Best Vertical Stream Settings for Live Games (1080×1920)

TikTok viewers watch on phones held upright, so your game stream should be vertical (9:16). Getting the settings right means a sharp image, readable text and no buffering — and for interactive games, readable text matters more than anything. This guide gives you safe starting settings and a simple way to test them.

These are general starting points that work for most PCs. If TikTok LIVE Studio or your stream key page recommends specific values, those take priority.

The short version

• Resolution: 1080x1920 (fallback: 720x1280)
• Frame rate: 30 fps (60 only for fast games with headroom)
• Encoder: hardware (NVENC, AMF or Quick Sync) if available
• Rate control: CBR
• Video bitrate: start around 4,000–6,000 kbps for 1080x1920 at 30 fps; around 2,500–4,000 kbps for 720x1280 — and never more than your connection can sustain
• Keyframe interval: 2 seconds
• Audio: AAC, 48 kHz, 128–160 kbps

The rest of this guide explains each setting and how to tune it.

Resolution: 1080x1920 or 720x1280

A 1080x1920 canvas gives you the most detail, which helps small game text stay legible. But resolution only helps if your PC can encode it and your connection can upload it. A clean 720x1280 stream beats a 1080x1920 stream that drops frames.

In OBS Studio, set both Base (Canvas) Resolution and Output (Scaled) Resolution under Settings → Video. If you need to save performance, keep the canvas at 1080x1920 and scale the output to 720x1280 — your layout stays the same.

Frame rate: 30 vs 60 fps

Most interactive games are about reading the screen: who's winning, which team is ahead, what the command is. 30 fps is perfectly smooth for that and halves the encoding work compared with 60 fps. Choose 60 fps only for fast action games, and only after a test shows no dropped frames.

Encoder: let the GPU do the work

The game and the encoder compete for your PC's resources. Hardware encoders move the work to a dedicated part of your graphics chip:

• NVIDIA: NVENC (H.264)
• AMD: AMF / VCE (H.264)
• Intel: Quick Sync (H.264)

Use the H.264 encoder unless TikTok's tool explicitly supports something else for your account. If you only have a software encoder (x264), use the “veryfast” or “faster” preset and keep 30 fps.

Bitrate: match it to your upload

Bitrate is how much data per second your stream uses. Too low and the image turns blocky when lots moves on screen; too high and the stream stutters because your connection can't keep up.

1. Run an upload speed test a few times at the time of day you usually stream.
2. Take the lowest stable result and use no more than about 70% of it for video.
3. Start from the ranges above and adjust after a test stream.

Prefer CBR (constant bitrate) for live streaming; it keeps the data rate predictable. A wired Ethernet connection is far more stable than Wi-Fi for a long stream.

Keyframe interval and other details

• Keyframe interval: 2 seconds is a widely used value for live platforms.
• Profile: “high” is fine for modern encoders.
• B-frames / look-ahead: leave the encoder defaults unless you know why you're changing them.

Audio settings

Game audio and your voice should both be clear, with your voice on top:

• Sample rate: 48 kHz in both Windows and your streaming software, to avoid crackles.
• Bitrate: 128–160 kbps AAC.
• Levels: keep your voice peaking around the yellow zone of the meter and the game a few dB below it. Add a noise suppression filter on the microphone and a limiter so loud moments don't clip.

Layout for a vertical game

A 16:9 PC game doesn't fill a 9:16 frame on its own. Common layouts:

• Centered game with top and bottom panels. The game sits in the middle; the top shows the commands, the bottom your camera or scoreboard.
• Cropped game. Crop the sides of the game to fill more height — only if nothing important lives at the edges.
• Native vertical game. The best option. StreamRoar games are designed to read well in a vertical layout.

Keep the bottom and right edges of the frame free of important information; TikTok shows comments, gift animations and buttons there.

Test before you go live

1. Record 2–3 minutes locally with the same settings and watch it on your phone.
2. Check that the smallest important text is readable at phone size.
3. Do a short test LIVE and watch your own stream from a second device. Look for blur in fast scenes and listen for audio crackles.
4. In OBS, check View → Stats during the test: rising “dropped frames (network)” means the bitrate is too high for your connection; “skipped frames due to encoding lag” means your PC or encoder is overloaded.

Quick fixes

• Blocky picture in busy scenes: raise bitrate slightly if your upload allows, or drop to 720x1280.
• Network dropped frames: lower bitrate, switch to Ethernet, close uploads and cloud sync.
• Encoder overloaded: switch to a hardware encoder, lower to 30 fps, or reduce the game's own graphics settings.
• Text unreadable: zoom the game capture, use the game's UI scaling, or show key info in a large text source.

Related guides

Set up the capture itself with how to show a PC game on TikTok LIVE, and make the stream interactive with gift and comment games.