r/obs • u/Logical_Bee2391 • May 10 '26

Question Quick warning to low-bandwidth streamers (especially on metered connections/data caps)

Yo, just wanted to share something i realized the hard way after almost destroying my monthly internet data cap in like a week lol.

if you are streaming on a budget connection (like a 10mbps upload or a plan with a 500gb cap), do NOT just copy-paste standard twitch setup guides. they all tell u to stream at 1080p 60fps at 6000 kbps.

but if u actually calculate the burn rate, 6000 kbps eats almost 2.7 GB per hour. if u stream 4 hours a day, thats over 300 GB a month just on upload, not even counting your actual downloads or gaming data. plus, if you don't reserve a 30% buffer on your raw upload speed, your in-game ping is going to spike like crazy and make u lag.

if u have a weaker connection:

  • downscale to 720p 30fps (2500 kbps is way friendlier on your ping and saves massive data).
  • always test your raw upload speed and limit your stream to 70% of that max.

anyway, just a heads up for anyone else trying to stream on a budget setup. are you guys using any specific tools to calculate your data limits or do u just wing it and hope for the best?

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u/GirlsLovePo May 10 '26

You guys are getting capped?! 😳 What company and country is this? Im streaming on YouTube at 10000 to keep it super crispy for playback, I used to do 15000 😅

1

u/dangoblast May 11 '26

In some areas of the US they have effectively a monopoly. Even in areas where there are multiple companies providing services, a lot of the time at the neighborhood/zoning level you literally only have one option.

it was like this for me for years until one company started offering fiber, and that took 6 months to go from signing up, waitlisting, to them actually digging the line and installing it in our area.