Live broadcasts on streaming platforms have become for many people a way of their permanent income. At the same time, the secret to success is different for every streamer. For some, this is cool cosplay, for someone — a colossal experience in video games. They have only one thing in common — high-quality broadcasting video, and not the last role in ensuring this quality is given to upload speed. Let’s talk about this in detail below. Also, you can read more about the streamers' popularity stories.

How does the quality of the live stream depend on the upload speed?

In essence, upload speed affects how quickly your video is transferred from your device to the streaming platform. There are two aspects that affect its value: the live stream bandwidth provided by your Internet provider and download speed (it’s affected by the total amount of visual effects, including animation, that can be present in your video).

By providing a good streaming bitrate score, you won’t only provide your followers with an advanced viewing experience but also be able to beat your competitors on the streaming platform: the fact is that this indicator plays a major role in positioning at the top of your account. By the way, as for YouTube, there are many other algorithms for determining the rating of a particular streamer. 

What is the recommended minimum upload speed for live streaming?

If we talk about the minimum upload speed requirements for popular streaming platforms, for 720p video at 30 fps they are as follows:

  • 3-4 Mbps for Facebook
  • 1,5-4 Mbps for YouTube 
  • 3 Mbps for Twitch

How do I test my upload speed to make sure it's sufficient for live streaming?

Before you start streaming on Youtube or any other broadcasting platform, you will need to make sure that everything is ok with your speed live streaming parameters. Otherwise, you run the risk of not meeting the expectations of your viewers or simply being at the very bottom of the list of active streamers.

To test your uploading speed you can resort to the help of special web tools. The most popular of these is Ookla's Speedtest. All you need to do is just go to the website and click the "GO'' button. Within a few seconds, this tool will collect data for analysis, and then you will see what you want — indicators of your current upload speed.

What upload speeds should I aim for?

Now let's dive into the details of the requirements for Internet speed for live streaming on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.

Twitch

First, we propose you consider the requirements for a Twitch stream upload speed:

  • at 30 fps, the bitrate for 720p streaming has to be 3,000 Kbps; 
  • at 60 fps, the bitrate is recommended to be about 4,500-6,000 Kbps;
  • at 30 fps, the bitrate for 1080p has to be about 4,500 Kbps (or 6 Mbps for upload speed);
  • at 60 fps, the recommended bitrate for 1080p is 6,000 Kbps (or 4 Mbps in the context of speed).

YouTube

And how is it with YouTube? Let's find out right now:

  • for 720p 30 fps, the bitrate has to be about 1,500-4,000 Kbps, or around 2-5 Mbps in terms of upload speed;
  • for 720p 60fps, the bitrate should be between 2,250 and 6,000 Kbps (or about 2.9-7.4 Mbps in terms of upload speed);
  • for 1080p 30fps, the best range is about 3,000-6,000 Kbps (or 8-7.4 Mbps speed-wise);
  • for 1080p 60fps, YouTube recommends a bitrate of 4,500 to 9,000 Kbps (or 6-11 Mbps speed-wise);
  • for 1440p 30 fps, the optimal bitrate range is 6,000-13,000 Kbps (or 4-5.8 Mbps for upload speed);
  • for 1440p 60 fps, the best bitrate varies from 9,000 to 18,000 Kbps (or around 11-21.8 Mbps in the context of upload speed);
  • for 4K 30 fps, it’s required a 4K stream bitrate of 13,000-34,000 Kbps (or 8 to 41 Mbps in terms of upload speed);
  • for 4K 60 fps, you should follow the requirements of 20,000-51,000 Kbps (or about 2-61.5 Mbps for upload speed).

Facebook

Finally, let’s check the optimal speed indicators for Facebook live streams:

  • for 720p video at 30 or 60 fps, you have to ensure a speed of 3-4 Mbps;
  • for 1080p video at 60 fps, please, provide an upload speed of about 6-7 Mbps.

But if you don’t want to bother with video optimization, you can use a Gyre tool. You can also learn about how to stop buffering your YouTube videos.

Conclusion

We hope we have helped you figure out the stream internet requirements and now you can provide your audience with an advanced experience of interacting with you online. You can also influence positively your streams by extending their duration using our Gyre tool. You can download a free trial right now.