Video encoder settings, bitrate and live broadcast resolution. What bitrate is best for video

Every year the number of streamers is growing, because the gaming industry is still growing exponentially and is not going to stop. But not only gamers do online broadcasting; almost all popular bloggers have started doing this, because it makes the audience more loyal and YouTube ranks higher the videos of the channel that regularly streams.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to properly set up a stream through obs and other programs for live broadcasting on YouTube. In this article you will find step-by-step instructions on how to start a live broadcast on regular YouTube, and we will also talk a little about the new YouTube Gaming service.

Why are YouTube streams gaining popularity?

YouTube is the third most visited site in the world, literally billions of people from all over the world watch it. Since there is a large audience in almost any niche, the platform has become attractive for the development of channels, and since real-time streams have become a popular video format in gaming and some other popular video formats, YouTube has long ago decided to develop in this direction.

First, they made it possible to broadcast live directly on YouTube, and then they even opened a separate service for gamers, where you can receive money if they subscribe to your channel using a paid subscription (become a sponsor). Therefore, every month there are many more streamers on YouTube, even schoolchildren of 10-15 years old manage to get 500 thousand views on their videos, this means that there is still very little competition and it’s time to start streaming if you haven’t already.

The benefits of streaming onYouTube:

Very high quality, you can stream with a resolution of 1920x1080 and 60 frames per second
High bitrate that is limited only by your internet speed
Streams are recorded and can be watched again or simply stopped.
Online broadcasts on YouTube are saved very quickly and almost immediately after the end of the stream they are available as a regular video.
Huge traffic on the site and great prospects for earning money
Almost everyone has a Google account, so they don't have to register to leave comments and likes.
YouTube even allows you to edit saved broadcasts.

How to start an online broadcast on YouTube

To start live streaming, you first need to verify your account. To do this, click on the video camera icon in the upper right part of the screen, and then click “Start broadcasting”

Everything here is elementary and everyone can figure it out, the most important thing is to confirm your phone number here in any convenient way.

After confirmation, you will need to wait for moderation, which usually lasts 15-20 hours.

Setting up OBS

After downloading, open the program and let's start setting it up. It is very important to objectively evaluate the capabilities of your computer and Internet speed in order to set the correct video quality and bitrate. If you make a mistake in the settings, you can end up with a stream with lags that no one wants to watch.

Settings. Open the program and click the “Settings” button in the lower right corner.

We select Russian if it is English and begin to configure.

Go to the tab "Broadcasting", and choose which service we will broadcast to, in this case we need to select YouTube. The server must be selected “Primary YouTube ingest server”.

There is still one empty field “Stream Key”; it must be entered right before the start of the stream.

Now go to the tab "Conclusion". Here you need to configure the output mode, it is better to set it to “Simple” and specify the bitrate. The bitrate should be chosen depending on the speed of your Internet, so measure it initially. When measuring speed, convert the outgoing Internet speed to kilobits and, based on it, decide what bitrate to set. If you have an outgoing Internet speed of 2MB, then your maximum bitrate should be 2000, but it is better to specify less, since the Internet is often unstable. It is better to indicate 300-500 units less.

It is better to leave the encoder and audio bitrate as proposed. The program selects the default encoder and selects the audio bitrate based on the specified bitrate.

Also, do not forget to indicate the path to the video recording, so that later you can use the stream and watch it or upload it to other sources. The default format is FLV, it is better to leave it, since problems often occur with other formats.

In chapter audio change the settings only if you clearly understand why you are doing it. Everything here is set by default and that’s enough for you. The only thing you can do is change the frequency to 44 KHz so that there are definitely no lags in your ears.

IMPORTANT! Pay attention to your connected devices. Sometimes users forget that they have headphones with a microphone and a separate microphone connected at the same time. If you have the same, then disable one of them, or specify them all in the program. For those who have one microphone, nothing needs to be changed.

In chapter video you need to choose the base screen resolution that you actually have. But you need to choose the output so that your computer is powerful enough and the Internet is fast enough, otherwise the image will be transmitted with a delay and lags. Choosing Full HD 1920 x 1080 is only worth it on very powerful computers and it is better to test your stream somewhere separately before launching it for subscribers.

We use the Lanczos Method as a filter, and set the FPS depending on our capabilities. For the first time, it is better to set 30 FPS, especially if you doubt the power of the computer.

In the tab hotkeys You can configure it as you wish to use them to control the broadcast, stop it, pause, repeat, etc. And it’s best to print them out on a piece of paper so you don’t forget them during the stream.

In advanced settings, the priority is low, medium or high depending on the power of your computer. We select the render depending on your version of Windows, on 10 you need to set “Dirext3D 12”, and on the rest you can “Dirext3D 11”

Make the color format as in the screenshot below

You don’t need to touch anything else, click apply or ok.

We return to the main OBS window and look around. Now we need to find "Scenes" and "Sources".

In the scenes window, click “+” and come up with any name. Then click the plus at the source and select what the program will record; if you just want to stream the game, then click “Game Capture”.

A window will open in which you need to check the “Make source visible” checkbox; if this is not done, the game will not be shown on the screen.

Click ok and another window opens. In it you need to select “Capture any full-screen application” and check the “Cursor capture” checkbox, but if you need to display courses, then do not check it.

Now double-click on “Game Capture” in the sources window and if everything is done correctly, the game that runs on your computer will appear.

All that remains is to finish the settings on YouTube.

We turn on the first broadcast on YouTube

We return to our YouTube channel and go to the “Creative Studio”.

In the left menu, click on “Channel”.

and look for “Live broadcasts”. Click “Enable”.

We look for the “Live broadcasts” window on this page and click “Enable”.

We write a title for the stream and a description, and also select a category. Next, go to “Advanced settings” and change them if necessary.

IMPORTANT! Here you will find the broadcast key which you need to copy and paste its settings into OBS.

In the advanced settings, you can set “Limited access” if you want to start a stream for a test without anyone seeing it. In the broadcast type, select “Special”.

Select “Special” broadcast type.

Specify the recording date

You can customize the chat or disable it altogether.

Click “Start Broadcast” and you’re done. If you did everything correctly, the countdown will begin and the live broadcast will begin.

This is what the YouTube broadcast window will look like.

I hope this step-by-step instructions for setting up a stream (live broadcast) through the OBS program helped you, and you were able to launch it.

YouTube Gaming

YouTube has already launched the “Gaming” service, which is completely made for the gaming theme. This is not a completely separate service, because almost everything works through regular YouTube, but there are a few differences.

The service already hosts several thousand live broadcasts, all of them on the topic of games. Here everything is done for gamers, games are divided by name and you can subscribe to streams for certain games, and not just channels. Just like you noticed here there is a dark design that suits the gaming theme more.

To start a live broadcast, you need to click “Start broadcast” in the upper right part of the screen, but don’t be alarmed, you will be transferred to regular YouTube, but you will still be broadcast to YouTube Gaming.

Sponsorship.

We made a very useful feature for channel authors. Now you can subscribe to the channel for money, which in the amount of 70% (taxes) will go to the author, and the rest to YouTube. If the channel does not violate the rules and is connected to monetization, then it will have a button like this under each video “Become a sponsor.”

For 249 rubles a month you will get a few dubious privileges that essentially do not carry anything useful. But the sponsorship is made in order for the author to support the channel directly, without third-party donation services, etc.

So, you’ve built yourself a decent computer, learned the art of a mid player in Dota 2, and decided to launch your first broadcast. Or commentate on someone's match. On Twitch.tv, of course.

Congratulations, you have just taken your first plunge into an incredibly stormy river with a steep bed and a lot of pitfalls. Fortunately, all sorts of tricky issues like broadcasting with chromakey or commentating on large events can be dealt with later, but for now you can deal with the basic problems.

For example, choosing the optimal bitrate.

We offer you a translation of the blog of one of the commentators from the Moonduck.TV studio Pimpmuckl, dedicated to the basic settings of the Dota 2 stream.

Bitrate is the most important aspect of a stream. We will try to squeeze out the highest quality possible for you.

The first step is to download the quality tester for your traffic from Twitch.tv from the Team Liquid website. We run the program and remove all regions from the test except “home”. A test in Europe, for example, will look like this:

Great, now we choose a server with the best bitrate/quality, take its test results and subtract 500kbit/sec from them. We write down the resulting indicator as the “maximum bitrate”. Abbreviated as max bitrate.

If you managed to achieve the status of a Twitch.tv partner (for example, you are broadcasting some tournament), then you can safely set the same max bitrate as “maximum bitrate” already in the settings of your streamer program (for example, Open Broadcaster Software > Settings > Encoding ). One caveat: there is no point in setting it to more than 3,500 kbit/sec for the simple reason that Twitch will not allow such a large stream.

If you do not have partner status, your ceiling is 2,500. Beyond this limit, the stream will begin to lag.

You should also think about your target audience. There are regions on the globe where the Internet is not as good as in some Moscow, and if the main viewers of some local event do not have a connection faster than 2 Mbps, then it is better to “calm down” your stream to 1,500 kbps to save the audience from buffering.

Permission

We will set the video resolution based on the bitrate:

500–1,000 kbps: 480p 30fps
1,000–1,500: 540p 30fps
1,500–2,000: 720p 30fps
2,000–3,500: 720p 60fps
3,500: 900p 60fps

We remind you that we are now talking specifically about the Dota 2 broadcast. Do not even try to set CS:Go or Overwatch to 900p60 or any other FPS on the stream.

720p 60fps is the gold standard to strive for. And the quality will be good, and any devices like Chromecast will have no problems transmitting such a stream.

All sorts of little things

In the “advanced settings” of OBS, you can further play around with optimization. For example, tweak the x264 CPU preset by changing the default value “veryfast” to fast. This, roughly speaking, will give an increase in video quality due to a greater load on the CPU.

True, in 90% of cases it is better to stay on veryfast and play with this parameter only if your computer has a very good processor.

Another trick for owners of GCN AMD CPU: set opencl=true in the advanced settings, and the system will start working a little faster.

Nota bene: we never check the box next to “Encode in Full Range”. Previously, this option was needed, since some programs such as VLC could display colors in the video incorrectly, but now this problem does not exist at all.

If your computer does not have a very powerful processor, you can change the “Encoder” parameter. NVENC/AMD VCE load the computer much less, however, in this case you will have to sacrifice the quality of the video stream. Installing Intel QuickSync also makes sense: in terms of stream quality, this option is noticeably ahead of the previous two, but still falls short of x264.

And finally, for gamers playing on a map with a modified landscape (remember once again, we are talking about Dota 2), on relatively weak PCs it is better to switch to a standard map. The landscape from the Battle Pass of the latest The International will stifle any attempts at streaming on a budget computer.

True, if your hardware can handle this landscape, a video stream with x264 encoding will turn out even a little better in quality. The point is that the Battle Pass arena itself is very light, and in x264 bright colors “weigh” less in bitrate/quality than dark tones. Accordingly, a “light” stream will look neater than a “dark” stream with the same bitrate.

However, my main choice is still the default terrain.

Bitrate is indicated as one of the main characteristics of video and audio recordings. Most users are accustomed to thinking that it determines the quality of the downloaded file. But what are bitrates and how do they actually characterize music files and videos? Let's look at this in more detail.

What are bitrates?

Bitrate is a value that displays the number of units of information (megabits or kilobits) contained in one second of file playback. Accordingly, it is measured in megabits per second (Mbps) or kilobits per second (Kbps). Otherwise, bitrate can be described as bandwidth. This characteristic is important for those who want to convert files because, given the same duration, a higher bitrate will result in a larger file. In addition to size, sound quality also changes. Reducing the size as the bitrate decreases is called compression.

A common music file is an audio file compressed to such an extent that up to 12 hours of music can fit on a standard disc. At the same time, the quality remains quite high thanks to psychoacoustic compression: sounds with those frequencies and volume levels that are not picked up by the human ear are removed from the entire range. Selected sounds are formed into separate blocks called frames. Frames have the same sound duration and are compressed according to a given algorithm. When music is played, the signal is recreated from the decoded blocks in a specific sequence.

What compression is commonly used?

The audio bitrate is most often 256 Kbps. At this value, the audio recording is compressed approximately 6 times in size, allowing you to record 6 times more music on one disc than before compression. If the bitrate is lowered to 128 Kbps, then one disc will fit 12 times more music, but the sound quality will be noticeably lower. Music recorded in 128 Kbps quality is most often offered for listening on the Internet, because in pursuit of increasing page loading speed, resource owners make any sacrifices. Many users note that its quality is far from ideal.

Now that it is clear what bitrates are, it’s time to determine their optimal level. Both amateurs and professionals endlessly debate how bitrate affects sound quality, if at all. On music albums, as a rule, the bitrate is indicated. The same disc, recorded at 128 Kbit/s and 256 Kbit/s, will be twice as expensive.

Optimal bitrate under different listening conditions

For many people, 12x compression does not pose any harm, while others claim that they cannot listen to music with a bitrate lower than 320 Kbps. It’s paradoxical, but both are right. The fact is that ultimately the quality of playback depends not on but on the playback conditions and even on the type of music.

For example, a song is played on a tape recorder installed in a domestic car. In this case, quality at 192 Kbps will be quite sufficient. A higher bitrate will improve the sound quality, but the difference will not be noticeable due to the high noise level during the trip. If music is played on a home computer or portable player, then at least 256 Kbps is required. If the signal is not subject to changes, is transmitted to external devices and output to expensive imported speakers, then you should, if possible, resort to minimal compression. It is possible at a bitrate of 320 Kbps.

Optimal bitrate for various music styles

High bitrate music is not always needed. Popular music usually sounds quite good at a bitrate of 192-256 Kbps. It's possible to set a higher quality, but there's no point in doing so: pop songs don't last long, so saving disk space should be a priority. In addition, the quality of the source recordings is also mediocre, so increasing the bitrate may not affect the quality of the played file. For listening in transport and at informal parties, average quality is quite enough.

If we are talking about classical music, works of legendary rock bands or rare original songs, then quality should be above all. When purchasing such music, you need to look at the bitrate indicated on the disc packaging. If the song is downloaded from the Internet, then such information should be present on the download page. In addition, the bitrate is displayed in the player during playback.

Video file bitrates

We discussed above what bitrates of audio recordings are. But what is video bitrate? Considering that the video is played as a sequence of sounds and images, the definition of bitrate will be similar. The presence of video makes the file heavier, but ultimately images for the processor are the same zeros and ones as sounds. The principle of encrypting information is the same for all file types.

> How to change MP3 bitrate?

Introduction.

MP3 is the most common audio format, supported by most modern players. Files in this format are small in size, but when encoding into MP3, loss of sound quality is inevitable. The quality in this format can be characterized by bitrate. Bitrate is a parameter indicating how much data is allocated to a certain segment of audio. The bitrate is set during encoding and can only be changed through recoding.

If you increase the MP3 bitrate, the sound quality will only get worse. But if you make a smaller bitrate out of a larger one, then the gain will be in the size of the music file. If you are looking for a program to change bitrate And reduce MP3 size, then AudioConverter Studio is ideal for this.

Step one: Download and install the program.

Download AudioConverter Studio to your chosen folder and run the installation. Follow the installation instructions to complete the process.

Step two: Launch the program. Selecting MP3 files for conversion.

Run MP3 file converter. A wizard will open, but for our case we will use the usual way of working with the program and close it.

Now you need to add MP3 files for which you want to change the bitrate to the program. Click the Browse button to the right of the address bar to browse to the desired folder. Immediately after this, the music files will appear in the list.

Step three: Setting the MP3 bitrate and other parameters.

On the right side of the program window two sections are visible. Let's look at the "Output Format" section.

Go to the MP3 tab and select the desired audio quality settings.

In the "Tags and file name format" section, set "Old filename". This means that the program will name the new files the same way as the old ones were named. For ID3 tags, we will select the "Copy existing" option to copy the tags to the new MP3s.

Step Four: Selecting the Output Folder. Changing the bitrate of MP3 files.

So, all preparations have been completed.

On the toolbar, click "Add All" to add all MP3s in the current folder to the conversion list. In the "Output Files" section, specify the folder where you want to save the converted audio. Please note that in this case you cannot use the folder with the source files.

Just below, in the table, information on future MP3s is displayed.

Click "Convert" on the toolbar to change bitrate of MP3 files.

Open Broadcaster Software (hereinafter referred to as OBS) is a free program for online broadcasting and video recording. You can download the program on the official website http://obsproject.com

There are currently two versions of OBS:

OBS Classic is an old version of the program, support by the developers has been discontinued.
OBS Studio is the current version, the features, functionality and configuration of which we will tell you about.

To get started with OBS, download OBS Studio from the official website. The download will begin after clicking on the button with your operating system. You can choose from Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, macOS 10.11+ and Linux. Check the name of the downloaded file and make sure that you are downloading the full version of the program. The installer must contain the phrase Full-Installer after the program version. For example, OBS-Studio-22.0.2-Full-Installer.

The program is installed on a PC in two versions at once - OBS Studio (32bit) and OBS Studio (64bit). The difference between them is that the 64-bit version will use more RAM. This is necessary when you are using processes that require a lot of memory. Run the program as an administrator and monitor its performance and operation. In some cases it will be better to use 64-bit, in another 32-bit.

Main window

Opening OBS, we see the main window, which consists of:

Broadcast preview and studio mode
List of scenes
List of sources
Mixer with outgoing and incoming audio sliders
Scene transitions
Broadcast control menu
Broadcast Status

Main window

First of all, let's find out what scenes and sources are. The scene is all the given sources that the audience will see. Sources are windows (webcam, game, image, browser, text, etc.) that you add to the scene. Roughly speaking, the stage is the audience's screen, and the sources are everything that will be displayed on the screen. In order not to configure one scene for different games each time, you have the opportunity to create several scenes with individual settings and switch between them. With Studio mode, you can customize a scene before it is displayed on screen.

To change the size of a source, click on its name and the source border highlighted in red will appear in the broadcast preview. Drag one of the sides with your mouse and you will change the size.

Source and scene control buttons (from left to right):

create scene/source;
delete selected scene/source;
source properties;
move the scene/source higher in the list. The source located higher in the list will be displayed in the foreground on the screen, and the one below will be displayed in the background;
move the scene/source lower in the list.

basic settings

Before starting an online broadcast, you need to configure the program, select a server, set the quality, assign hot keys, etc. To do this, click on “Settings”.

General Tab

General Tab

The “General” tab is responsible for the OBS language, program theme (Acri, Dark, Default, Rachni), general settings for online broadcasting and sources. Let’s skip a detailed analysis of each option; we’ll only note “Automatically turn on recording during broadcast.” If you want to have broadcast recordings on physical media, then this option will be useful to you (just note that this will add additional load on the CPU).

Broadcast Tab

Broadcast Tab

In this tab, you can attach your broadcast to the platform on which it will take place.

The Broadcast Type setting offers two choices:

Broadcasting services - streaming platforms;
Custom broadcast server - broadcast from your own server.

For example, let's take the broadcast setup for Twitch.tv. We go to “Broadcast Types”, Twitch should be selected as “Service” by default, “Server” - the closer, the better your connection will be, “Stream Key” is indicated in your account on the streaming platform.

Output Tab

Output Tab

This tab is responsible for setting up broadcast encoding and local recording. The settings window is divided into 2 “Output Modes”:

Simple- simple broadcast and recording encoding settings;
Advanced- more detailed encoding and recording settings.

Advanced output mode provides more options for broadcasting and is recommended for use. With more detailed settings, the quality of the image on your broadcast will look better.

Let's look at the two output modes in more detail, starting with the simple one.

Easy mode

"Streaming"- basic broadcast settings:

Video bitrate - bitrate for video broadcast;
Encoder - broadcast encoder. Depending on your PC, you can choose one of the following options:
- Software (x264) - an encoder that uses the CPU processor encoder;
- Hardware (NVENC) - an encoder that uses the GPU video processor (available only for Nvidia video cards with CUDA technology);
- Hardware (AMD) - an encoder that uses the GPU video processor (available only for AMD video cards with AMD APP technology);
- Hardware (QSV) - an encoder that uses the graphics chip of an Intel processor (Sandy Bridge generation and later);
Audio bitrate - broadcast audio bitrate;
Enable advanced encoder settings - more advanced encoder settings that contain:
- Follow the bitrate restrictions imposed by the streaming service - a forced limitation of the broadcast bitrate according to the requirements of the provider;
- Encoder Presets (higher = less CPU load) - list of presets for the encoder. If the encoder is NVENC or AMD, choose at your discretion; for x264 veryfast is recommended;
- Encoder User Settings - field for precise encoder parameters.

"Record"- settings for recording the broadcast on physical media:

Recording quality - select the recording quality for saving, the default value is the same as for broadcasting;
Recording format - the format in which the broadcast recording will be saved. The format is chosen depending on what you need the recording for;

Now let's look at the advanced mode.

“Streaming” contains basic encoder settings.

Sound track - select one of six sound tracks that will be used during the broadcast.
Encoder - an encoder to choose from, as in simple mode:
- Software (x264) - an encoder that uses the CPU processor;
- Hardware (NVENC H.264) - an encoder that uses the GPU video processor (available only for Nvidia video cards with CUDA technology);
- Hardware (H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework)) - an encoder that uses the GPU video processor (available only for AMD video cards with AMD APP technology);
- Hardware (QSV H.264) - an encoder that uses the graphics chip of an Intel processor (Sandy Bridge generation and later);
Force Streaming Service Encoder Settings - Forces the streaming encoder to be limited according to the provider's requirements.
Rescale output - resize the broadcast image to the specified resolution.

NVENC H.264 Encoder Settings

- CBR - constant bitrate;
- CQP is one of the varieties of constant bitrate. The difference with CBR is the file size;
- VBR - variable bitrate.
- Lossless - low bitrate with fast encoding.
Bitrate - bitrate value for broadcast.
Preset - preset for encoding. A parameter responsible for encoding quality and video card load. For each video card the following is set individually:
Profile is an encoding standard, you need to select it depending on the streaming platform;
- main - Main profile;
- high - High profile;
- high444p - Hi422P profile;
- baseline - Base profile.

Level - list of restrictions for the selected profile.

Use two-pass encoding - a parameter that controls the quality of the image with two-pass encoding. The option is not available with CBR bitrate.
GPU - indicates the number of video cards used for broadcasting.

x264 encoder settings

Bitrate control - bitrate operating parameters for broadcasting:
- CBR - constant bitrate;

VBR - variable bitrate;
ABR - average bitrate;
CRF - bitrate is determined by a separate CRF value. CRF is not supported by many streaming platforms, but it has higher image quality. Initially has a value of 23, can be changed from 0 to 51, where 0 is the best image quality and 51 is the worst.

Use custom buffer size - set the buffer value, defaults to bitrate
Key frame interval (sec, 0=auto) - parameter responsible for the key frame interval. For Twitch and Youtube platforms you need to set it to 2
CPU Usage Preset (Higher = Less) - A preset that determines encoding speed and CPU utilization. Veryfast was initially installed. Ultrafast has the fastest speed, but also the worst image quality. Placebo has the slowest speed, as well as the best image quality. Not every processor can work well with fast, so for owners of 4-core processors, veryfast is the best choice.
- high - High profile
- main - Main profile
- baseline - Basic profile
Setting - a parameter that determines the optimization of video for broadcast. Default is not used.
Variable Framerate - parameter that includes FPS fluctuation
x264 settings (separated by a space) - field for specifying your own encoder settings

Settings for the QuickSync H.264 encoder

Target Usage - a parameter showing the degree of hardware utilization by the encoder
- Quality - Qualitative
- Balanced - Balanced
- Speed - Fast
Profile is an encoding standard; you need to select it depending on the streaming platform.
- high - High profile
- main - Main profile
- baseline - Basic profile
Key frame interval (sec, 0=auto) - parameter responsible for the key frame interval. For Twitch and Youtube platforms you need to set it to 2
Async Depth - the ability to process multiple tasks at once using the Media SDK without synchronization. It is better not to change the settings without experience.
Bitrate control - bitrate operating parameters for broadcasting:
- CBR - constant bitrate
- VBR - variable bitrate
Maximum bitrate - indicative of the maximum broadcast bitrate
- CQP is one of the varieties of constant bitrate. Difference with CBR in file size
- QPI is a parameter that determines the quality of frames
- QPP - parameter that determines the quality of P-frames
- QPB - parameter that determines the quality of h.264 B-frames
- AVBR - average bitrate
Bitrate - bitrate value for broadcast
- Accuracy - a parameter that determines the quality in complex scenes. Associated with the following parameter
- Convergence - a parameter for adjusting quality in complex scenes. Linked to the previous parameter.

As you can see, there are many parameters and settings in the “Output” tab, as well as different configurations of user computers, so it is impossible to write one perfect guide that will suit everyone. First of all, you need to select a broadcast encoder. If you have Intel Core i5 - i7 processors of new architectures, then you can safely choose x264. If your processor is weaker, then depending on the processor and the game you need to test both x264 and NVENC and choose which one will be better.

The next most important broadcast parameter is the bitrate. For me, with the CBR (constant bitrate) setting, the optimal setting is 5500. This setting depends on your ISP, streaming provider, and the game itself. Change, observe the result, set the optimal one for your configuration. NVENC and QuickSync encoders require a higher bitrate than software x264, but setting the bitrate too high can degrade the quality of the broadcast. There are extensive articles on the Internet on setting the bitrate, but since I only use Twitch and Youtube, the above indicator is enough for me to get the optimal bitrate.

- The profile and key frame interval are determined by the requirements of the streaming platform. For Twitch, Youtube, the optimal indicators will be high for the profile and “2” for the keyframe interval.

Settings for H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework)

(The article requires additional description, if you know and understand the H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework) parameters, please contact us by email)

"Record"

Type - 2 parameters available: normal and custom output (FFmpeg).
- Normal - settings used and preinstalled in the OBS program itself:
  - Recording path - the ability to select where the broadcast recording will be saved;
  - Generate file name without spaces - the recording file name will be without spaces;
  - Recording format - the format in which the broadcast recording will be saved. The format is selected depending on what you need the recording for, available: flv, mp4, mov, mkv, m3u8;
  - Audio track - select an audio track or several tracks; settings for individual audio tracks can be made in the mixer, for example, you can output sound from a source to a separate track;
  - Encoder - select the quality of the saved recording, by default it is the same as that of the broadcast, you can select and configure any quality that differs from the broadcast from the 2 presented options, the settings correspond to the settings of the NVENC H.264, x264, QuickSync H.264 encoders , H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework) described below;
  - Rescale output - select a video scale different from broadcast, available when selecting NVENC H.264, x264, QuickSync H.264, H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework) encoders;
  - Multiplexer user settings - additional settings for the broadcast recording format.
- FFmpeg is a set of free and open source libraries that allow you to record, convert and transfer digital audio and video recordings in various formats. Under FFmpeg you need to install the appropriate library on your PC, more details on Wikipedia.
  - (The article requires additional description, if you know and understand the FFmpeg parameters, please contact us by email)

"Audio"

Contains settings for individual audio tracks if you use different tracks in the mixer.

"Replay Buffer"

It turns on the repeat buffer, you need to configure hotkeys, by pressing a certain button it will start a repeat of the period of time you have selected, by default it will rewind the time 20 seconds back and will repeat this moment until you interrupt it with a hotkey.

Audio Tab

Audio Tab

Tab for setting up the audio device for broadcasting. Additionally, you can configure the function to turn the microphone on/off when pressed and the push-to-talk function (the microphone only works while the specified key is pressed). The Mic On and Mute Delay settings determine the delay in milliseconds (ms) before using the feature.

Video Tab

Video Tab

Tab for setting the resolution of your broadcast. By default, the aspect ratio is selected equal to the aspect ratios for 16:9 monitors (1280x720, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, etc.). It is better to start from standard resolutions; if you have a 16:10 or wider monitor, focus on standard resolutions and try to broadcast in 16:9, otherwise viewers will see black bars on the bottom of the broadcast, or you will have to sacrifice and crop the image from the sides.

The base resolution is the resolution of the preview window in the program itself. If you have configured the transformation of your sources, then be prepared that if you reduce this parameter, you will have to configure the transformation of all sources again.
Output Resolution - the resolution that OBS Studio will output to the air, this setting will be ignored if you selected "Rescale Output" in the "Output" tab

In order not to load the processor even more, it is better not to use scaling and set the same value in the “Base resolution” and “Output resolution” options.

scaling filter - is applied only when you select an output resolution different from the base one, the best filter is the Lanczos method, it works slower, but the quality is better and more processor resources are used, the load is almost unnoticeable on modern powerful processors, but for those with weak ones PCs should pay attention to this parameter. The choice of filter depends on the computer configuration; the most optimal is Bicubic.

Hot Keys Tab

Hot Keys Tab

Tab for setting up hot keys for controlling the broadcast, setting the functions to turn on/off sound, turn on/off sound when pressed. You can set hotkeys to start, stop broadcasting, start and stop recording, etc.

Advanced Tab

Advanced Tab

Tab for additional program settings. If you are new to the program, you will be interested in the Process Priority option, the recording file name format, and the thread delay. It is better to leave the remaining parameters unchanged, and change only if you know what they mean and this change will improve the quality of your broadcast.

Process priority - changing the OBS priority in Windows, if you experience any problems with the program, try changing this parameter; it is not recommended to set it to the highest value, as problems may appear with other applications.
- High
- Above normal
- Average
- Below the average
- Short
Render - select a value that will be responsible for processing broadcast frames.
- Direct3D
- Open GL
YUV color range.
- Partial
- Full