Streaming bitrate and gear price index
This page exists to be quoted. The tables below are the reference data behind every verdict on the site, published openly under CC BY 4.0, which means you may reuse any of it with a link back to StreamPartPicker.
Rebuilt 2026-08-27. Prices are tracked, not live; the newest observation in this bake is 2026-08-26.
Bitrate needed per quality tier
Recommended H.264 bitrate, the upload needed to carry it with headroom, and the H.265 equivalent.
| Tier | H.264 kbps | H.265 kbps | Upload | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4K60 | 20,000 | 14,000 | 28.6 Mbps | 9.0 GB |
| 4K30 | 13,000 | 9,100 | 18.6 Mbps | 5.8 GB |
| 1440p60 (2K) | 9,000 | 6,300 | 12.9 Mbps | 4.0 GB |
| 1440p30 (2K) | 6,000 | 4,200 | 8.6 Mbps | 2.7 GB |
| 1080p60 | 6,000 | 4,200 | 8.6 Mbps | 2.7 GB |
| 1080p30 | 4,500 | 3,150 | 6.4 Mbps | 2.0 GB |
| 720p60 | 4,500 | 3,150 | 6.4 Mbps | 2.0 GB |
| 720p30 | 3,000 | 2,100 | 4.3 Mbps | 1.4 GB |
| 480p30 | 1,500 | 1,050 | 2.1 Mbps | 0.7 GB |
| 360p30 | 800 | 560 | 1.1 Mbps | 0.4 GB |
Platform ingest caps
What each platform accepts, the highest resolution it actually delivers, and where the figure comes from.
| Platform | Max ingest | Delivered | Top tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twitch (standard) | 6,000 kbps | 1080p | 1080p60 | Twitch broadcasting guidelinesChecked 2026-07 |
| Twitch Enhanced (HEVC) | 9,000 kbps | 1440p | 1440p60 (2K) | Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting documentationChecked 2026-07 |
| YouTube | 24,000 kbps | 2160p | 4K60 | YouTube live encoder settingsChecked 2026-07 |
| Kick | 8,000 kbps | 1080p | 1080p60 | Kick streaming settings helpChecked 2026-07 |
| TikTok LIVE | 8,000 kbps | 1080p | 1080p60 | TikTok LIVE Studio streaming settingsChecked 2026-07 |
| Instagram Live | 6,000 kbps | 720p | 720p60 | Instagram Live delivery specificationChecked 2026-07 |
| X (Twitter) | 9,000 kbps | 1080p | 1080p60 | X Media Studio producer specificationChecked 2026-07 |
| Rumble | 8,000 kbps | 1080p | 1080p60 | Rumble streaming setup documentationChecked 2026-07 |
| Facebook Live | 4,000 kbps | 1080p | 720p30 | Facebook Live producer specificationChecked 2026-07 |
| WhatnotEstimate | 3,500 kbps | 1080p | 720p30 | No published cap. Seller guides converge on 2,500 to 3,500 kbpsChecked 2026-07 |
Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is listed separately from Twitch standard because the difference is the whole reason 1440p is possible there. Whatnot publishes no ingest cap at all, so its row is our planning estimate rather than a spec, and it is marked as one.
Gear price index by category
Median, cheapest, and most expensive tracked price per category, across the 1,114 priced parts in 17 categories below.
| Category | Parts | Median | Cheapest | Most expensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio | 159 | $144 | $10 | $1,799 |
| Camera | 150 | $559 | $18 | $6,998 |
| Headphones / Headset | 140 | $150 | $19 | $1,800 |
| Interface / Mixer | 91 | $199 | $40 | $1,999 |
| Power Bank / Portable Battery | 73 | $60 | $17 | $500 |
| Mount / Stabilizer | 68 | $70 | $14 | $1,306 |
| Lighting | 67 | $99 | $18 | $369 |
| Storage | 52 | $122 | $27 | $750 |
| Capture Card | 51 | $100 | $14 | $579 |
| Rigging | 49 | $23 | $9 | $380 |
| Backpack / Case | 48 | $110 | $18 | $705 |
| Mic Arm | 34 | $62 | $7 | $446 |
| Chat Phone | 31 | $180 | $10 | $682 |
| Connection | 28 | $150 | $30 | $2,196 |
| Green Screen | 27 | $90 | $14 | $319 |
| Encoder | 23 | $499 | $100 | $18,000 |
| Control Deck | 23 | $80 | $45 | $350 |
Medians, not averages, so a single broadcast-tier item does not distort a category. Prices are tracked estimates rather than a live feed, last observed 2026-08-26. 33 items currently sit at least 10% below their own tracked average, listed on deals.
Citing this data
Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0. A machine-readable copy of this page lives at /md/data.md. Suggested credit:
StreamPartPicker, "Streaming Bitrate and Gear Price Index", 2026-08-27. https://streampartpicker.com/data
How these numbers are derived is documented on the methodology page.