When you think of live streaming, there are two things that are most important: Hardware and Internet Speed. Understanding your limitations and requirements will help you create a more informed decision of what quality your live stream will realistically produce.

You can have the best camera in the world, but if your hardware can't process the data efficiently or your internet connection can't support transporting the data, then what's the point? In this article, we're going to share our suggested streaming settings that we use for all of our clients. This is simply what we have found to produce the most reliable and highest quality results for our clients.

The first step is to run a speed test. Click here to be directed to your custom speed test site to see what your download and upload speeds are. The upload speed is the most important factor when deciding on what resolution / bitrate to stream (since you are uploading the content to the server).

Now reference the below chart to see what quality you can stream:

For example, I just performed the speed test and received the following results:

My upload speed was 11.0 Mbps, which means I can stream between 720p and 1080p video comfortably. Since my upload speed is 11 Mbps, I fit in the upper 1080p range (2.75 Mbps to 13 Mbps), which means I should be able to stream a reliable & high quality 1080p30 live stream.

At LiveControl, we are constantly monitoring our client's equipment and internet speed, 24/7. With all internet, it will fluctuate depending on how many people in your neighborhood are using it at once. It's been very common for businesses to go from upload speeds of 30 Mbps  + all the way down to .1 Mbps, because of the internet congestion from the stay at home orders.