BeginStreaming

Technical

Dual-PC setup

Using one PC to game and a second to encode the stream. Once the standard for high-end quality; modern GPU encoders (NVENC) make it unnecessary for most.

Related terms

  • Encoder

    The software or hardware that compresses your video to send it online. 'x264' uses your CPU; 'NVENC' uses an NVIDIA GPU.

  • Capture card

    Hardware that brings video from a console (or second PC) into your streaming computer over HDMI. Required for PS5/Xbox streaming through OBS.

  • OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)

    The free, open-source app most streamers use to broadcast — it captures your game, webcam and mic, mixes them into scenes, and sends the stream to your platform.