Pick your platform and resolution to get the bitrate and OBS settings to use, then see how much data your streams use each month.
🎯 Bitrate Optimizer
Get platform-specific bitrate recommendations for optimal stream quality
📊 Bandwidth Calculator
Calculate data usage and streaming costs
Send one live stream to several platforms at the same time.
YouTube, Twitch, Kick and any other platform that takes an RTMP feed, all from one stream.
Get your bitrate
Choose the platform, resolution, frame rate and content, and press Get Optimal Settings.
Copy the settings to OBS
The bitrate, the audio bitrate and the encoder go in OBS's Output settings.
Check your data use
Enter the bitrate and how often you stream to see the gigabytes per hour, day, week and month.
Bitrate by platform
The video bitrate to set for each platform and resolution, and the upload speed it needs.
| Platform and quality | Video bitrate | Upload speed |
|---|---|---|
| Twitch 1080p 60 fps | 6,000 kbps | 9 Mbps |
| Twitch 1080p 30 fps | 4,500 kbps | 7 Mbps |
| Twitch 720p 60 fps | 4,500 kbps | 7 Mbps |
| Twitch 720p 30 fps | 3,000 kbps | 5 Mbps |
| Facebook Live 1080p | 4,000 kbps | 6 Mbps |
Twitch's standard maximum is 6,000 kbps; with Enhanced Broadcasting, Affiliates and Partners can stream 1440p at up to 9 Mbps. Upload speed is 1.5 times the bitrate. Checked September 2026.
1080p at 60 fps: 6,000 kbps, Twitch's standard maximum. 1080p at 30 fps and 720p at 60 fps: 4,500 kbps. 720p at 30 fps: 3,000 kbps. With Enhanced Broadcasting, Affiliates and Partners can stream 1440p at up to 9 Mbps (checked September 2026).
A 6,000 kbps stream uses about 2.7 GB an hour, so four hours a day at 1080p60 is about 324 GB a month. The formula: bitrate in kbps x 3,600 / 8 / 1,000,000 = GB per hour.
Bitrate is how much data your stream sends each second, in kbps. Bandwidth use is the total data over time. A higher bitrate looks better and uses more data.
CBR rate control, a keyframe interval of 2 seconds, and the bitrate for your platform and resolution. Use x264 if your processor has room to spare, or your graphics card's encoder if it does not. The calculator gives the settings for your platform.
At least 1.5 times your bitrate: 9 Mbps for a 6,000 kbps stream, 6 Mbps for Facebook Live at 4,000 kbps. Leave room for everything else on your connection.
The bitrate, then the resolution and the frame rate. Fast games need a higher bitrate than a talking stream, because more of the picture changes every second.
Stream at 720p30 instead of 1080p60, which uses about 40% less, stream fewer hours, or send one stream and let a server copy it to other platforms instead of uploading each one yourself.
x264, on the processor, gives the best picture at a given bitrate if the computer can spare it. NVIDIA NVENC and AMD's encoder use the graphics card instead, and leave the processor free for the game.
The bitrate is too high for your upload speed, or the connection is unstable. Keep the upload speed at 1.5 to 2 times the bitrate and use a cable instead of Wi-Fi when you can.
A lot. At an example rate of $10 per GB, a 6,000 kbps stream costs about $27 an hour, 2.7 GB. Use an unlimited plan or a home connection for regular streams.
Start with a free account. On a paid plan, one stream from your browser goes to YouTube, Twitch and Facebook at the same time.
Want the numbers first? See pricing