YouTube Live Stream Setup Checker: bitrate, upload speed and checklist

YouTube recommends 14 Mbps for 1080p at 30 fps with H.264, with a minimum of 5 Mbps, and 17 Mbps at 60 fps, with a minimum of 6. With H.265 (HEVC) or AV1 the figures are lower: 10 Mbps at 30 fps and 12 Mbps at 60 fps. Use constant bitrate (CBR) and a keyframe every 2 seconds. In most encoders, 14 Mbps is 14,000 Kbps.

YouTube recommends enough upload bandwidth for your main stream, plus any backup stream, plus 20%. For 1080p at 30 fps with H.264, that is 14 Mbps of video and 128 kbps of audio, plus 20%: about 17 Mbps. Run a speed test on the connection you will use and look at the upload figure, not the download.

You need a verified channel with no live streaming restrictions in the past 90 days, and the first time you turn on live streaming it can take up to 24 hours. Streaming from a computer is an intermediate feature, which you get by verifying your phone number. Streaming from a phone also needs at least 50 subscribers.

Low latency gets most viewers under 10 seconds behind you, which suits a Q&A with some chat. Ultra-low gets them under 5 seconds, but viewers are more likely to see buffering. Normal latency gives the least buffering and is the only setting with live automatic captions and 4K. Webcam and mobile streams are always set up for interaction.

Streams under 12 hours can be archived automatically, and streams over 12 hours may not be saved at all, so YouTube recommends recording a copy on your computer as a backup. On channels with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, mobile streams are saved as private by default.