How to stream to multiple platforms at the same time

What multistreaming actually does

Your encoder produces one program: the same camera, microphone, scenes, and overlays. A routing layer then forwards that program to every enabled destination. Viewers still watch and interact on their preferred platform.

Multistreaming does not merge platform accounts or audiences. Titles, stream keys, chat, moderation, ingest limits, and account rules still belong to each destination.

• One production workflow in OBS
• Several simultaneous platform outputs
• Independent status and failure handling per destination

Cloud fan-out or multiple local outputs?

A local setup sends one upload per platform from your computer. A cloud fan-out service receives one upload and duplicates it near the server. Both can work, but they place bandwidth and operational load in different places.

Calculate upload bandwidth before going live

With local fan-out, add the video and audio bitrate of every simultaneous output, then keep headroom for network variation. Three 6 Mbps outputs already require about 18 Mbps before overhead. YouTube recommends substantially more upload capacity than the total bitrate when several streams leave the same connection.

With iobase cloud fan-out, your connection sends only the single source stream to iobase. The server handles destination uploads. Your source still needs a stable bitrate that your connection can sustain continuously—not just a high result from one speed test.

• Use a wired connection when possible.
• Test at the same time of day as the real broadcast.
• Watch dropped frames in OBS during a private test.

Multistream with OBS and iobase in five steps

First create or prepare each destination account and obtain its stream URL and private stream key. In iobase, add each destination and choose whether it should receive Source Copy or a compatible transcode profile.

• Create your private iobase stream key in Dashboard → Streams.
• Add YouTube, Aparat, Twitch, or custom RTMP destinations.
• In OBS, choose Custom service and paste the iobase server URL and key.
• Start a private or unlisted test and confirm every output becomes Live.
• Only then schedule or announce the public broadcast.

Use Source Copy when one format fits every destination

Source Copy forwards the encoded audio and video without rebuilding it. It preserves quality and avoids an extra encode, but it cannot fix an incompatible codec, bitrate, frame rate, resolution, or keyframe interval.

If destinations need different formats, use a transcode profile for the affected output. Choose the source settings for the strictest shared destination when you want all outputs copied unchanged.

• H.264 video and AAC audio are the safest shared baseline.
• A two-second keyframe interval is a conservative cross-platform choice.
• Never assume a platform accepting a connection means viewers can decode it correctly.

Pre-broadcast checklist

Treat the first full-path test as part of setup, not as the opening minutes of the real event.

• All destination keys are current and kept private.
• OBS shows zero or negligible dropped frames.
• Every destination has both picture and sound.
• Titles, visibility, category, and chat settings are correct on each platform.
• A fallback scene and a way to stop outputs are ready.