Streaming your gameplay on Twitch is an excellent way of showing off your skills and interacting with an audience. Anyone can be a broadcaster on Twitch, but setting up that very first stream is no easy feat. In this brief post, we’ll explain to you how you can start streaming on Twitch.

If you don’t have a Twitch account yet, you must head to Twitch.tv, click the Sign Up icon on the upper-right corner of the screen, and enter the login credentials you’d like to use, including your username, password, date of birth, and email. All good? Now let’s get you up and running.

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Learn Live Streaming

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OBS Studio is a free program that’ll allow you to broadcast from different platforms. OBS Studio is available for Windows and macOS. In the main Twitch interface, you want to click the Creator Dashboard. At the screen’s top-left corner, find and click the drop-down menu (three bars icon).

From the drop-down menu, choose Streaming Tools. You’ll be redirected to a page that contains download links for a bunch of different streaming software, including OBS. Alternatively, you can head to the OBS official website and download the proper version for your operating system.

Aspects like audio bitrate, video bitrate, and the encoder need to be configured before you start streaming on Twitch. In OBS Studio, click on the Output tab. Now, set the video bitrate to 2,500, as that’ll allow you to stream your content at 720p. Increase the number for higher resolution.

As for the audio bitrate, make sure it’s always set at 128. If your internet connection/speed isn’t up to par, you can go ahead and reduce the audio bitrate. As far as the encoder, you should be using OBS’ default x264 encoder unless you’re using an Nvidia GPU with a built-in encoder.

In OBS Studio, you want to head to the Settings tab in the lower-right corner of the screen, and then select the Stream icon. From the Stream Type menu, select Streaming Services and make sure Twitch is chosen in the Service menu. Lastly, paste your Twitch stream key and click OK.

The next step is to set up the audio devices that you’ll need for your stream. In OBS Studio, you want to head to the Audio Mixer tab. Click on the Settings button and navigate your way down to the Audio tab where you can add or remove as many audio devices as required for the stream.

It’s vital to make sure that the right piece of hardware is assigned to Desktop Audio. Then, you’ll need to head to the Mic/Aux section so that you can set up your microphone settings. Now head to the main OBS interface so that you can observe the performance of your audio in the mixer.

Upon confirming that your audio is working properly, you want to launch the game that you want to stream. Thereafter, head back to the OBS Studio interface, locate the sources area, and click on the + icon at the bottom. From the displayed list, you want to pick the Display Capture option.

The Display Capture option will allow you to broadcast your entire desktop screen. You need to be careful when using this option as it can display sensitive information on the screen. You can also opt for the Game Capture option if you only want to capture the game, not the desktop.

After completing the above-mentioned actions, all you need to do now is head to the main OBS Studio interface and click the Start Streaming button. This will automatically begin broadcasting content from your account. After you’re done streaming, simply click the Stop Streaming button.

How To Stream on Twitch with a PC

Streaming on Twitch with a PS4 is a lot easier than with a PC. First of all, you want to launch the video game that you plan on streaming. From there, you want to press the Share button on your PS4 controller to access the broadcast settings. The button should be next to the touchpad.

After accessing the broadcast settings, select the Broadcast Gameplay option. Three streaming options will populate. Upon choosing Twitch, you’ll be provided with a streaming key. Now, head to twitch.tv/activate and enter the streaming key. Wait a few seconds for your stream to begin.

Keep in mind that you have the ability to adjust the title and the display quality of your stream to your liking from the Broadcast Gameplay menu before you start streaming. You can also choose whether you want to use your microphone and camera together or just one of the two devices.

How To Stream on Twitch with a PS4

Similar to broadcasting on a PS4, you want to launch the video game you plan on streaming on your Xbox One before you actually start streaming. Then, open the Twitch application and you’ll be provided with a stream key that you need to activate in twitch.tv/activate using your phone.

Before you begin streaming, you’ll have the option to change your stream’s title and quality. You can also move the Kinetic’s camera display to any of the four corners of the screen. After you’re done configuring your broadcast, simply hit the Start Broadcast button to stream to the world.

How To Stream on Twitch with a Xbox One

With the aid of the above-mentioned steps, you’ll be able to broadcast your gameplay on Twitch with a computer or a console. Of course, you don’t have to configure your broadcasting settings exactly the way we mentioned. If you know what you’re doing, configure things to your liking.

However, if this is your first time streaming on Twitch, we strongly suggest that you start out with the configurations specified in this guide. As you progress as a Twitch streamer, you can start to experiment with the settings. If you have any relevant questions, don’t hesitate to let us know.

How To Stream on Twitch

How To Stream on Twitch

How To Stream on Twitch with a PC

How To Stream on Twitch with a PS4

How To Stream on Twitch with a Xbox One

Final Thoughts

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