Best Upload Bitrate For Twitch On A 100/20 Nbn Plan

Optimizing Your Twitch Bitrate on a 100/20 NBN Plan

Direct Answer & Analysis

For a standard 100/20 NBN connection, the optimal upload bitrate for streaming to Twitch is 6,000 kbps. If you are a Twitch Partner, you can push this to 8,000 kbps for maximum quality.

Your 20 Mbps (megabits per second) upload speed translates to 20,000 kbps (kilobits per second). A common rule of thumb is to allocate no more than 75% of your total upload bandwidth to your stream to ensure network stability for gameplay and other household devices. This gives you a theoretical ceiling of 15,000 kbps.

However, the primary limiting factor is not your NBN plan but the Twitch platform itself. Twitch's official recommendation for 1080p 60fps streaming is 6,000 kbps. While their ingest servers accept up to a soft cap of 8,500 kbps, going above 6,000 kbps can cause issues for your viewers if you do not have guaranteed transcoding (quality options like 720p, 480p), a feature primarily reserved for Twitch Partners.

Therefore, your 20 Mbps upload capacity comfortably exceeds Twitch's requirements, making stability and platform guidelines your main considerations.

Pros & Cons

Sticking to 6,000 kbps (The Recommended Sweet Spot)

• Pros:

  • High Stability: Uses less than a third of your available upload bandwidth, leaving a massive buffer for network fluctuations and game data packets. This virtually eliminates the risk of dropped frames from a saturated connection.
  • Maximum Viewer Compatibility: This is the gold standard bitrate that Twitch is optimized for. It increases the likelihood of receiving transcoding, allowing viewers with slower internet to watch your stream without buffering.
  • Excellent Quality: Provides a crisp, clear 1080p 60fps image for the vast majority of games.

• Cons:

  • Not Pushing for Peak Fidelity: In extremely high-motion games (e.g., Apex Legends, racing simulators), 6,000 kbps can sometimes result in minor compression artifacts or "blocking" that a higher bitrate could mitigate.

Pushing to 8,000 kbps (For Twitch Partners)

• Pros:

  • Enhanced Visual Fidelity: Offers a noticeable, albeit small, improvement in image clarity during fast-paced scenes, reducing compression artifacts and preserving fine details.
  • Still Highly Stable: Using 8,000 kbps still leaves 12,000 kbps (60%) of your upload bandwidth free, which is more than enough for a stable experience.

• Cons:

  • Viewer Limitation (for Non-Partners): Streaming at this high bitrate without guaranteed transcoding can make your stream unwatchable for a significant portion of potential viewers on mobile or slower internet connections.
  • Diminishing Returns: The quality increase from 6,000 to 8,000 kbps is less dramatic than the jump from 4,500 to 6,000 kbps.

Verdict

For streamers on a 100/20 NBN plan, your internet connection is not the bottleneck. The decision rests on balancing your own stream quality with your audience's viewing experience.

• For Non-Partners and Affiliates: Set your bitrate to 6,000 kbps. This is the unequivocal best choice, providing fantastic 1080p quality while maximizing your potential audience and stream stability.
• For Twitch Partners: Start at 6,000 kbps and consider increasing to 7,500-8,000 kbps if you play high-motion games and want to squeeze out the absolute best visual quality for viewers with strong connections. Your guaranteed transcoding ensures everyone else can still watch at a lower quality setting.