How to stream on Twitch – You are a big fan of video games and since your friends have told you about Twitch you are no longer in the skin and you can not wait to make yourself known as a video player on this platform. Moreover, today the world of gaming thanks to the possibility of playing online has significantly widened the boundaries of competition between gamers, tracing the feelings of satisfaction that it was once possible to experience only in the gaming rooms of your neighborhood, ‘challenging’ friends and acquaintances. It is precisely for this purpose that you are looking for information on how to stream on Twitch, to show other gamers what you are made of.
Table of Contents
What does it mean How to stream on Twitch?
Streammare is a term that has entered the common speech of video game enthusiasts thanks to Twitch: it means nothing more than ‘streaming’, that is, transmitting audio and video via the Internet. Nothing new, so to speak ‘streammare’ is also the action taken by Netflix or Disney + to show films and TV series to its users. In this case, however, the streaming is not live, but the user accesses the server of the platforms where the content is hosted. Streaming on Twitch instead means sharing in real-time what you are doing while you play!
Streaming on Twitch is not easy, even if no computer experience is required, you need to know that software that allows you to broadcast live must be used. In addition, to stream, you need to connect these software to your Twitch account. Not only that, beyond the connection between streaming software and the platform account, minimum system requirements must be met in order for the transmission to flow smoothly by other users.
Minimum requirements for streaming on Twitch
We can distinguish the minimum requirements to be met for streaming on Twitch in two types:
- hardware , ie the physical instruments with which you play and stream audio and video;
- software , that is, the programs to be used to record and transmit to other users of the live audio and video platform.
Streaming requires a certain amount of computing resources and speed. It can be streamed from both a computer and a video game console. In the first case you must have a good processor available (i.e. at least an Intel Core i5 or a comparable AMD), at least 8GB of RAM memory and a quality graphics card (which supports DirectX10 or higher). On Windows you must have at least the Windows 7 operating system. If your intention is to use a computer how to stream on Twitch then proceed with reading this article. Alternatively, if you have a latest generation console, such as Playstation or X-Box, you can stream equally without needing a computer.
Hardware for good streaming quality on Twitch
It is possible How to stream on Twitch meeting the minimum system requirements presented above and using hardware such as webcam, microphone, headphones, keyboards or joysticks. Of course these components also define the quality of the transmission. The platform’s most famous gamers invest a lot of money in specific equipment to improve the quality of streaming and guarantee viewers a full immersion in their performances.
A good quality streaming guarantees to succeed more easily and earn money with Twitch: the equipment is crucial to more realistically experience the emotions we feel during the game, to hear more clearly the audio and the video game sounds or our voice (for example in response to viewers who write to us in chat, as well as sighs and screams during the game).
Obviously, it is very important to have a fast internet connection. In particular, the upload value of your connection to the network matters a lot (later we will show you how to measure it).
Software for streaming on Twitch from PC or Mac
Before you equip yourself with software to know How to stream on Twitch, log in to your account then go to the settings of the platform. In order to transmit, in fact, you will have to configure some parameters in the system options and above all recover your streaming code to transmit.
Click on the word Streaming code in the Stream preferences: press ‘Show code’ and then on ‘I understand’ to display it. Pin the code on a notepad or copy it to your PC’s clipboard, you will soon need to connect your profile to the software you will install to transmit.
To stream, you can use different software. Some are available for free, others require a paid license. There are programs that can only be used on Windows, others are also available for the Mac. Twitch also has proprietary streaming software, although still in Beta: Twitch Studio. The program does not require any license and is, therefore, free to use, but works for the moment only on PCs that install a Windows operating system.
The software we will tell you about today is the OBS Project . Searching the net, almost all streaming or informative sites will show you exactly this software: the reason? OBS Project is a free open-source software, it is available for both Windows and Mac and Linux, but above all it offers a varied range of tools for capturing audio and video, as well as ‘mixing’. OBS is promoted by the Twitch platform itself (but also by Facebook). It is a software widely used also by influencers on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram TV, who use it to record and edit video clips.
OBS Project
OBS is the acronym for ‘Open Broadcaster Software’ and now we will show you how to stream on Twitch.
- Before starting, however, download the software from the official website of the manufacturer by clicking here and proceed with the installation, then start the program.
- At the first start, you will be asked if you want to carry out the configuration wizard, refuse by pressing the No button so that you can proceed with manual configuration.
Now it is essential to follow these steps to correctly configure the OBS Project program and transmit on Twitch. First, from the top menu select File then click on Settings. A window will open where you will find icons accompanied by the related items on the left: here start by selecting ‘Transmission’ . In the right part of the screen make sure that the words ‘Streaming type’ and ‘Service’ are set to ‘Streaming services’ and ‘Twitch’ respectively while in the ‘Stream key’ field you will have to enter the Streaming Code that you previously recovered in your Twitch account (as we explained in the previous paragraph).
The next step involves configuring the quality of the streaming: therefore go to the item ‘Output’ always from the Settings panel. Here you have to set a custom value for the video bit rate which will also determine the quality of the transmission signal. These are the values recommended by Twitch:
- For 1080p resolution with 30 FPS set a range from 3500 to 5000 kbps;
- For 720p resolution with 30 FPS set a range from 2500 to 4000 kpbs.
The ideal configuration for your transmission should never exceed 3/4 of your upload connection speed or otherwise fall within the parameters suggested by the platform.
Assuming that your upload speed is 4000 kpbs, you will have to enter 3000 kbps as the value in OBS (i.e. 3/4 or 75% of your maximum upload speed). If you have to exceed this speed widely, for example if you have an ultra-fast connection such as optical fiber, it is however not recommended to set Bitrate values that do not fall within the range suggested by Twitch. The reason? Even if your transmission holds these parameters, viewers may have problems viewing it correctly because maybe they don’t have a fast enough connection.
After that, go to the ‘Video’ tab and configure the streaming size. This operation is related to the previous one: based on the Bitrate value you will have to choose the resolution. Such as?
- If your upload connection allows you to set a high bitrate frequency (in the range 3500 to 5000 kbps or higher), set it as 1920 × 1080 resolution;
- If your upload connection falls within the range of 2500 to 4000 kbps, set it as 1280 × 720 resolution;
Instead, you must leave the value 30 in the ‘Common FPS values’ field.
Also configure the ‘Audio’ section to indicate which source you want to record the audio from: allow capture of the audio of the game you intend to transmit and the microphone with which to comment or respond live. Click on Ok to close the Settings.
Well, after the configuration, the last step is to add the video to be transmitted. In the main OBS screen, locate the ‘Origins’ box among those below, click on the (+) to add a source: select ‘Capture full-screen window (Game)’ in the drop-down menu. Obviously, if you want to make your viewers participate in your emotions, we recommend that you provide a webcam and also add your box during the transmission: you can do it by clicking again on the (+) and selecting the ‘Video capture device’ item. Adjust the audio volumes by moving the levers in the Mixer section, then press Start Transmission to start streaming.
Also read: How to Raid on Twitch?
Using all the steps carefully you can successfully know on How to stream on Twitch. If you face any problem then feel free to ask with us.
