Intro

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

Y'all can find hardware that handles encoding for alive video (and playing video games simultaneously) in a smartphone or a decent calculator. Getting a good upload speed for streaming is trickier.

Before y'all start calling your ISP to inquire about more bandwidth, you demand to know what a expert upload speed for streaming is. Unfortunately, in that location'due south no straightforward answer to this question.

A good upload speed allows you to stream the content you want to the platform of your choice without whatever major issues. It should too 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 61.5 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 more often than not accepted values for good upload speeds, which are worth knowing. But we'll also dig a bit deeper to observe a good upload speed for your particular live stream needs.

🤓 Understanding download/upload speeds

What do you think people do the near online? Nosotros know that the most popular website in the world is Google. It'due south followed past YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Then that's ane search engine, an encyclopedia, two social networks, and a video platform/social network.

People consume content online. They seek information technology out, identify it, and so read, listen, or lookout it. To exist able to practise that, their devices need to ingest data, which comes to them in the course of bits. Your internet connection's download rate shows you lot how many bits of information your reckoner or device tin take in from the internet using that connection. Usually, the rate (also referred to as bitrate) is expressed in millions of bits — or megabits — per 2d (Mbps).

Information technology's your connection's upload rate that matters the most.

When yous create content and want to share it online, it's your connexion'south upload charge per unit that matters the well-nigh. Information technology's the same as the download rate; information technology just works the other way around, showing how many bits of data y'all tin can share per second. It's likewise 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 upward a lot of bandwidth. But how much will depend on several factors. Encoding matters, but and so does the type of content you lot want to stream. Platforms play a function, as 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. You're choosing between Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and Twitch. Since all these platforms support live streaming video resolution of 720p, nosotros'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 betwixt one,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
  • Twitch recommends a range between ii,500 and iv,000 kbps for video, plus up to 160 kbps for audio.

If you're streaming live video at a resolution of 720p, at 30 frames per 2d, you will upload up to four,160 kilobits, or four.sixteen Mbps, of data per second. So having an upload bandwidth of effectually 4 Mbps should cover you, correct?

Not quite. Yous volition demand to upload up to 4,160 kilobits of information per 2nd constantly. Because these speeds fluctuate, information technology'due south a practiced idea to have a 35% to 40% buffer. That puts the states at an upload rate of around 5,700 kilobits per second, or five.vii Mbps. However, if you are sure your internet connexion is stable, such a buffer might not be needed. Recollect, 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's alleged upload bandwidth and the actual upload speed you lot can accomplish with your connection can be very different. That'southward why y'all should ever test your upload speed using online speed tests. The number you become from these tests should be upwardly to 5.vii Mbps if you lot desire to stream 720p video at 30 frames per second.

Read later on: The just multistreaming guide you'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 tin yet alive stream 720p video with a lower upload speed. If the whole video is a unmarried shot of y'all talking, iv,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, iv,000 kbps is necessary. The faster the pace of the visuals, the higher your bitrate should exist. The blazon of content you stream affects what a good upload speed is for you.

Let's stay with video games. If you're streaming games with fast-paced activeness, you should ensure that your viewers encounter what'southward going on equally conspicuously as possible. You might want to stream at more than 30 frames per 2nd.

Still, more frames per second requires a higher bitrate. For Twitch, it pushes the range for 720p video to between iii,500 and v,000 kbps. YouTube Live recommends 2,250 to 6,000 Kbps. When y'all gene in these requirements, that's a half-dozen.2 Mbps upload speed for Twitch and 7.4 Mbps for YouTube Live if you want to stream 720p video at lx frames per 2d. Also, keep in listen that these are but the highest optimal values.

A practiced upload speed for your live streaming volition vary from 1 platform to another.

On Facebook, commencement streamers tin can only stream up to 720p video, so in that location'due south no need to take more than than 5 Mbps. In order to live stream Full Hard disk videos, you lot need to apply for their Level Upward affiliate plan.

Twitch allows up to 1080p video at 60 frames per second. You'll need an upload speed of up to seven.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 demand an upload speed of 68.8 Mbps to pull that off. That's just above the average upload speed in the District of Columbia, the area with the highest median upload speed in the U.s..

Finally, your competitors might affect your upload speed requirements. Twitch and YouTube are crowded with streamers trying to utilise the platforms to generate income. If you lot're streaming too, you cannot afford to fall behind on video quality. Meliorate quality requires college upload speeds, so the competition will somewhen push you lot to increase your upload charge per unit.

🤩 What upload speeds should I be aiming for?

With all these variables in listen, yous shouldn't ask what a "skilful" upload speed is. Instead, information technology's meliorate to ask which speed you should aim for in your circumstances.

Which bitrates and corresponding upload rates practise the three major streaming platforms advise streamers to use? We'll segment past platform, resolution, and frames per 2nd, 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 2d. Aim for an upload speed of half dozen to 7 Mbps (although Facebook limits most 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 xxx frames per second, bitrate should be between 2,500 and iv,000 kbps. That requires upload speeds between three.2 Mbps and 5 Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per second, the bitrate should be between three,500 and 5,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between four.4 Mbps and 6.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at thirty frames per second, the bitrate should be iii,500 to 5,000 kbps – aforementioned as for 720p video at sixty fps. The required upload speeds are the same too, between 4.four Mbps and six.2 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at 60 frames per second, the recommended bitrate is betwixt 4500 and 6000 kbps. The required upload speeds are between 5.6 Mbps and vii.iv Mbps.

YouTube:

  • For 720p video at 30 frames per second, the range is ane,500 to 4,000 kbps. That's an upload speed betwixt roughly 2 Mbps and v Mbps.
  • For 720p video at 60 frames per 2nd, the range is 2,250 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are betwixt 2.ix Mbps and 7.4 Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at xxx frames per 2nd, the bitrate range is iii,000 to 6,000 kbps. Required upload speeds are between three.8 Mbps and 7.iv Mbps.
  • For 1080p video at lx frames per second, the bitrate range is iv,500 to 9,000 kbps. In upload speeds, that means between v.six Mbps and 11 Mbps.
  • For 1440p video at 30 frames per 2d, the bitrate range is 6,000 to xiii,000 kbps. That's betwixt seven.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 xi Mbps and 21.eight Mbps.
  • If y'all actually desire to live stream 4k video, doing it at 30 frames per second volition require a bitrate between thirteen,000 and 34,000 kbps. In terms of upload speed, that's 15.8 Mbps and 41 Mbps.
  • To stream 4k video at sixty frames per 2nd, the recommended bitrate range is 20,000 to 51,000 kbps. You'll demand an upload speed between 24.2 Mbps and 61.five Mbps.

As yous can see, 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 go a good upload speed for streaming

Computing your desired upload speed is one thing, merely 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 always be higher than the upload speed. The best way to get symmetry between the two is to sign up for a business-level service if possible. It volition guarantee you lot the Internet service provider's alleged upload speed at whatever time. This, in turn, provides stability and reliability to ensure polish live streams.

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

And so, the commencement step in obtaining a expert upload speed for streaming is to switch to an ISP that offers the speed yous demand. Be prepared to pay more for more speed, though. Likewise, make sure you inquire around almost 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 meliorate your state of affairs:

  • Get a wired connection. Your WiFi might be slap-up when it comes to watching YouTube videos on your smartphone or checking social media. Merely when live streaming, a wired connectedness with an ethernet cable is amend. Information technology gives you less interference and more stability, which leads to better stream quality.
  • Remove excess devices from your network. You don't want your internet connexion to be crowded when you kickoff streaming. Don't permit 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 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 live streams, and then look until you're off the air.
  • Use deject-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 great tools from diverse platforms. Unfortunately, information technology tin can likewise be demanding on your CPU and bandwidth. To deal with it, employ a deject-based multistreaming service to deport some of that load.
  • Remove malware; utilise ad blockers and privacy tools. Malware, ads, and online tracking can use upwardly some of your upload bandwidth. Remove, stop, or block whatever of these speed-leeching undesired programs.
  • Use up-to-appointment software and hardware. Old drivers can slow your figurer downwards, and former modems can bottleneck your upload speed. Make 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 lot can bypass the upload speed inconveniences. How? Our feature allows you to upload your pre-recorded videos, schedule them, and prepare them to go alive subsequently every bit if they were regular streams. With this method, your upload speed doesn't affair. Afterward you upload your video, Restream will broadcast it at the scheduled time automatically, so you don't even accept to be online.

Acquire more 👉 Restream Events: Everything y'all need to know

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

restream

Multiply your views and date

Attain a wider audience past streaming to multiple platforms simultaneously.

Go Started

Conclusion

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

Upload speeds tin can significantly affect the quality of your broadcasts. Utilize a connexion with plenty upload speed for the type of content you broadcast.

Recall, you shouldn't go for the highest possible upload speed by default. Yous only demand information technology if you're planning to stream at a very loftier bitrate. A practiced upload speed is the one that's appropriate for your goals.