Technical
Transcoding / quality options
The platform re-encoding your stream into lower qualities (720p, 480p…) so viewers on slow internet can watch. On Twitch, guaranteed for Partners — everyone else gets it when available.
Related terms
- Bitrate
How much data your stream sends per second. Higher bitrate = better image quality but needs more upload speed. Twitch caps it around 6,000–8,500 kbps.
- Affiliate / Partner
Twitch's monetization tiers. Affiliate is the first milestone (lets you earn subs/bits); Partner is the advanced tier with more perks.
- Encoder
The software or hardware that compresses your video to send it online. 'x264' uses your CPU; 'NVENC' uses an NVIDIA GPU.