Tutorials · Your stream

Test your internet speed for streaming

If your bitrate is higher than your internet can carry, viewers see buffering and drops. The speed test tells you how high you can safely set OBS.

You need: A Multistream account (free), OBS, for the second test

Measure your connection

  1. On the computer you stream from, open Speed test in the dashboard sidebar. In the app, open the Go live section on the left rail, then Speed test.
  2. Pause anything else that uploads, like cloud backups or big file transfers.
  3. Click Run test. A bar fills while it measures, for about ten seconds.
  4. Read the three tiles: Ping, Upload, and the highest bitrate to set in OBS.
  5. In OBS, click Settings, then Output, and set Video Bitrate to that number or lower.
  6. Click Run again a couple of times to make sure the result holds.

The bitrate it suggests keeps a quarter of your upload spare, so other things on your network don't cause drops.

In the app with the relay on This PC, your upload carries one copy per platform, so the bitrate shown under Your upload is for each copy.

In the app on This PC, the test still needs a Multistream Cloud account: sign in on the Go live page first.

Check what OBS really sends

  1. Turn off the Multistream switch, so nothing goes to your platforms. On the website it is at the top right of every dashboard page; in the app it is at the top of the Go live page.
  2. In OBS, click Start Streaming.
  3. Watch the Now, Average and Lowest tiles and the line under them, for a minute or two.
  4. If it keeps dipping below what OBS is set to, lower OBS's bitrate.
  5. Stop streaming in OBS and turn Multistream back on before you go live.

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