Best OBS Settings for Streaming: Bitrate, Keyframe, CBR

The short answer

There is no single best OBS setting, because platforms publish different numbers and every connection is different. What does work is an order of decisions: pick the platforms, pick the quality your upload speed can carry, then enter CBR, a 2 second keyframe interval, a bitrate inside every platform's published range and 128 kbps stereo audio. This guide builds that order from the platforms' own pages and the OBS Project's guides, as of October 5, 2026, and uses the same data as our streaming bitrate recommender.

The order to set things in OBS

1. Run the Auto-Configuration Wizard. The OBS Quick Start Guide places it under Tools and says it considers your goal, hardware and network. Treat its result as a starting point.
2. Settings, Video. Choose the base (canvas) resolution, the output (scaled) resolution and the frame rate. Lowering the output resolution or using 30 instead of 60 fps is one of the OBS Project's suggestions when encoding is overloaded.
3. Settings, Output. Switch Output Mode to Advanced to reach the encoder, rate control, bitrate and keyframe interval. Set rate control to CBR, bitrate from this page, keyframe interval to 2 seconds.
4. Settings, Audio. Choose your microphone and desktop audio devices; set audio bitrate in Settings, Output.
5. Settings, Stream. Add the server and key for your platform or relay.
6. Test for a few minutes as the Quick Start Guide encourages, watching for dropped frames.

What each platform asks for

The pattern is clear: every platform that states a keyframe interval wants about 2 seconds, and most want constant bitrate. See keyframe interval and what is bitrate for the reasons, and the recommender for bitrate rows by resolution.

Fit the bitrate to your upload speed

The OBS Project's Stream Connection Troubleshooting page says a good starting point for video bitrate is 75% of your total upload speed. YouTube's tips page says the total bitrate cannot exceed your upload bandwidth and recommends leaving about 20% of room. Both rules lead to the same habit: measure upload, not download.

Worked example: with a measured 10 Mbps upload, 75% is 7.5 Mbps. That allows 1080p30 at 6,000 kbps video plus 128 kbps audio, about 6.1 Mbps in total, with room to spare. With 5 Mbps upload, 75% is 3.75 Mbps, which suits 720p30 at 3,000 kbps. Enter your own numbers in the bandwidth calculator.

One bitrate that suits several platforms

If you send one stream to a relay, every destination gets the same video, so choose a value inside all published ranges. Here is the overlap from the platforms' figures:

At 720p30, 3,000 kbps is inside YouTube's range, equals Twitch's recommendation, is inside Facebook's range and is below LinkedIn's 3.5 Mbps recommendation and Kick's maximum.

At 1080p30 the figures overlap between 5,000 kbps (YouTube's listed minimum) and 6,000 kbps (Facebook's top and LinkedIn's maximum). Twitch recommends 4,500 kbps, so a stream at 5,000 to 6,000 kbps is above Twitch's single recommendation; test it, or choose 720p30 if every destination must be within its own published figure. These overlaps are our arithmetic on the platforms' numbers, not a platform recommendation, and they change when the platforms update their pages.

Choosing an encoder

The OBS System Requirements page says CPU needs vary considerably with the encoder, resolution, frame rate and scene complexity, and that a compatible system does not guarantee it can stream. The OBS Advanced Recording Settings Guide names the encoders OBS offers presets for: NVENC, x264, AMD and Quicksync, and uses a 2 second keyframe interval in each. In practice, if OBS reports encoding overloaded, the Encoding Performance page suggests running OBS as administrator on Windows, closing other GPU-heavy programs, capping game frame rate and lowering output resolution or frame rate.

Audio that works everywhere

The platforms agree closely on audio: YouTube lists 128 kbps stereo, Facebook 44.1 kHz stereo at 128 Kbps, LinkedIn 128 kbps at 48 kHz and Twitch AAC-LC at 96 kbps recommended with 160 kbps as the maximum. 128 kbps stereo AAC sits inside all of those. Test your input with the microphone test and your picture with the webcam test.

Guides for each platform

Apply these settings with the platform guides: YouTube with OBS, Twitch with OBS and Facebook with OBS. To send one stream to all of them, read how to multistream with OBS Studio and see features and pricing. Where each key lives is on stream keys by platform.

Sources

• YouTube Help: Choose live encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions
• Twitch Help: Broadcasting Guidelines
• Facebook Help Centre: Time limit and guidelines for live streaming on Facebook
• Meta for Developers: Live Video API reference
• OBS Project: Quick Start Guide (page dated 2021-08-25)
• OBS Project knowledge base: Stream Connection Troubleshooting (page dated 2024-09-30; cited by name, the OBS Project asks people not to link to knowledge base pages)
• OBS Project knowledge base: Encoding Performance Troubleshooting (page dated 2021-06-12; cited by name)
• OBS Project knowledge base: System Requirements (page dated 2021-08-25; cited by name)
• OBS Project knowledge base: Advanced Recording Settings Guide (page dated 2023-11-30; cited by name)
• YouTube Help: Streaming tips

Platform figures were checked on October 5, 2026. Platforms change their recommendations, so confirm against the current documentation before you go live.