Best OBS Settings to Stream to YouTube in 1080p [No LAG]

If you're not happy with the way your streams have been looking when you're going live using OBS and you're streaming in 1080p at 60 FPS, I'll be showing you the best settings to utilize so that you don't have any lag and that your video is crisp. 

Getting Started

The first thing that you're going to do is open up OBS Studio and go to settings. 

In this blog, I'll be explaining how you can do this on either a Mac or a Windows computer. This will be seamless based on the machine that you're utilizing here. 

Adjusting Your Settings

The first thing you'll want to do is make sure that when you come to 'Stream' in settings, you have connected your account to YouTube and are using the settings that are recommended there. 

Then, where it says 'Ignore Streaming Service Setting Recommendations', you'll make sure that this is checked. 

Output Settings

Next, you'll go to where it says 'Output' on the settings sidebar. 

This is where everything is going to matter depending on whether your stream is going to lag or not. Of course, the machine that you're utilizing will also play a big role in this as well to ensure it can support streaming.

If you're utilizing these settings that I'm showing you today, and you're still experiencing some issues, it could be more of an issue with your hardware (computer) not being able to support streaming. If this is the case, you may want to utilize a web-based streaming platform. 

If you are having this issue, go to my video version of this tutorial (linked at the top of this article) and leave a comment. I'll reply with some recommendations of web-based streaming platforms that you can utilize if you have a low-end computer. 

The first thing that you're going to do in the 'Output' settings is go to 'Output Mode' and select 'Advanced'. This will be the same for both Windows and Macs. 

Now, we'll get into how to adjust these settings based on your type of computer.

Mac Settings

If you're on a Mac, your 'Audio Encoder' will be 'Core Audio AAC'.

Super important: your 'Video Encoder' will be 'Apple VT H264 Hardware Encoder'. 

The 'Rate Control' will need to be set to 'CBR' (Constant Bit Rate). 

For your 'Bitrate', you can have this at about 9,000. It's important to know if your internet can support this bitrate or not. If it can't, this could be a cause of lagging or lower quality during your stream. We'll get to how to check this a bit later on in the article. 

As for your 'Keyframe Intervals', you'll set this to '2 s'. Have your 'Profile' set to 'High' and make sure that 'Use B-Frames' is selected.

Once you've adjusted all of these settings, don't forget to click 'Apply'. 

Windows Settings

For Windows computers, your 'Audio Encoder' will be 'FFmpeg AAC'. 

Then, your 'Video Encoder' will either be 'NVIDIA' or 'AMD' based on what graphics card you're utilizing. The one you'll want to select is 'NVIDIA NVENC H.264'. 

'Rate Control' will be set to 'CBR' (Constant Bit Rate). 

Again, the 'Bitrate' will be set to '9,000 kbps' provided that your internet can handle that bitrate. 

Your 'Keyframe Intervals' will be set to '2 s'. 

The 'Preset' will be 'P6: Slower (Better Quality)'. 

'Tuning' will be set to 'High Quality'. 

'Multipass Mode' should be set to 'Two Passes (Quarter Resolution)'.

'Profile' will be set to 'High'. 

You'll want to have both 'Look-Ahead' and 'Psycho Visual Tuning' checked. 

You'll want the 'GPU' to be set to '0' and for 'Max B-Frames' to be set to two. 

Once you've adjusted all of these settings, be sure to click 'Apply'. 

You may not see all of these settings and that's fine, just fill in the settings that you do have on your end. 

Testing your Internet Speed

Now, we want to test our internet speed to make sure that your internet can handle the '9,000 kbps' bitrate. 

To do this, go to Speedtest.net and select 'GO'. This will give you both your download and upload speed, but livestreaming relies on the upload speed. In order to use the 9,000 bitrate, I recommend using about half of your upload speed. 

9,000 Kbps is equivalent to 9 Mbps, so if your upload speed is 18 Mbps, you're fine to use the 9,000 Kbps bitrate. 

My upload speed is 938 Mbps, so I have more than enough to be able to use the 9,000 Kbps bitrate without any lags or having it cut the quality. 

Of course, the higher the upload speed, the better the quality will be. If your upload speed is high, you also don't need to worry so much about how using other things or having other devices on your network can affect your live streaming. 

Checking Your Stream Quality

Once you've determined your upload speed and if you have enough, you can come back to OBS Studio and hit 'Start Streaming'. 

This will send your stream over to YouTube and there you'll be able to see that your stream should have a more clear and smooth screen. 

If you want to know how to add overlays and graphics in OBS to make your stream more professional and exciting, check out this video here. In this, I'll walk you step-by-step through how to do just that.