What Upload Speed Do You Need to Stream on Twitch?

Almost every new streamer checks the wrong number. They run a speed test, see 200 Mbps and assume they are fine. Then their stream stutters and drops frames, and they cannot work out why.

The reason is simple. That 200 Mbps is your download speed. Streaming uses upload, and on most home connections upload is a small fraction of download.

Download and upload are different numbers

Downloading means data coming to you: web pages, games, video. Uploading means data leaving you: your stream, your video calls, your file backups.

Most home internet is sold with these deliberately unbalanced, because most people download far more than they upload. A cable plan advertised as 200 Mbps might give you only 10 Mbps up. That is normal, and it is the number that decides whether you can stream.

Run a speed test and look at the second number, not the first.

The exact speeds you need

Your stream is sent at a set bitrate, measured in kilobits per second (kbps). Higher bitrate means a sharper picture and more upload used.

You need headroom on top of the bitrate. If your bitrate exactly matched your upload, any other device using the connection would break the stream. The figures below include 25% headroom, which is what our streaming bitrate calculator uses.

The practical answer for most people: you need about 7.5 Mbps upload for 1080p60 on Twitch. If you have 10 Mbps up or more, you are comfortable.

Why Twitch stops at 6000 kbps

Twitch caps non-partnered streams at 6000 kbps. Setting a higher number in your broadcast software does not give you a better picture. Twitch will either reject it or the stream will fail for viewers.

This is why 1440p and 4K are not really Twitch options. There is not enough bitrate to carry that many pixels cleanly, so a 1440p stream at 6000 kbps often looks worse than a 1080p stream at the same bitrate. YouTube allows far higher bitrates, which is why high-resolution streamers tend to be there.

Stream at 1080p60 or 720p60 on Twitch. Those are the settings the platform is built around.

How much data does streaming use?

Worth knowing if your connection has a monthly limit.

At 6000 kbps you upload about 2.7 GB per hour. Stream four hours a day and that is roughly 324 GB a month. At 720p60 it is about half that.

If you are on a capped or mobile connection, check that against your allowance before you start. Our bandwidth calculator will work out what your whole household needs, and the transfer time calculator covers the other direction.

Upload speed is not the only thing that breaks a stream

Stability beats raw speed

A steady 8 Mbps is better than a 50 Mbps connection that drops to 2 every few minutes. Streaming sends data continuously, so a gap of a second is a visible stutter for every viewer.

Run a speed test several times across a day, especially in the evening when everyone in your area is online. The lowest number you see is the one to plan around.

Use a cable

Wi-Fi is the most common cause of dropped frames. It is shared, it is affected by walls and microwaves, and it varies second to second. An ethernet cable removes all of that in one step.

If you can only test one change, test this one.

Watch your ping too

Ping is how long data takes to reach the server. High ping does not directly break a stream, but it usually appears alongside the instability that does. Check yours with the ping and latency calculator.

Other devices are using your upload

Cloud backups, phone photo sync and video calls all compete for the same upload. If your stream degrades at the same time every day, look for a scheduled backup.

Your PC has to keep up as well

Upload gets you to the platform. Encoding gets you to the upload.

Encoding means compressing your gameplay into a video stream, and it takes real work. There are two ways to do it:

• Hardware encoding uses a dedicated chip on your graphics card — NVENC on NVIDIA, AMF on AMD. It barely touches your game performance. This is what almost everyone should use.
• Software encoding (x264) uses your processor. It gives slightly better quality per bit but costs frames in the game. Only worth it on a very strong CPU, or on a second machine.

If your frame rate drops the moment you go live, switch to hardware encoding first. You can check whether your parts are balanced for it with the bottleneck calculator and the FPS calculator.

Settings that work

A starting point for 1080p60 on Twitch:

Frequently asked questions

Can I stream with 5 Mbps upload?

Yes, at 1080p30 or 720p60. Not comfortably at 1080p60. Lower the frame rate before you lower the resolution — 1080p30 usually looks better than 720p60 for slow games, and the reverse is true for fast ones.

Why do I drop frames with fast internet?

Almost always Wi-Fi, or another device eating your upload, or the wrong server. Try a cable first, then change the ingest server in your broadcast software.

Is 720p60 or 1080p30 better?

For fast games, 720p60 — smooth motion matters more. For slower games, 1080p30 — detail matters more.

Do I need a second PC to stream?

Not any more. Hardware encoders made single-PC streaming reliable. A second machine is for people pushing very high settings or running complex productions.

Does streaming use my download speed at all?

Only a little, for chat and alerts. The stream itself is upload.

The short version

Check your upload, not your download. You need about 7.5 Mbps for 1080p60 on Twitch, and 3.8 Mbps for 720p60. Twitch caps at 6000 kbps, so streaming above 1080p is not worth it there. Use an ethernet cable, use hardware encoding, and test at your busiest time of day.

Work out your exact settings with the streaming bitrate calculator.