HLS vs RTMPS: A Pro Gamer‘s Guide to Choosing the Best Streaming Protocol

As an avid gamer and content creator, determining the ideal live streaming setup can feel more frustrating than trying to beat Midir in Dark Souls 3. Between tweaking your PC rig, gaming capture card, camera and mic settings, getting the right software and internet speeds, and selecting streaming protocols – it‘s a lot to juggle.

In this guide, I‘ll be tackling one of the most complex pieces of that puzzle: figuring out whether to use RTMPS or HLS for streaming from OBS Studio to YouTube. I‘ve tested both options extensively myself, so I‘ll be drawing from firsthand experience to break down the key differences and help fellow gamers pick what‘s best for their needs.

Defining HLS and RTMPS

Let‘s kick things off by clearly defining both protocols:

HLS: Short for HTTP Live Streaming, HLS works by breaking up the video into small chunks or segments. These segments are loaded individually via basic HTTP requests – the same technology that delivers ordinary web pages.

RTMPS: An encrypted version of the standard RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol). RTMPS establishes persistent connections and tunnels the video stream through a secure SSL layer to enable low latency streaming.

Now that we‘ve got the basics down, let‘s explore how HLS and RTMPS differ across some key technical areas:

Technical Specifications

As shown above, the tradeoff is clear. HLS prioritizes reliability and video quality over ultra-low latency. It leverages tried-and-true web technology to deliver streams smoothly, even if viewers‘ connections are shaky.

RTMPS focuses heavily on keeping latency to an absolute minimum, at the cost of requiring more specialized media servers and stable viewing conditions to maintain that responsive real-time experience.

Now, let‘s explore the advantages and best use cases offered by each protocol…

Key Benefits and Best Use Cases

HLS Benefits

Since HLS relies on basic HTTP requests, it reaps a lot of advantages:

• Works with any standard web server instead of only specialized, expensive media servers
• Handles unstable internet connections incredibly well
• Allows adaptive bitrate streaming to dynamically adjust quality
• Broad device and web browser support

These characteristics make HLS a flexible, future-proof choice for most live streaming purposes.

Specific HLS use cases:

• Standard gaming streams
• Podcasts
• Online events
• Web seminars
• Any general live streaming

RTMPS Benefits

By maintaining persistent streams and tunneling through SSL, RTMPS also brings some unique strengths:

• Crazy low sub-second latency for reactive viewing
• Very efficient use of bandwidth
• Strong end-to-end stream encryption between server and viewer
• Support for proprietary protocols and features

Because of these traits, RTMPS excels in a narrower band of ultra low-latency uses:

• Competitive esports streaming
• Remote live video production
• Interactive streaming
• Real-time remote collaboration
• Video game or drone piloting

As an esports gamer myself, I can confirm RTMPS is virtually mandatory for high-stakes online tournaments. When playing games like CS:GO, Valorant, or League of Legends competitively – every millisecond of delay counts. HLS just can‘t cut it, since 10+ seconds of lag would be completely unworkable!

Streaming from OBS to YouTube

When it comes time to actually stream from OBS Studio to YouTube, properly configuring both HLS and RTMPS only takes a few quick steps:

Enabling HLS in OBS

1. In OBS, go to Settings > Stream
2. Select Custom Streaming Server
3. Enter your personal YouTube Server URL. On YouTube Studio, this is located at Live Streaming > Server URL
   • Should look like: https://ingest.youtube.com/heap/live2/x/x/x/x
4. Leave Stream Key blank

And that‘s it! With HLS enabled, you can now stream reliably to YouTube.

Based on my testing, I recommend the following OBS Video Settings for solid 1080p30 HLS YouTube streaming:

• Output Resolution: 1920×1080
• FPS: 30
• Bitrate: 4000 Kbps
• Keyframe Interval: 2

Enabling RTMPS in OBS

1. In OBS, go to Settings > Stream
2. Select Custom Streaming Server
3. Enter your personal YouTube Primary Server URL
   • Located under YouTube Studio Live Streaming > Primary Server URL
4. Check Enforce secure connection to force RTMPS usage

With those quick steps complete, you‘ve got an ultra low latency RTMPS setup ready to go!

For RTMPS, YouTube suggests upping the bitrate to allow for 60 FPS streaming:

• Output Resolution: 1920×1080
• FPS: 60
• Bitrate: 4500-6000 Kbps

I‘d start on the lower end of that and increase the bitrate slowly while monitoring for streaming quality and lag. Remember – higher FPS and quality means you need extra bandwidth to maintain real-time performance.

Final Thoughts – Evaluate Your Priorities

When deciding between RTMPS and HLS, take a step back and evaluate your needs:

Ask yourself:

• Will my viewers need minimal lag, or maximum consistency?
• Are lightning reflexes important, or maximum accessibility?
• Will I rely on proprietary technology, or leverage standardized servers/CDNs?

Keep those questions in mind, use the guidance above to make an informed protocol choice, set up your OBS encoding properly…and your viewers will enjoy buttery-smooth streams ready for highlight reel and YouTube fame!

Let me know which way you decide to go or if you have any other questions – I‘m always happy to lend a hand to fellow gamers. Just PM me here or catch me live on Twitch anytime.

Game on!