actually want to live stream 4k video, doing information technology at 30 frames per second volition crave a bitrate between 13,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that's fifteen.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at lx frames per 2nd, the recommended bitrate range is xx,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'll demand an upload speed betwixt 24.2 Mbps and 61.5 Mbps.

As y'all can see, YouTube offers the highest-quality live streaming. Facebook is the most accessible, while Twitch is still 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 ane thing, but getting access to that speed is something completely dissimilar.

The upload speed yous tin can achieve depends on the service packages your ISP offers. For residential users, the download speed will always be higher than the upload speed. The best way to become symmetry between the two is to sign upwards for a business-level service if possible. It will guarantee you the ISP'southward declared upload speed at any time. This, in turn, provides stability and reliability to ensure smooth live streams.

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

And so, the first footstep in obtaining a good upload speed for streaming is to switch to an Internet service provider that offers the speed you demand. Be prepared to pay more than for more speed, though. Also, make sure y'all enquire around nigh the quality of their service.

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

  • Get a wired connection. Your WiFi might be great when it 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. It gives yous less interference and more stability, which leads to better stream quality.
  • Remove excess devices from your network. You don't desire your cyberspace connection to be crowded when you beginning streaming. Don't permit any other device sus scrofa your upload speed, and disconnect them from your network or plough off their WiFi capabilities during your stream.
  • Shut excess programs and apps on your computer. The only 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 await until you're off the air.
  • Use cloud-based multistreaming. Multistreaming, or streaming live to several platforms at the aforementioned time, is incredibly useful for content creators. It helps accomplish new audiences, saves time, and offers smashing tools from various platforms. Unfortunately, information technology can also be demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with information technology, use a cloud-based multistreaming service to carry some of that load.
  • Remove malware; utilize ad blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can use upwards some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, terminate, or cake any of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Use up-to-engagement software and hardware. One-time drivers tin can irksome your computer down, and old modems tin clogging your upload speed. Make sure your hardware and software are up to the job 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 y'all to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and set them to become live after as if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't matter. After you upload your video, Restream will broadcast information technology at the scheduled fourth dimension automatically, so yous don't fifty-fifty accept to be online.

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

Bonus tip: Cheers to our multistreaming technology, you can schedule and live stream your pre-recorded content to top platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and more than, all at the aforementioned fourth dimension.

restream

Multiply your views and appointment

Reach a wider audience by streaming to multiple platforms simultaneously.

Get Started

Determination

Every bit a live video streamer, the quality of your content will depend on the quality of your circulate. That'southward a fact. You tin take the all-time skills in the most popular games, or the all-time barrack, or the greatest sense of humor. But if people tin can't meet and hear you well, they're not going to stick effectually to watch your stream.

Upload speeds can significantly bear on the quality of your broadcasts. Utilise a connection with enough upload speed for the type of content y'all circulate.

Remember, you lot shouldn't get for the highest possible upload speed by default. You just need it if you lot're planning to stream at a very high bitrate. A good upload speed is the one that's appropriate for your goals.