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Video Broadcasting Overview

There are thousands of Twitch broadcasters. A broadcaster sends a video stream to Twitch using any of several tools:

The tool sends a video signal captured from the broadcaster’s game and cameras, through the open Internet, into Twitch using Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP).

The first stop for a broadcast stream is the Twitch ingesting subsystem, where streams enter Twitch and are authorized and registered, then prepared for viewers. You select an ingest server to receive your stream. There are many ingest servers, each living in a PoP (Point of Presence, a small-to-medium deployment of servers in a co-location facility, normally at a major internet exchange point).

Broadcast URLs and Stream Keys

Each broadcast uses an RTMP URL with this format:

rtmp://<ingest-server>/app/<stream-key>[?bandwidthtest=true]

Where:

Example: rtmp://sfo.contribute.live-video.net/app/live_user_123456789?bandwidthtest=true

For more detailed recommendations and codecs, please consult the Twitch Broadcasting Guidelines.