For a standard dynamic-range (SDR) retail promo loop, start with 1920×1080 at 30 frames per second, H.264, CBR at 5 Mbps, a two-second keyframe interval, Rec. 709 colour and AAC stereo audio at 128 kbps. Send the stream to YouTube over RTMPS, then test with the actual promo material before you leave it running.
Those are YouTube-recommended encoding settings, not a promise that every product shot will look sharp or that a channel will stay live without interruption. Text size, motion, audio levels, upload stability and the computer doing the encoding all matter. Treat the preset as a baseline to verify, not a result to assume.
A sensible SDR starting preset for retail
A retail channel often combines product photographs, price cards, small legal or offer text, transitions, voiceovers and music. The recommended 1080p30 H.264 preset is a straightforward place to begin because it balances a full-HD canvas and moderate motion without taking on the higher encoding and upload demands of 60 fps. YouTube recommends 5 Mbps for H.264 at 1080p30, CBR, and a two-second keyframe interval. It also recommends Rec. 709 for SDR video and AAC stereo at 128 kbps and 44.1 kHz.
In OBS, choose the streaming output settings that match this plan: H.264 encoder, constant bitrate rate control, 5,000 Kbps video bitrate, and a keyframe interval of two seconds. Set the output canvas and scaled output to 1920×1080 if your source graphics are designed at that size. Under video colour settings, use Rec. 709 and 8-bit SDR. Set audio to stereo, 44.1 kHz, AAC at 128 Kbps. OBS labels and available encoder choices can differ by version and computer, so check the values shown rather than relying on a screenshot from another setup.
| Setting | Starting point | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Output resolution | 1920×1080 | Check prices, product details and disclaimers on a phone-sized preview. |
| Frame rate | 30 fps | See whether product movement and transitions look acceptable. |
| Video codec | H.264 | Confirm the selected encoder and YouTube ingest path support it. |
| Rate control | CBR | Keep bitrate behaviour consistent with YouTube’s recommendation. |
| Video bitrate | 5 Mbps | Test against the upload connection and the actual footage. |
| Keyframe interval | 2 seconds | YouTube advises not to exceed 4 seconds. |
| Colour | Rec. 709, 8-bit SDR | Keep the graphics and OBS output in the same SDR colour workflow. |
| Audio | AAC, stereo, 44.1 kHz, 128 kbps | Listen for clipping, silence, imbalance and abrupt loop points. |
| Ingest | RTMPS | Select YouTube’s secure ingest option and protect the stream key. |
These figures come from YouTube’s live encoder settings guidance. They are platform recommendations; they are not a quality assessment of your creative, network or OBS machine. YouTube can transcode a live stream into viewer quality options, but that does not repair a weak or unstable source feed.
If you are still deciding how the promo should be assembled, use a repeatable sequence rather than a long, unreviewed file. A product card can hold long enough to read, then move into a short demonstration, a clear offer and a transition that does not interrupt speech or music. Channels built around pre-recorded material may find useful workflow ideas in this guide to running a recorded 24/7 YouTube channel, even though the subject matter there differs from retail.
Set resolution and frame rate around the creative
Choose 1920×1080 at 30 fps when your source artwork is built for full HD and the channel relies on readable product images or text. Frame rate is the number of pictures sent each second. At 30 fps, ordinary slides, product close-ups and gentle pans generally have less motion to encode than a 60 fps presentation. YouTube’s recommendation for 1080p30 H.264 is 5 Mbps; its recommendation for 1080p60 H.264 is 17 Mbps. That higher rate is a significant additional upload requirement, so use 60 fps only when the content genuinely benefits from smoother motion and you have tested the encoder and connection at that setting.
In OBS, the base (canvas) resolution describes the design space for your scenes; the output (scaled) resolution is what the stream sends. If your promo file is 1920×1080, keeping both at that resolution avoids an unnecessary resize. If sources differ, make a scene and preview it before broadcasting: a square product photograph stretched to fill a widescreen canvas will look wrong, while preserving its aspect ratio may leave space that needs a deliberate background or layout.
Small text is a particular risk in retail. A price that looks legible on a desktop preview may become difficult to read on a phone after YouTube transcodes the stream. Use the Live Control Room preview and a real watch-page view on a mobile device to inspect the smallest type, contrast, product labels and any offer conditions. A link about preserving video aspect ratio in a YouTube loop covers a related source-layout problem; the same practical principle applies in OBS: fit the image deliberately instead of distorting it.
Avoid changing resolution or frame rate after the stream has started unless you have a tested reason and understand the interruption involved. For a continuous channel, make changes during a planned maintenance window, verify the preview and watch page afterwards, and note the settings that were changed. A stable, legible 30 fps presentation is more useful than a nominally higher frame rate that causes encoding overload or unreadable graphics.
H.264 bitrate, CBR and keyframes
Bitrate is the amount of encoded data sent each second. For this preset, set the video bitrate to 5 Mbps (5,000 Kbps) and rate control to CBR, or constant bitrate. CBR aims to keep the stream near a steady rate rather than spending much more bandwidth on a complex scene and much less on a still one. YouTube recommends CBR for live streaming and lists 5 Mbps for 1080p30 H.264. This is not a measurement of what your own connection can sustain; you need headroom for normal network variation and other traffic sharing the connection.
A retail loop can alternate between still product cards and footage with movement, camera pans or animated prices. Complex scenes may be harder to encode than a plain slide. Inspect both kinds of material at the proposed rate. Look for blocky detail around moving edges, smeared lettering, or quality changes when a transition appears. If those problems persist, check source quality, scene scaling and encoder load before simply increasing bitrate. A higher bitrate requires more sustained upload capacity and can make a marginal connection less reliable.
Set the keyframe interval to two seconds. A keyframe is a full reference picture from which later frames can be reconstructed; regular keyframes help the receiving system and playback seek points. YouTube recommends a two-second interval and says not to exceed four seconds. Keep the value consistent rather than allowing it to vary between scenes. OBS also notes that a consistent interval helps transitions between transcoded quality options.
Do not infer that an OBS bitrate number alone proves a healthy broadcast. Check the YouTube stream-health panel while sending the test, and watch OBS for dropped frames or encoding overload. Those diagnostics point to different problems: network-related dropped frames suggest a delivery path issue, while encoding overload can indicate that the computer cannot render the scene in time. Reduce unnecessary scene complexity or test a less demanding output before deciding to lower quality. Keep a note of what changed so you can compare results accurately.
Rec. 709 colour and AAC stereo audio
For an SDR retail loop, select Rec. 709 colour and 8-bit output. YouTube’s advanced SDR recommendations use Rec. 709. Keep the graphics export, OBS colour settings and source footage in a compatible SDR workflow. If a product’s packaging colour matters, check it on more than one display: screens vary, and a colour that appears close on the editing monitor may not appear identical on a phone. Avoid switching to HDR unless the whole production chain has been set up and tested for it; HDR has separate requirements and is usually unnecessary for promo graphics.
Use AAC audio in stereo at 44.1 kHz and 128 kbps. YouTube lists AAC or MP3 for RTMP/RTMPS audio and gives 128 kbps stereo at 44.1 kHz in its advanced recommendations. In OBS, verify that the audio source is routed to the stream, not merely audible through your computer speakers. Listen to the actual output for voice intelligibility, consistent music level, clipping and silence at file boundaries. Retail music and voice recordings also need appropriate rights cleared for the intended use; these encoder settings do not address permissions.
Pay attention to loop joins. If one video ends with a half-second of silence and the next begins with music already playing, the channel may sound as if it has dropped out or jumped. Play the whole sequence locally, including transitions and the final-to-first join. Then test the same sequence through YouTube and listen on a phone. Use headphones for detailed checks, but also judge the balance at an ordinary listening level; voiceovers should not disappear under music.
Choose YouTube RTMPS ingest
Select RTMPS when configuring the YouTube destination. YouTube recommends RTMPS, which encrypts the connection between the encoder and YouTube. In the Live Control Room, use the current server and stream-key details shown for the broadcast, then select the matching destination in OBS. Do not copy a stream key into a public document or send it to someone who does not need access. YouTube describes the key as the encoder’s password and address; if it is exposed, reset it and update the encoder with the replacement.
The official YouTube guide to setting up a live stream encoder walks through the platform-side setup. Allow time before a launch to confirm that the preview receives a signal and that the correct channel and event are selected. YouTube advises setting up encoder streams well ahead of an event and starting the encoder before the event; for an always-on channel, treat that advice as a rehearsal window rather than a promise that a quick last-minute check is enough.
OBS is one possible operating model: it gives you direct control over scenes and sources, but your computer, power, internet connection, OBS process and recovery procedure become part of the continuous operation. YouTube’s encoder directory also lists cloud-based services for 24/7 prerecorded video streams. Compare operating responsibilities and terms directly, including how a service handles the source file, monitoring, recovery and archives. For a workflow question about sending a feed again after a brief network interruption, see this guide to reconnecting a YouTube stream after a drop; its FFmpeg-specific steps are not OBS instructions, but it highlights why reconnect behaviour belongs in the operating plan.
For a pre-recorded promo loop, keeping the broadcast running when your own computer is switched off can remove the burden of leaving that machine in service overnight. StreamNeo turns an uploaded video into a YouTube live stream, so you do not have to keep an OBS session and local computer running for that file-based broadcast. It is YouTube-only, and you should still check the stream and the channel’s needs rather than treating a different operating model as a guarantee of uninterrupted service.
Test with the real promotions
Make a test using the same promo sequence, scene transitions, text sizes, audio and encoder settings planned for launch. A test card with a still image is not enough if the real channel contains product movement, animated offers or voice. YouTube recommends testing with audio and movement similar to the planned broadcast, monitoring stream health and reviewing any messages shown by the platform. Use that guidance as a checklist: confirm the picture arrives, audio is present, and the health panel does not report a problem.
Inspect the stream from the audience’s side as well as OBS. Open the channel’s watch page on a phone and another display if available. Confirm that a viewer can read the price, identify the product, hear the voiceover and understand where an offer applies. Check transitions and the loop join rather than only the first few seconds. If you use a playlist, verify that the intended file is playing and that the sequence does not end unexpectedly.
A useful test is a comparison, not a ritual. If the text looks soft, check the original artwork and scaling. If motion breaks into blocks, review the source clip, encoder load and bitrate. If audio is missing, trace the OBS audio source and output routing. Change one factor at a time, then repeat the relevant part of the test. That gives you a clearer diagnosis than changing resolution, bitrate and encoder at once.
Before launch, test recovery too. YouTube recommends testing a backup encoder path by stopping the primary encoder or disconnecting its Ethernet cable and checking whether the player switches to the backup. This is a test of a backup path, not a complete redundancy design for a retail channel. If you have no backup encoder, write down how you will notice an interruption and how you will restart the stream. A UPS may support the computer and network equipment during some power interruptions, but it will not resolve an ISP outage or software failure; size it based on measured equipment draw and desired runtime.
For a continuous channel, decide how local recordings and archives will be managed before going live. YouTube advises checking that local archive files exist and that their file size is growing. Its setup guidance says streams under 12 hours are automatically archived, so do not plan on a single uninterrupted 24-hour archive as your only record. Decide whether to make segmented local recordings, how long to retain them and who checks them. Keep the stream key private and record the recovery steps somewhere accessible to the people responsible for the channel.
Use 720p30 only as a tested fallback
If your connection or computer cannot reliably sustain the 1080p30 test, try 1280×720 at 30 fps as a fallback. YouTube recommends 3 Mbps for H.264 at 720p30, compared with 5 Mbps for 1080p30. This is a lower-demand option, not a guarantee that the channel will be stable or that retail text will remain readable. Repeat the test with the smallest prices and product details shown in the actual layout.
A lower resolution can make small lettering less clear, especially after transcoding and on a small screen. You may need to redesign the graphic with larger text and fewer details rather than just scale the full-HD composition down. Check the watch page on a phone, and ask someone who has not seen the design to read the offer and conditions. If they cannot, revise the creative before deciding that the fallback is acceptable.
Monitor the broadcast after launch. Check YouTube’s stream-health status and messages, OBS dropped frames and encoding load, whether the intended promo is still playing, and whether audio remains present. Assign a person or an alerting process to notice issues; a stream that appears live in OBS is not proof that a viewer can watch it. Review the channel from the public watch page periodically, and have a clear procedure for restarting or changing the stream when required. Settings are only one part of continuous operation.
If the aim is to keep a prerecorded channel running without relying on your home connection, this article on running a YouTube live stream without your own internet discusses that broader operating choice. Whatever route you choose, compare the amount of control you need against the equipment, monitoring, recovery and archive work you are prepared to own. Confirm current service capabilities and terms directly before choosing.
Before committing, compare the operating options on the pricing page. When the file and channel are ready, start free — 24-hour trial, no card.
FAQ
What are the best OBS settings for YouTube Live?
For a standard SDR retail loop, begin with 1080p at 30 fps, H.264, CBR at 5 Mbps, a two-second keyframe interval, Rec. 709 and AAC stereo at 128 kbps and 44.1 kHz. YouTube recommends these relevant values for its encoder settings; test the actual scenes and connection before relying on them.
What bitrate should I use for 1080p 30 fps?
YouTube recommends 5 Mbps for H.264 at 1080p30. Use that as a starting point and monitor stream health and OBS diagnostics during a realistic test, because the recommendation does not establish what your upload connection can sustain.
Can OBS run a 24/7 YouTube stream?
OBS can send a live stream, but continuous operation also depends on the computer, power, network, software and a tested recovery plan. You need monitoring and an explicit archive plan as well; encoder settings alone do not keep a channel live around the clock.
When should I use 720p instead?
Try 720p30 if testing shows that 1080p30 places too much demand on your available upload capacity or encoding setup. YouTube recommends 3 Mbps for H.264 at 720p30, but check text legibility and image quality on the audience’s actual viewing screens before adopting it.