How to Stream on Twitch with OBS Studio: Settings and Setup

The short answer

To stream to Twitch with OBS Studio, open Settings, Stream, connect your Twitch account (or paste your stream key), set the video and output settings to match Twitch's Broadcasting Guidelines, and click Start Streaming. Twitch's developer documentation names OBS Studio among the encoders broadcasters use, along with Twitch Studio, Streamlabs and XSplit. This guide uses Twitch's documentation and the OBS Project's guides, as of October 5, 2026.

How OBS talks to Twitch

Twitch uses RTMP. Its developer docs give the broadcast URL format as rtmp://<ingest-server>/app/<stream-key>, where the ingest server is one of the servers on Twitch's ingest list and the stream key comes from your broadcaster dashboard. The docs also show an optional ?bandwidthtest=true suffix on the key for bandwidth tests. You rarely type this yourself: OBS builds the address for you when you connect your account, which is why account connection is the easiest route. For the format in depth, see Twitch stream key and what is RTMP.

Step 1: connect OBS to Twitch

1. Open Settings, Stream in OBS Studio.
2. Connect your Twitch account with the Connect Account button, as the OBS Project's Twitch VOD Track Guide describes. Alternatively choose the Twitch service and paste your stream key from your Twitch dashboard.
3. If you have connection trouble, the OBS Stream Connection Troubleshooting page suggests trying a different server in the same Settings, Stream window.
4. Keep the stream key private. Anyone with it can stream to your channel. See what is a stream key.

OBS Studio builds your picture from Sources. The Quick Start Guide lists Display Capture or Window Capture for your screen, Screen Capture on macOS, Game Capture (Windows only) and Video Capture Device for a webcam. The Audio Mixer captures desktop audio and your microphone by default, and you can change the devices in Settings, Audio. If you are unsure where to begin, the guide points to the Auto-Configuration Wizard under the Tools menu, which considers your goal, hardware and network.

Step 2: use Twitch's published settings

Twitch's Broadcasting Guidelines suggest all broadcasters use CBR (constant bitrate), a 2 second keyframe interval and H.264. They list one recommended bitrate for each setting:

For audio, Twitch recommends AAC-LC at 96 kbps and lists 160 kbps as the maximum. Set these in OBS under Settings, Output (Advanced mode shows rate control and keyframe interval) and Settings, Video. The bitrate recommender shows the same figures next to other platforms, what is bitrate explains CBR and kbps, and keyframe interval explains the 2 second setting.

Optional: a different audio track for your VOD

OBS Studio has a built-in Twitch VOD track feature. The OBS Project says it lets you send one audio feed live and a different one to the VOD, commonly to remove music from the VOD. To use it: connect your Twitch account in Settings, Stream; in Settings, Output tick Enable Custom Encoder Settings and then Twitch VOD Track; then open Advanced Audio Properties from the Audio Mixer. By default track 1 is the live feed and track 2 is the VOD feed, and you can use tracks 3 to 6 to separate audio for editing afterwards.

Step 3: test, then go live

Twitch's docs describe the Twitch Inspector for checking your connection, and the OBS Project mentions a TwitchTest option on Windows and Enhanced Broadcasting in its troubleshooting page. We have not tested these, so see those pages for details. Otherwise, do a short private test with OBS and watch the stats for dropped frames before you start the real show.

Run a test before every important show. The OBS Project's Quick Start Guide says to test your settings in Settings, Output and then use Start Streaming or Start Recording, and it strongly encourages running a test for a few minutes. Make that test private (or Practice mode on Instagram) so no audience sees it.

The OBS Project says a good starting point for bitrate is 75% of your total upload speed; compare that with the table above and use the bandwidth calculator.

Streaming to Twitch and other platforms

Twitch publishes its own simulcasting rules, summarised on what is simulcasting; read them before you stream the same show elsewhere. If you do, OBS can send one stream to a relay that delivers to Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Kick and TikTok. See how to multistream with OBS Studio, features and pricing.

Sources

• Twitch Developers: Video Broadcast (broadcast URLs and stream keys)
• Twitch ingest server list
• Twitch Help: Broadcasting Guidelines
• OBS Project: Quick Start Guide (page dated 2021-08-25)
• OBS Project knowledge base: Twitch VOD Track Guide (page dated 2023-07-14; cited by name)
• 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)

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