Getting the Internet Speeds You Need for Streaming on Twitch in 2024 and Beyond

As interest in live streaming gameplay continues exploding, Twitch remains at the epicenter catering to over 31 million daily viewers as of 2022. However, aspiring streamers constantly grapple with assessing if their internet speeds can reliably handle broadcasting to such an enormous audience.

This definitive guide covers everything you need to know about calculating ideal internet speeds for flawless Twitch streaming in the coming years across metrics like:

• Resolution and frame rates
• Concurrent gaming and streaming demands
• Encoder software settings and optimizations
• Current and future infrastructure technology capabilities

We‘ll also project recommended bandwidth requirements through 2025 to future proof your streaming setup.

Let‘s dive in.

The Exponential Growth in Streaming Resolution Demands More Bandwidth

A recent Sandvine report on gaming traffic trends revealed that Twitch constitutes over 3% of total downstream internet bandwidth in North America as of 2022.

And that share is expected to grow even further. Why?

Higher video quality streaming requires more bandwidth. Just look at how drastically Twitch‘s recommended bitrate ranges have evolved in under a decade:

As internet infrastructure and encoder software improved, Twitch streamers pushed past 1080p into 1440p, 4K and even 360-degree streams today.

And industry analysts project this quality climb to continue, not plateau.

For instance, Futuresource consulting estimates that 1440p streaming will become the most popular resolution within upcoming years:

The demands placed on your home internet connection by live streaming will likely only grow steeper over time.

Now let‘s explore recommended internet speeds for dealing with these escalations both today and a few years down the line.

Recommended Download & Upload Speed Guide for Twitch Streaming

Behind any Twitch stream you watch lies a complex interplay between the streamer‘s local network bandwidth, their encoding software settings, internet infrastructure and CDNs balancing viewer traffic.

To demystify internet speed requirements we‘ll break this complex pipeline into digestible parts:

1. The streamer‘s upload speed: This determines the maximum quality and bitrate at which you can broadcast from your local gaming rig to Twitch‘s ingest servers.

2. The viewer‘s download speed: This influences what quality options are available to your audience based on their own connectivity constraints. Viewers with gigabit fiber can watch your original 4K stream, while someone on a congested LTE connection might only access lower bitrate 480p mirrors.

3. Other considerations: Like ensuring low-latency throughput for competitive multiplayer gaming alongside streaming. Plus anticipating future resolution/framerate improvements to avoiding frequent upgrade costs.

First let‘s quantify upload bandwidth needs as that is most directly under your control as the streamer.

Streamer Upload Speed Requirements

The table below covers Twitch‘s current 2023 recommended upload speeds for streaming at various resolutions while maintaining 60 fps, low latency sub-15ms encoding presets preferred by gamers:

You need at least 12 Mbps upload to sustain a smooth 1440p stream today, while 15 Mbps offers sufficient headroom even for some 4K content.

Now let‘s project forward recommended minimum upload speeds for 2025 as streaming technology and user expectations continue advancing:

Here we assume 1440p60 with HDR color as the mainstream quality, needing minimum 25 Mbps upload by 2025. Only fiber connections will reliably sustain 4K60 HDR streams requiring 50 Mbps up by then.

Clearly you must consider long-term resolution/framerate growth when assessing streaming internet requirements today to avoid frequent upgrades.

Gaming Traffic Considerations

The above figures cover upload throughput purely for streaming alone. But what about gaming traffic needs?

Modern competitive multiplayer titles require low ping times and high downstream bandwidth to render smooth, high fps gameplay.

Here are some ballpark gaming traffic requirements for popular online titles today:

• Fortnite: 7-10 Mbps
• Valorant: 3-5 Mbps
• Apex Legends: 6-8 Mbps
• Destiny 2: 7-9 Mbps

Add these figures to your desired stream‘s upload allocation when calculating total bandwidth needs for simultaneous gaming + streaming.

So at a minimum you need:

• 25 Mbps total (15 Mbps up for 1440p streaming + 10 Mbps down for gaming)
• 50 Mbps total for smoother 4K streaming + gaming

Also factor upcoming game and streaming tech improvements in 5G, VR/AR, 360-degree video etc. that will likely double these projections.

Viewer Download Speed Requirements

On the viewing side, Twitch automatically adjusts stream quality based on a viewer‘s detected download speed and local network congestion, as the screenshot shows:

The minimum download speeds required by viewers to access your original broadcast quality without buffering is:

So beyond factors in your control like your viewers‘ internet plans and WiFi interference, optimal stream accessibility depends on your encoding settings.

Lowering broadcast resolution from 1440p to 1080p makes your stream viewable for 6 million more Twitch viewers based on Akamai internet speed data:

There are always balancing acts when optimizing stream quality versus accessibility.

Now let‘s move beyond raw internet speeds to examine how various connection types and infrastructure impact streaming.

Comparing Connection Types: Cable vs Fiber vs 5G vs Satellite

Beyond simple speed numbers, it helps comparing how different internet infrastructure technologies perform on metrics like:

• Latency
• Consistency
• Data caps
• Usage charges

Let‘s analyze fiber, cable, nascent 5G and satellite connections streaming suitability across those vectors:

Fiber wins outright with lowest latency, uncapped data limits and reliable speeds perfect for streaming from home. Verizon FiOS‘s widespread fiber footprint offers high quality live streaming.

Cable internet offers compelling bandwidth for the price but suffers peak hour slowdowns. Upgrading to business cable packages improves consistency.

5G mmWave offers great peak throughput but high sensitivity to obstruction, interference and has capacity limitations today. Reliability will improve but consistency remains challenging near term compared to wired connectivity.

LEO satellite internet like Starlink faces high latency and severe data caps around 1TB monthly undercutting 8K streaming viability. Until satellite capacity grows multi-fold, lower resolutions may be preferred.

So combine your target resolution and framerates with gaming traffic needs, then match to the infrastructure technology capable of reliably delivering the combined bandwidth.

Fiber offers future proof scalability while cable provides sufficient performance for 1440p streams at least. Weigh their availability, pricing and consistency to pick the right option for your streaming goals.

Estimating Your Streaming Data Usage

Data caps remain prevalent on many home and mobile internet plans today, especially in countries like Canada and the United States.

Uncapped data is strongly advised for unconstrained streaming, which is only widely available today on higher tier residential fiber plans and business class connections.

If data capped internet is your only option, accurately estimating streaming data consumption helps avoid costly overage fees down the road.

This spreadsheet lets you calculate data usage per hour across different streaming resolutions and encoder settings:

Simply plug in your video encoder‘s bitrate and preferred resolution to get streaming data consumption estimates for different scenarios.

Some key projections:

• A typical 1080p60 stream consumes around 3.6 GB/hour
• 1440p60 HDR streams use over 5 GB/hour
• An uncompressed 4K60 SDR stream eats up 20 GB/hour!

Always keep at least 20-30% overhead room within your data cap when streaming to account for gaming traffic, Windows/browser updates etc.

Without unlimited data availability, diligently tracking your streaming data usage is essential to avoid costly overages.

Future Proofing Your Stream Investment for Next Gen Tech Advances

Streaming technology continues advancing rapidly year on year. You want to future proof your internet connectivity investment for at least 3-5 years to avoid frequent upgrade costs.

Here are some major developments on the horizon to watch and their bandwidth implications:

1. AV1 codec for higher quality efficiency – This royalty free video codec from the Alliance for Open Media offers 50% improved compression efficiency over H.264 using sophisticated algorithms. Twitch plans integrating AV1 soon, promising equivalent quality streams at up to 40% lower bitrates. This will ease upload demands slightly but still necessitates sufficient headroom for 1440p60 minimum.

2. Volumetric video support – Facebook recently demoed volumetric video streaming of human holograms at ultra low 1 millisecond latency. Expect Twitch to eventually support photorealistic avatar based streams using volumetric video. These require tremendous bandwidth however – up to 100 Gbps! Only 5G and WiFi 7 switching networks can manage such streams locally. So expect avatar streams to remain cloud hosted on high speed infrastructure not home internet plans for some years. Still useful to overprovision enough overhead for when 1440p 120fps avatar streams come within reach.

3. 8K resolution viewing – While 8K broadcasts remain firmly in the enthusiast space for now, industry groups like CES predict rapidly falling 8K display prices bringing them into the mainstream not long after 4K. When affordable 8K streaming content arrives by 2025, ensure your network ready to either sustain 12K bitrate original uploads or leverage cloud transcoding to 8K mirrors.

Multiple experts like Dr. Mark Fisher, Head of Technology Futures Research at BT Group, echo the importance of building adequate headroom into your home network‘s foundation:

"Bandwidth demands by next generation social video applications at higher 4K resolutions and beyond are projected to rise up to 20x over this decade. Providing consistent high capacity throughput remains imperative for internet infrastructure."

So design your home network‘s capacity for long-term flexibility right from day one.

Final Thoughts

Evaluating optimal internet speeds for live streaming involves both precise bandwidth calculations and also broader technology awareness across connectivity mediums, encoding software limitations and resolution/framerate roadmaps.

Hopefully breaking down all key dimensions from immediate bitrate requirements today to accounting for imminent advances like 8K prepares you to make informed home internet infrastructure investments.

My key takeaways in summary:

• Plan for 1440p60 minimum for future proof streaming quality allowing upgrading to 4K later
• Calculate gaming bandwidth needs alongside streaming and add sufficient margin
• Analyze your local connection medium whether fiber, cable etc. across metrics like consistency for reliability
• Confirm your home network has either uncapped data or enough monthly allocation for streaming data demands
• Continue tracking evolution trajectories for video codecs like AV1 and monitor shifts in resolution adoption over the next 3-5 years

Let me know if you have any other questions about getting your home internet setup ready for professional grade Twitch streaming during this guide!