Question 1

What happens if my bitrate is too high?

Accepted Answer

If your bitrate exceeds your upload capacity or Twitch's limits, your stream will experience constant buffering, dropped frames, and lag for your viewers.

Question 2

Does a higher bitrate always mean better quality?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. While higher is generally better, if you set it beyond 6,000 Kbps on Twitch, you may cause playback issues for viewers with unstable internet connections, as Twitch transcoding is not always guaranteed for non-affiliates.

Question 3

Is CBR (Constant Bitrate) better than VBR?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Twitch recommends using CBR because it maintains a steady stream of data, which is much easier for the Twitch ingest servers to process than a fluctuating bitrate.

Twitch Stream Bitrate