OBS Studio is free, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and is the quickest way to put a live channel on air. This guide takes you from a fresh install to a stream your viewers can watch.
1. Find your encoder settings
Everything your encoder needs is in your account: sign in, click Streaming in the left menu, open your service, and scroll down its Overview to the Live stream to service box. It lists four values, each with a copy button:
- Server URL: the RTMP address your encoder sends to
- Stream Name: the name of the stream. On a TV station it is
live. - Username and Password: the publishing login for your channel. This is not the email and password you use to sign in to Stream Brothers. The password is blurred: click it to see it.
If the box also shows a Stream Key line, your channel accepts a single key instead: you can use the Stream Key wherever this guide says Stream Name, and leave the username and password out. If it shows Sign-in: None, your channel needs no login at all: leave those fields empty. The video dashboard tutorial shows the box with pictures.
Copy them across rather than typing them. A single wrong character in the server address or stream name and the connection is simply refused.
2. Add what you want to show
In OBS, click + under Sources and add your camera (Video Capture Device), your screen (Display Capture), or a video file (Media Source). Check the picture in the preview and the sound in the Audio Mixer.
3. Point OBS at your channel
Open Settings → Stream and set:
- Service: Custom
- Server: your Server URL
- Stream Key: your Stream Name
- Tick Use authentication and enter your channel's Username and Password
Click Apply.
The OBS settings button under the Live stream to service box shows these same values for your channel, ready to copy.
4. Set the quality
Open Settings → Output, set Output Mode to Advanced, and on the Streaming tab use:
- Video codec: H.264 (x264, or your graphics card's hardware encoder)
- Resolution and frame rate: 1080p or 720p, at 25 or 30 fps
- Video bitrate: 2,500 to 4,500 kbps. Your plan takes up to 5 Mbps per channel, and your upload speed should be at least twice what you send.
- Keyframe interval: 2 seconds, fixed. Viewers' players need a regular keyframe to start and to switch quality smoothly.
- Audio: AAC, 128 kbps, 44.1 or 48 kHz, stereo
Set the resolution and frame rate under Settings → Video.
5. Go live
Click Start Streaming. The square at the bottom of the OBS window turns green when the connection is healthy; yellow or red means your upload cannot keep up, so lower the bitrate.
Check that it is live
Back on the Streaming page, your service shows a green LIVE badge on its Overview within a few seconds of your encoder connecting. Then open your player (the Player page link under Widgets & Links) in another browser or on your phone and watch a minute of it yourself before you announce the stream. Viewers usually see the picture 10 to 20 seconds behind real time; that delay is normal.
If it will not connect
- Re-copy the Server URL and Stream Name from the Live stream to service box. The most common mistake is putting the stream name on the end of the server address as well as in its own box.
- Make sure you used the channel's publishing Username and Password, not your account login. If you clicked New password in the Live stream to service box, update it in your encoder too.
- Only one encoder can publish to a stream name at a time. Stop any other encoder sending to it.
- Still stuck? Start a chat with us from any page: we can see whether your encoder reached the server and why it was turned away.