Best OBS Encoder Settings for Streaming
Use your graphics card’s hardware encoder if you have one (NVIDIA NVENC H.264, AMD HW H.264 (AVC) or QuickSync H.264), otherwise x264. For any of them set Rate Control to CBR, the keyframe interval to 2 seconds, and a bitrate your upload can sustain. Then pick the slowest preset your PC can run without “Encoding overloaded” warnings.
Where the encoder settings are
- Open Settings → Output.
- Set Output Mode to Advanced. Simple mode only shows Video Encoder, Video Bitrate and Encoder Preset.
- On the Streaming tab, choose your Video Encoder. The settings below it change to match that encoder.
- Fill them in using the tables below, then click Apply.
Video resolution and frame rate aren’t here. They’re under Settings → Video (Base (Canvas) Resolution, Output (Scaled) Resolution and Common FPS Values). Bitrate depends on resolution, frame rate and your upload speed, so use our bitrate calculator to get a number.
Which encoder should you pick?
| Encoder in OBS | Runs on | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (also HEVC, AV1) | NVIDIA GPU, GeForce 750 Ti / 900-series or newer | You have an NVIDIA card. Best results on 6th-gen NVENC (Turing, e.g. RTX 20-series, GTX 1660) and newer. |
| AMD HW H.264 (AVC) (also HEVC, AV1) | AMD GPU via AMF | You have a recent AMD Radeon card. |
| QuickSync H.264 (also HEVC, AV1) | Intel integrated or Arc graphics | You have no NVIDIA or AMD GPU. OBS recommends 4th-gen Core (Haswell) or newer. |
| Apple VT H264 Hardware Encoder | Apple Silicon Macs | You stream from an M-series Mac. Intel Macs should use x264 for streaming. |
| x264 | CPU (software) | No usable hardware encoder, or a strong CPU with cores to spare (dual-PC setups). |
OBS’s own advice is to use the hardware encoder of your main GPU and keep its drivers up to date. Older hardware encoders give lower quality at the same bitrate, which is the main reason to fall back to x264.
H.264, HEVC or AV1?
Pick the H.264 version of your encoder for Twitch and Kick. Kick only accepts H.264, and Twitch’s guidelines and OBS’s Twitch preset are built around it. YouTube also accepts HEVC (H.265) and AV1, which give better quality per bit, and recommends lower bitrates for them. AV1 on YouTube doesn’t support HDR.
NVIDIA NVENC settings
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rate Control | Constant Bitrate | CBR. Required by Kick, recommended by Twitch and YouTube. |
| Bitrate | e.g. 6000 Kbps (1080p60 on Twitch) | Never more than your upload can handle steadily. |
| Keyframe interval (seconds, 0 = auto) | 2 s | See the keyframe interval guide. |
| Preset | P5: Slow (Good Quality) or P6: Slower (Better Quality) | P5 is OBS’s default; Kick suggests P6. Drop to P4 if you see overload warnings. |
| Tuning | High Quality | OBS default. Kick lists Ultra Low Latency, which trades some quality for a little less delay. |
| Multipass Mode | Two Passes (Quarter Resolution) | OBS default. Use Single Pass if the GPU is busy. |
| Profile | high | OBS default for H.264. Twitch accepts main or high. |
| Look-ahead | Off on a busy GPU, on otherwise | Analyzes upcoming frames for better bitrate distribution, at the cost of GPU use and latency. |
| Adaptive Quantization | On | Formerly “Psycho Visual Tuning.” Improves perceived quality in high motion. |
| B-Frames | 2 | OBS default on supported cards, and the value in Twitch’s NVENC spec. |
Twitch’s guidelines still list NVENC’s older “Quality” preset name. In current OBS the presets are P1: Fastest (Lowest Quality) to P7: Slowest (Best Quality). P7 and the Ultra High Quality tuning are rarely worth the extra GPU load for live streams.
x264 settings
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rate Control | CBR | Default. |
| Keyframe Interval (0=auto) | 2 s | |
| CPU Usage Preset (higher = less CPU) | veryfast | Default and Twitch’s suggested starting point. Twitch notes presets slower than “faster” need a 6+ core CPU. |
| Profile | high (or main) | Twitch lists Main/High; Kick lists main. |
| Tune | (None) | Kick suggests zerolatency, which lowers delay but costs quality. |
| x264 Options | Leave empty | Only for advanced users. |
Test a slower preset (faster → fast → medium) only while watching CPU usage and the OBS status bar. If you see Encoding overloaded!, go back one step.
AMD, Intel QuickSync and Apple settings
AMD HW H.264 (AVC)
- Rate Control: CBR. Keyframe Interval (0=auto): 2.
- Preset: Quality. Use Balanced or Speed if you get overload warnings.
- Profile: high or main. Max B-frames (on cards that support it): 2 is a sensible start.
- Pre-Analysis: optional. It improves quality at a performance cost.
QuickSync H.264 (Intel)
- Rate Control: CBR. Keyframe Interval (0=auto): 2.
- Target Usage: start at TU4: Balanced (Medium Quality); move toward TU1 for quality or TU7 for speed.
- Profile: high or main.
Apple VT H264 Hardware Encoder
- CBR appears under Rate Control only on Apple Silicon with macOS 13 or newer. Kick tells Mac users to use x264 if CBR isn’t available.
- Set Keyframe Interval (0=auto) to 2 and Profile to high or main.
Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting
If you stream to Twitch with OBS 30.2 or newer, you can let Twitch pick your encoder settings. In Settings → Stream, choose Twitch, click Connect Account (recommended), and tick Enable Enhanced Broadcasting in the Multitrack Video section. OBS then encodes several qualities on your GPU and Twitch’s automatic configuration chooses profile, preset, look-ahead, adaptive quantization and B-frames each time you go live. Twitch recommends leaving Maximum Streaming Bandwidth and Maximum Video Tracks on Auto. It’s also required for Twitch’s Dual Format (vertical) and 2K streams.
Quick checklist
- Hardware H.264 encoder if available, otherwise x264 veryfast.
- CBR, 2-second keyframes, bitrate from the calculator.
- Do a short test stream and watch the status bar for dropped or skipped frames.
- Audio: Twitch recommends AAC at 96–160 kbps; YouTube suggests 128 kbps stereo. Your mic chain matters more than the bitrate, see OBS mic settings.
Frequently asked questions
Is NVENC or x264 better for streaming?
For most people NVENC. It runs on a separate chip in the GPU, so it barely affects game performance, and Twitch says NVENC on Turing cards (RTX 20-series, GTX 1660) typically beats x264 Fast and is on par with x264 medium. x264 only wins if you have a lot of spare CPU cores, ideally a dedicated streaming PC.
Should I use CBR or VBR for streaming?
CBR. Twitch recommends it for every broadcaster, YouTube lists CBR as its rate control, and Kick doesn’t accept VBR at all.
Can I stream to Twitch with AV1 or HEVC?
For a normal Twitch stream, use H.264, which is what Twitch’s guidelines and OBS’s Twitch service preset are built around. YouTube accepts H.264, HEVC and AV1. Kick currently accepts H.264 only.
What does “Encoding overloaded” mean in OBS?
Your encoder can’t keep up in real time. Pick a faster preset (for example P4 instead of P6, or superfast instead of veryfast), lower the output resolution or frame rate, or cap your game’s frame rate so the GPU has headroom.
What happened to Psycho Visual Tuning?
In current OBS versions the NVENC option is called Adaptive Quantization. OBS’s own tooltip notes it was formerly known as Psycho-Visual Tuning. It’s on by default.
Sources: Twitch Help: Broadcasting Guidelines · Twitch Help: Enhanced Broadcasting with Multiple Encodes · YouTube Help: Live encoder settings, bitrates and resolutions · Kick Help: How to stream on KICK.com · OBS Knowledge Base: Hardware Encoding · OBS Studio source: NVENC encoder strings and defaults