How it works
The tool starts from a lookup table of base video bitrates keyed on resolution and frame rate — 720p60 is 4500 kbps, 1080p60 is 6000, and 1440p60 is 12000 — then multiplies by a content-complexity factor and clamps the result to the platform ceiling. Those ceilings are 6000 kbps for non-partner Twitch and TikTok Live, 8000 for Twitch Partner/Enhanced and Kick, and 51000 for YouTube Live. The rest of the output is fixed: CBR rate control, a 2-second keyframe interval, High profile, and 160 kbps AAC audio.
Two inputs actually move the number. Content type applies a multiplier — Talking / IRL (low motion) 0.75, Gaming (moderate motion) 1.0, Motion-heavy (FPS / racing) 1.2 — so a motion-heavy 1080p60 stream asks for 7200 kbps and is then clipped back to 6000 on non-partner Twitch. Your upload speed changes nothing about the bitrate itself; it only drives the headroom check, which wants at least 1.5 times the recommended bitrate. The encoder choice swaps only the preset string it suggests.
This is a lookup table with two multipliers, not an encode analysis. It cannot see your scene, so a static webcam and a chaotic shooter at the same settings return the same number. It assumes H.264 throughout — there is no HEVC or AV1 option — and the headroom check compares only video bitrate against your upload, ignoring the 160 kbps of audio and container overhead. Platform limits also change over time, so treat the YouTube figure as an outer bound rather than a target.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my Twitch bitrate capped at 6000 kbps? +
The Twitch (non-partner) option applies a 6000 kbps ceiling, which is what a 1080p60 gaming stream already hits. Switch the Platform dropdown to Twitch (Partner / Enhanced) to raise the cap to 8000 kbps; a chip appears telling you when the cap has clipped your number.
How much upload speed do I need to stream 1080p60? +
The tool wants at least 1.5 times your video bitrate in upstream, so a 6000 kbps stream needs roughly 9 Mbps of real, wired upload. Below that you get a red warning; above it you get a chip showing your actual headroom multiple.
Should I raise the bitrate for fast-paced shooters? +
Yes, and the Content type dropdown does it for you. Motion-heavy (FPS / racing) multiplies the base bitrate by 1.2 and Talking / IRL cuts it to 0.75. On capped platforms the motion-heavy figure often lands above the ceiling and gets clipped back down.
What is in the Copy as OBS settings box? +
A plain-text block listing Output Mode, encoder name, rate control, bitrate, keyframe interval, preset, profile, output resolution, FPS and audio bitrate. You can paste it into notes and transcribe the values into OBS Advanced output settings field by field.
Why is the keyframe interval always 2 seconds? +
It is fixed rather than calculated. Two seconds is what live platforms expect for segmenting the stream into chunks for their viewers, so the tool reports it as a constant alongside CBR rate control for every platform and resolution combination.
Bitrate, resolution and framerate trade against each other
The bitrate a stream needs rises with both pixel count and frame rate, so 1080p60 needs substantially more than 1080p30 for equivalent quality, and 1440p more again. Sending a high resolution at an inadequate bitrate produces a worse result than sending a lower resolution well — the encoder has to throw away detail somewhere, and it does so in motion first.
That is why fast-moving content needs more bitrate than static content at the same settings: there is more change between frames to encode.
Upload capacity and platform limits
The hard ceiling is your actual sustained upload speed, not the figure on the contract, and a stream should sit comfortably below it — around 70–80% — to leave room for variation and for everything else using the connection. A stream that saturates the uplink drops frames, which is far more visible than lower quality.
Platforms also cap ingest, and the caps differ by platform and by channel status. Sending above the cap is discarded rather than used.
Whether the platform transcodes is the other consideration: without transcoding, viewers on poor connections have no lower-quality option and simply buffer, which argues for a more conservative source bitrate than the maximum.
