What is the best software for streaming PC gameplay to Twitch?

5

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Considered

12

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Nov 8, 2018

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Best software for streaming PC gameplay to Twitch	Price	OS	Video Codecs
-- Open Broadcaster Software	Free	Windows 7, 8, 8.1 And 10; Mac OS X 10.9 or newer, Linux	-
-- Wirecast	$495	Windows; OSX	x264; H.264; Flash; ProRes; MJPEG; WMV
-- XSplit Gamecaster	-	Windows	H264
-- Vmix	$60-$1200	-	-
-- Gameshow	$8.99/month	-	-

Open Broadcaster Software

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Top Pro

Free, open source and cross-platform

OBS is licensed under GPLv2 with code available on GitHub. It's available on Windows, OSX and Linux. See More

Top Con

Can't link to an audio file as a source

You can download a plugin called DirectShow Audio Source, but you're only given options to use audio inputs (mic, speakers, etc...). You cannot simply select a wav or mp3 file to loop (going AFK or BRB for example). See More

Specs

Top Pro

Stream settings are extremely customizable

Open Broadcaster lets you add different streaming profiles, each with its own settings. Each profile can have its keyboard shortcut to start or stop recording, custom resolution, frames per second or even the audio codec of choice. See More

Top Con

Can't output to multiple streams at once (planned)

Ability to stream to multiple outputs is planned but not available yet. See More

Top Pro

Several capture types supported

There are multiple capture types that can be used to stream. By clicking in "Sources Window", you can add the type that you need. Windows Capture, for example, as the name suggests, captures the windows. Monitor Capture is similar but captures the window regardless of where it was, this way you can for example capture the whole monitor or a sub-region of the screen. But the most important capture type by far is Game capture, which allows users to record full screen captures of games. See More

Top Con

Lacks scene previewing (planned)

OBS lacks the functionality to look at scenes before streaming them. See More

Top Pro

Simple user interface

Open Broadcaster has a clean and simple interface that is easy to understand even for people who have never used a streaming application before. It has a "Start Streaming" button on the bottom, which, when clicked lets you stream from your chosen source. See More

Top Pro

Light resource usage

Open Broadcaster uses relatively fewer resources than competitors, especially when streaming using Game Mode and by limiting the number of frames per second to 60 or lower. See More

Top Pro

Has over 20 plugins that enhance functionality

OBS has over 20 plugins to choose from, including one's that allow adding video files and any other media supported by VLC as a source, integrating Twich chat and switching scene depending on what window is in focus. See More

Top Pro

Supports Intel's Quick Sync for faster and more power efficient video processing

Quick Sync is hardware video encoding and decoding technology that's comparable in speed, compression ratio and quality to x264. Since Quick Sync is a dedicated hardware core on the processor die, it allows for faster and more power efficient video processing. See More

XSplit Gamecaster

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Top Pro

Has a limited free version

XSplit offers a free version that includes both XSplit Broadcaster and XSplit Gamecaster, but is limited to .aac 96 kbps mono audio, .mp4/.flv@30fps video and advanced features like image overlays, Twitch integration or a preview editor. See More

Top Con

Adding text requires a plugin

While a minor inconvenience, most other tools include this functionality by default. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Simultaneous broadcast

A paid license allows streaming to multiple services at the same time. See More

Top Con

Premium version is required for commercial use

A paid license is required to use XSplit for any commercial purposes. The personal license is $4.95/mo and the premium license is $8.95/mo. See More

Top Pro

Functionality can be extended via plugins

XSplit has a source plugin store (with about 5 plugins) that add functionality such as whiteboards, image slideshows and video playlists. See More

Vmix

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Gameshow

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