Encoder
Use a hardware encoder if you have one: NVIDIA NVENC H.264, AMD HW H.264, QuickSync H.264, or Apple VT H264. They offload encoding from your CPU. Only fall back to x264 if you have no hardware encoder and CPU to spare. Avoid HEVC/AV1 — most cam sites don't accept them.
Resolution & FPS
1080p at 30fps with ~5000 kbps is the sweet spot for most cam sites. On a weaker connection, drop to 720p at 30fps with ~3000 kbps for a more stable stream. Set both Base (Canvas) and Output (Scaled) resolution to the same value to avoid scaling artifacts.
Keyframes & audio
Set the keyframe interval to 2 seconds — many cam platforms require this and will reject streams without regular keyframes. For audio, AAC at 160 kbps is plenty.
Multistreaming note
These settings apply to your single broadcast. With a cloud relay like Stream-Split you set them once and every site receives that exact quality — no need to tune per platform.
FAQ
- What bitrate should I use for cam streaming?
- Around 5000 kbps for 1080p30 and 3000 kbps for 720p30. Higher isn't always better — match it to your upload speed.