How to Stop Your Live Stream From Buffering
The best video bitrate for live streaming without buffering depends on the platform: for 1080p at 60 fps, Twitch recommends 6,000 kbps, Facebook Live 4,500 to 9,000 kbps and YouTube 6,000 to 17,000 kbps, as long as your upload speed can hold it steadily. Speedify is an app that combines Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite internet connections at the same time into one faster, steadier upload, so your stream keeps its bitrate even if one connection weakens. With only one connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot raise that connection’s upload speed.
Speedify combines your connections into enough upload to go live
If your live stream buffers even at a sensible bitrate, you are not the only one with this problem. Below is how to pick the best video bitrate for live streaming without buffering on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live, and how Speedify keeps your upload steady enough to hold it.
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What Video Bitrate Is and Why It Matters for Live Streaming
Bitrate is a measure of the number of bits of information that are being transmitted on a digital network. When it comes to video, bitrate is the amount of data to encode a single second of your video. Bitrate directly affects both the quality and file size of the video you are streaming.
The higher the bitrate, the higher the quality of the video and the more upload bandwidth your stream needs. You have to find the right balance between quality and bandwidth. If the bitrate is higher than your upload speed can carry steadily, it will cause buffering when streamed, because a live stream cannot wait for a slow upload to catch up.
But if the bitrate is too low, the video quality will be poor and your stream will look unprofessional.
Ideal Bitrates for Streaming on Major Platforms
When streaming video, you have to take three things into account:
- Bitrate
- Framerate
- Resolution
All of these factors will affect the quality of your video, how much processing power it takes to encode your video, and how much bandwidth it takes to broadcast your video. It is always better to have a steady stream with a slightly lower resolution or framerate than it is to have a super high-quality stream that is constantly buffering.
Here are the best video bitrates for live streaming without buffering on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live:
- 1080p at 60 fps: Twitch 6,000 kbps, Facebook Live 4,500 to 9,000 kbps, YouTube 6,000 to 17,000 kbps
- 1080p at 30 fps: Twitch 4,500 kbps, Facebook Live 3,000 to 6,000 kbps, YouTube 5,000 to 14,000 kbps
- 720p at 60 fps: Twitch 4,500 kbps, Facebook Live 2,250 to 6,000 kbps, YouTube 3,000 to 8,000 kbps
- 720p at 30 fps: Twitch 3,000 kbps, Facebook Live 1,500 to 4,000 kbps, YouTube 3,000 to 8,000 kbps
These figures come from Twitch’s broadcasting guidelines, Meta’s live video specifications and Google’s YouTube live encoder settings (H.264; YouTube’s newer AV1 and H.265 codecs need less). Your upload speed decides which of these bitrates you can hold. Pick a bitrate comfortably below the upload speed your connection sustains for the whole stream. If you have to stream at a low bitrate, lower the resolution or frame rate first, for example from 1080p to 720p, and use the matching bitrate range above.
How to Handle Video Bitrates When Live Streaming on a Poor Internet Connection
A common problem for streamers is a poor Internet connection, which can stop you from holding a steady live stream even at the best bitrate to avoid buffering.
Streaming in standard definition is always an option, but most viewers now expect high definition, so a standard definition stream looks dated.
The best option is to download the Speedify app to manage your Internet connections. Speedify is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux, and runs in the background to monitor the quality of each connection and spread your traffic across them.
On your phone, Speedify combines your Wi-Fi and 4G/5G cellular connections into one faster, more stable Internet connection, so your live stream has the upload it needs at your chosen bitrate.
If you are planning to live stream on any platform, try Speedify: the free tier gives you 5 GB per month with a free account, enough for a test broadcast.
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