Have you started to stream on Youtube but the quality isn’t up to the standard you expected. In this article, we are going to take a look at the best settings for a great-looking Youtube stream, even if you don’t have a powerful PC.
Let’s jump in and get started.
Best OBS/Streamlabs Settings For Youtube
First let’s go through the best settings for Streamlabs or OBS depending on your choice of streaming software. For this example we will be using OBS but the same settings apply to Streamlabs.
Youtube has the ability to stream up to 4k resolution however we won’t be covering 4k streaming in this article as it is likely too resource-intensive for most peoples internet connections and PC Setups. For the best experience for you and your audience we recommend streaming at 1080P 30FPS however you can push it further if you have the internet and PC to do so.
Below is a list of resolutions and bitrates required to stream at that resolution.
| Resolution | Bitrate |
| 4K / 30 FPS | 13,000 – 34,000 Kbps |
| 1440p / 30 FPS | 6,000 – 13,000 Kbps |
| 1080p / 30 FPS | 3,000 – 6000 Kbps |
| 720p / 30 FPS | 1,500 – 4,000 Kbps |
Following this guide we will be setting up our stream for 1080p 30FPS streaming.
Best OBS Video Settings For Youtube
Navigate to your OBS or Streamlabs Video settings tab.
Here you should set your Base (Canvas) Resolution and Output (Scaled) Resolution to 1920 x 1080. Set downscale filter to Bilinear as we are not scaling between resolutions.
Set your FPS value to 30 FPS. These are the recommended video settings for 1080p streaming on Youtube.
Best OBS Output Settings For Youtube
Navigate to the Output Settings section in OBS and set the Output mode to Advanced and select the Streaming tab.
Depending on the graphics card you’re using their is two different options to choose from here for you’re encoder. If you are using an AMD Graphics Card you will want to use the Software x264 encoder whereas if you’re using an Nvidia graphics card you want to use the NVENC encoder.
The NVENC encoder allows you to use your GPU to encode your stream. This method of encoding has proved to work great for improving stream quality while being less resource-intensive.
Below is the best Software (x264) settings:
| Setting | |
| Rate Control | CBR |
| Bitrate | 6,000 |
| Keyframe Interval | 0 |
| CPU Usage Preset | veryfast |
| Profile & Tune | None |
Below is the best NVENC Settings:
When it comes to NVENC we have a few extra options to choose from and customize:
| Setting | |
| Rate Control | CBR |
| Bitrate | 6,000 |
| Keyframe Interval | 0 |
| Preset | Quality |
| Profile | High |
| Psycho Visual Tuning | Enabled |
| GPU | 0 |
| Max B-Frames | 2 |
These are the main settings you should adjust in OBS or Streamlabs to have a great quality stream on Youtube live. Now we need to take a look at your settings on Youtube.
Best Youtube Settings For Streaming
We have now set up our streaming software settings but there are some more settings we can adjust in the actual Youtube Live Stream Settings page.
When it comes to the Youtube settings the main setting we want to look at is latency. You can find this on your live stream page:
Latency is the time between what you are doing and when your audience will see it. Having a higher latency on Youtube will give you the best quality image however there will be a longer time between what you are doing and when your audience can see it. This makes it harder to interact and answer questions in real time.
If you are an interactive live streamer I would highly recommend going with Ultra-low latency. This will give you as close to real-time as you can get on your stream and still have a really good image quality.
If you are focused on having the highest quality possible and are not worried about engagement then you should go for normal latency.
This is really the only setting that needs to be adjusted on the Youtube platform.
You are now set up and ready to stream to your audience with a high-quality stream.
Wrapping Up
You should now have set up your OBS or Streamlabs alongside your Youtube settings for an amazing-looking stream. Your viewers should experience a smooth stream with no lag while your computer is running smoothly without bottle-necking. Enjoy streaming on Youtube.
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