The "Golden Ratio" of Streaming
Bitrate is the amount of data processed per second. If your bitrate is too low for your resolution, the image will look "blocky" or "pixelated" during fast movement.
Twitch vs. YouTube
- Twitch: Hard cap of 6,000 kbps for most users (8,000 for partners). Best at 1080p60.
- YouTube: High cap (up to 50,000 kbps). Can push 4K60 smoothly if your internet allows.
- Codec: Using NVENC (GPU) or x264 (CPU) also affects quality at the same bitrate.