How to Stream on Twitch

How to create a Twitch account for streaming

Setting up an account on Twitch is easy.

1. Reference community guidelines.

Before you start creating content on Twitch it is a good idea to reference the community guidelines. Any content that is deemed inappropriate or legal is grounds to get your account on Twitch and Streamlabs suspended. So read them carefully, and make sure you are streaming approved content for the website.

2. Create an account.

On a desktop computer, simply click the “sign up” button and fill out the appropriate information.

3. Enable two-factor authentication.

Before you can start broadcasting you’ll need to enable 2FA. On a desktop computer, log into your account, navigate to security settings, and enable 2FA.

Download Streamlabs Desktop

Download Streamlabs Desktop here. Once installed, launch the program, and it will ask you to sign in, so it knows what channel you’re going to stream with. Click Twitch and fill out your login credentials. This information is only used to link your account and authorize streaming from the Streamlabs software.

Connect Paypal and Create a Streamlabs Tip Page

Setting up a Streamlabs tip page is one of the easiest ways to start earning an income from streaming. Setting up a tip page is entirely free and will never take a cut of the money you receive. Setting up your tip page only takes a few seconds, so let’s dive into it.

If you are logging into Streamlabs.com for the first time, the onboarding process will ask you to add your Paypal email address or other supported payment processors. Once you finish that step, your tip page is ready to go; this is the fastest way to set up your tip page, but if you’ve already logged in or skipped the onboarding, you can also set up your tip page from the settings. To do that:

1. Log in to the dashboard on Streamlabs.com. Click on ‘Settings’ in the lower left-hand corner.

2. Click on Donation Settings > Methods and choose your preferred Payment Processor.

3. Go through the necessary steps to connect your account.

After your account is connected, your tip page will be available at Streamlabs.com/USERNAME.

Manage Tip Page Settings

You can manage a range of tip page settings from the Streamlabs dashboard. Not based in the US? You can choose which currency you’d like donations to appear in. Set the minimum amount required to donate, and even adjust the recommended amount that appears for a user when they visit your tip page.

You can also edit the message that appears on your page when users visit, adjust profanity filters to block out offensive words, and even customize the image that appears as your donation page header.

Visit the dashboard to view all of the tip page settings.

Create a Consistent Brand

You may find that creating a unique look or aesthetic for your channel is a good way for people to remember you. The best ways to create a unique brand include:

• Social media
• Overlays
• Twitch Panels
• Alerts

Social Media

Your brand starts with social media. There are many social media platforms to choose from, but we recommend starting with Twitter because that is most popular in the creator and gaming space. Start communicating with the world about your stream. Promote your social channels when you stream. Plug your handles when you are live. Include links in your about section. Social media acts as a way to amplify your reach when you stream and gives your community a place to interact with you.

Stream Overlays

Stream overlays make it easy to grab people's attention while showing off your personality and unique style.

There are over 250 free overlay themes available in Streamlabs. You can also get access to hundreds of stream overlays, assets, and templates designed by top artists in the industry like Nerd or Die, Visuals by Impulse, OWN3D, and more when you subscribe to Streamlabs Ultra.

Visit our theme library to browse all of the overlay assets available to you.

Twitch Panels

Panels help keep your brand cohesive and consistent throughout your channel. Panels provide viewers with links to important websites that you want them to see. This can be everything from your Twitter, Instagram, tip page, and anything in between.

TimTheTatman’s recent rebrand is a great example of Twitch panels with a consistent theme. While not absolutely necessary for everyone, a professional-looking stream can encourage new viewers to stick around and drop a follow.

If you have skills in photoshop you can create Twitch panels yourselves. Or, you can use Streamlabs’ new Twitch Panel Editor.

Our Twitch panels are professionally designed and come with over 50 different templates.

Each template comes with a panel for your donations, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, merch store, and Creator Site.

Don’t see a panel for a website you want to promote? There are 20 different additional icons you can choose from to match the website or social media you want the panel to link to. Completely customize the font style, text, size, and position.

How to Add Live Stream Alerts

Having alerts is a crucial element of any live broadcast on Twitch and helps you stand out from the crowd, keep viewers coming back, and encourage others to interact with your live stream.

On-screen alerts are often your viewer’s first impression. We recommend spending time to make them unique and memorable.

Add an Alert Box Widget

The first thing you want to do is add an Alert Box widget to your live stream. Widgets are features you can add in Streamlabs Desktop to help you interact and engage with your community. You can learn more about the top widgets we recommend adding to your live stream by watching our video here.

To add an Alert Box, press the plus sign in the “Sources” section of Streamlabs Desktop.

Now select “Alert Box” from the pop-up menu.

After you are done adding the source, viewers will see our default alert appear on the screen when you get a new subscriber, bit, follow, host, etc.

Use this opportunity to acknowledge your viewers for contributing to the stream. Recognition makes your viewers feel good and also encourages others to support you.

Pre-Made Alerts

If you don’t want to use the default alert, Streamlabs offers pre-made alerts created by top designers in the industry like Nerd or Die, Visuals by Impulse, and OWN3D. You can visit our Alert Box Themes page to browse the full collection of alert themes.

Create Custom Alerts

If you don’t want to use a pre-made alert, you can manually customize your own by navigating to the Streamlabs dashboard and clicking on “Alert Box” on the left-hand side.

This page is your command center when it comes to editing your alerts. From here, you can choose to edit your “General Settings”, which will affect every single alert type and/or further customize specific alert types.

Depending on the platforms you have linked, your alert types will differ. For example, in the picture below I have all platforms linked, so I can customize all of my event types for all platforms. 

Alert General Settings

General Settings apply to every alert type. You can edit the alert delay, mod approvals, profanity filters, add custom bad words, etc.

How to Customize Specific Alert Types

To customize an alert click on the specific event type you wish to edit. In the example pictured below, we are editing alerts for new Twitch followers.

On this page, you can customize the layout of the alert, the image or gif that’s played, sound, font, animation, duration, etc. Now when I receive a new Twitch follower my viewers will see a sweet gif of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

How to Add Alert Variations

Alert Variations allow you to play exclusive alerts if a viewer meets certain conditions. For example, you can play a different alert for a $10 tip vs. a $5 or $1.

Let’s say you would like a special alert to play when someone sends $10 or more.

1. Click on “Add Variation” and add a variation with default alert settings or your custom alert settings

2. Name your new variation. In this case, we’ll call it “Tips >10.”

3. Set the correct condition so that tips over $10 trigger a different alert. Remember, each alert type will have specific conditions. We recommend getting familiar with each alert type and the conditions available for each one.

Now when someone tips $10 or more, my viewers will see a sweet picture of my dog.

Now your alerts should be set up and ready for your first live stream. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Download Streamlabs Desktop.

If you would like to get started or learn more, please visit our website here. Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

How to Get The Best Streaming Settings on Twitch

Having settings that are too high for your computer’s hardware can cause performance issues for your live stream. For new Twitch streamers, Streamlabs Desktop has an Auto Optimize feature that automatically scans your internet speed and computer hardware to give you our recommended settings. Access this feature by opening Streamlabs Desktop, navigating to Settings > General. It’s a fantastic way to jump right in without having to mess with the finer details.

If you are more technically savvy, you can adjust settings within Streamlabs Desktop to help ensure optimal quality.

Quality and Resolution

The output of your video resolution can have a significant impact on the quality of your live stream and the performance of Streamlabs Desktop. For example, streaming at 1080p vs 720p will double the number of pixels, meaning your computer will be using more resources.

To adjust your resolution, select “Video” from the side panel in the setting window.

You can leave the base (canvas) resolution as your computer's native resolution. We recommended lowering the Output (Scaled) Resolution since streaming in 1080p can have a significant impact on your CPU. We recommend lowering the Output (Scaled) Resolution to 1280x720 for a good balance between performance and quality.

Choose your Encoder

When it comes to encoders, there are two types: software (x264) and hardware (NVENC). The software encoder (x264) will use your CPU to encode video, while hardware encoders like NVENC utilize a dedicated encoder in the GPU, allowing you to play and stream without compromising game performance. If you are using an NVIDIA graphics card we recommend you stream with NVENC.

Change the CPU Usage Preset

To change the CPU usage preset, navigate to “Output” in the settings window.

x264 offers a range of usage preset. This refers to how fast the CPU encodes video. The faster it encodes, the less CPU it uses. By default, this is set to “Very Fast”, which provides the best balance between performance and quality.

NVENC presets range from low-latency, optimal performance, and max quality. We recommend starting with the “Quality” preset and experimenting from there to find what works best for you.

Enable Dynamic Bitrate

In a recent update to Streamlabs Desktop, we included a feature called Dynamic Bitrate. This feature allows our software to automatically adjusts your bitrate based on network conditions to prevent dropping frames.

If you’re computer and internet speed can’t handle the bitrate you’ve set, you may experience dropped frames to improve the stability of your stream and minimize latency.

To enable Dynamic Bitrate, navigate to the settings window, and click “Advanced.” Scroll down and toggle the box next to the option that says “Dynamically change bitrate when dropping frames while streaming”.

Edit Bitrate Manually

You can also manually edit your bitrate. Below is Twitch’s own recommend specs for NVIDIA NVENC depending on the resolution and fps you’d like to achieve.

1080p 60fps

• Resolution: 1920x1080
• Bitrate: 6000 kbps
• Rate Control: CBR
• Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
• Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
• Preset: Quality
• B-frames: 2

1080p 30fps

• Resolution: 1920x1080
• Bitrate: 4500 kbps
• Rate Control: CBR
• Framerate: 25 or 30 fps
• Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
• Preset: Quality
• B-frames: 2

720p 60fps

• Resolution: 1280x720
• Bitrate: 4500 kbps
• Rate Control: CBR
• Framerate: 60 or 50 fps
• Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
• Preset: Quality
• B-frames: 2

720p 30fps

• Resolution: 1280x720
• Bitrate: 3000 kbps
• Rate Control: CBR
• Framerate: 25 or 30 fps
• Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
• Preset: Quality
• B-frames: 2

Please remember, everybody’s setup is going to be different so make sure to play around with the settings yourself to find out what works best for you.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Download Streamlabs Desktop.