OBS settings

These values assume a 1080p or 720p stream at 60 FPS to Twitch or a similar platform. They all follow one principle: in fast games, spend your bitrate and encoder power on motion rather than on static detail. If your scene is not built yet, begin with the controller overlay setup guide.

Output

Open Settings, Output and set Output Mode to Advanced.

• EncoderHardware (NVENC, AMF or QuickSync). Use x264 only without a supported GPU.
• Rate controlCBR
• BitrateYour platform's figure from the table below, within your upload speed
• Keyframe interval2 s
• Preset (x264)veryfast, or slower presets only on a CPU with 6 cores or more

Twitch asks for CBR because a variable bitrate drops during quiet moments, such as menus or a paused game, then spikes when the action returns, which can make viewers buffer. With a limited upload speed, lower the resolution before the bitrate: a clean 720p60 reads better than a blocky 1080p60.

Video

Open Settings, Video.

• Output resolution1920×1080, or 1280×720 below 6000 Kbps
• FPS60
• Downscale filterLanczos

Advanced

Open Settings, Advanced.

• Process priorityAbove Normal
• Color formatNV12
• Color rangePartial, unless your capture card requires Full

What do Twitch and YouTube recommend?

Sources: Twitch Broadcasting Guidelines and YouTube live encoder settings, both checked in October 2026. YouTube accepts far more bitrate than Twitch, so if you stream only to YouTube and your upload allows it, a higher bitrate is the most visible quality gain in fast games. On Twitch, stay at its figure: viewers on weak connections may otherwise buffer.

Which settings fit my upload speed?

Measure your upload speed, then keep your bitrate under about 75% of it so the stream survives small drops.

Do some games need different settings?

• Very fast games such as Rocket League, Warzone and Apex Legends need 60 FPS. Below 6000 Kbps, prefer 720p60 to a blurry 1080p60.
• Fighting games such as Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 run their logic at 60 frames per second, so stream at 60 FPS for every frame of a combo to reach viewers.
• Story games and slower content tolerate 1080p30 when your upload is limited.

How do I know my settings hold up?

• In OBS, open Docks, Stats. Dropped frames point to the network, skipped frames to the encoder, and missed frames to rendering.
• On Twitch, Twitch Inspector shows the bitrate your stream actually delivered and whether it stayed stable.
• Watch a minute of your own stream on a phone during the busiest moment of your game.

Which NVENC options should I pick?

NVENC encodes on a dedicated chip of NVIDIA graphics cards and leaves the CPU and most of the GPU to your game. According to Twitch, NVENC on Turing cards (RTX 20 series, GTX 1660) and newer is usually better than x264 at the fast preset and on par with medium, while older Pascal and Kepler cards match veryfast or faster. In recent OBS versions, a solid starting point for fast games is:

On AMD cards, use the AMF encoder with the Quality preset; on Intel graphics, QuickSync with the Quality target. In each case, pick the highest quality preset that does not trigger the encoding overload warning.

Game Capture or Display Capture?

Use Game Capture whenever the game allows it: it hooks into the game and costs less than capturing the whole screen. Display Capture is the fallback for games that Game Capture cannot see, and Window Capture suits apps such as PS Remote Play or a cloud gaming window. On laptops with two graphics chips, set OBS to the high-performance GPU in Windows Settings, Display, Graphics, or captures may come out black.

Controller overlay

A controller overlay is a Browser Source, drawn at your canvas frame rate as long as its custom frame rate stays off. Once the canvas holds a steady 60 FPS, the overlay follows your inputs at the same pace. If only the overlay lags, see Fix overlay delay.

FAQ