Working and convening remotely/YouTube Live setup

This is a guide on how to set up a manual YouTube Live event.

Create a live stream event

Events give you more control of your stream. You’ll be able to select privacy options, set a start time, enable a backup stream for redundancy, create multiple live events, and stream them all simultaneously.

1. From Creator Studio, click Live Streaming, then select Events.
2. Click New Live Event on the right.
3. Complete the Basic Info tab.
   • Title, description and tags
   • Enter Start and End times
   • Privacy Settings: Only Public events will appear on your channel and search results. Choose Unlisted or Private for an unlisted or private stream.
4. Select Quick if you want to launch Hangouts on Air. Select Custom to use custom encoders (like OBS) and controls. If you're streaming a videoconference that isn't Google Meet to YouTube, you must select Custom.

Choose Ingestion Settings

1. Upload an event Thumbnail. If a thumbnail is not uploaded to an upcoming event, a cropped version of the channel art or avatar is displayed. When you're live, a frame will be automatically selected every 5 minutes.
2. Set up your stream key:
   1. To get started quickly, select a “Single-use stream key”. This will be a “variable resolution” stream key which means you will not need to specify a resolution or frame rate.
   2. You also can can create a Reusable stream key. You can either choose to specify a resolution and frame rate or opt to make a variable resolution stream key. Reusable stream keys can be used between multiple live events - set it up once and never think about it for future streams.
3. The stream key and ingestion URLs will display below to set up your encoder. Copy/paste to your encoder.
4. Click Save.

You will not be able to adjust this after the event has started. Choose the highest quality resolution and make sure your encoder and internet connection can stream to your selected bandwidth.

Set up your live streaming encoder

See Working and convening remotely/OBS streaming guide for more information.

Live encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions

It's important to make sure your live stream is high quality. Make sure you choose a quality that will result in a reliable stream based on your Internet connection. It's recommend to run a speed test to test your upload bitrate. If you’re using Events, you can either choose a variable resolution stream key to gain the benefits of Stream now or you can specify your desired resolution and frame rate manually. YouTube will automatically transcode your live stream to create many different output formats so all of your viewers on all of their devices and networks can watch. Make sure to test before you start your live stream. Tests should include audio and movement in the video similar to what you'll be doing in the stream. During the event, monitor the stream health and review messages.

Preview, start and stop Events

• Start your encoder (OBS).
• Click Preview to check the stream from the encoder. (Please allow 1 minute to initiate transcoding process.)
• Click Start Streaming to start the event after you're done testing.
• Monitor the event from the Live Control Room.
• Use Broadcast Alerts as-needed before and during the event to notify viewers of delays.

Live streaming latency

Stream latency is the delay between your camera capturing an event and the event being displayed to viewers. When setting up your live stream, think about how the level of latency may affect your viewers. If you live chat with viewers, a lower latency is best to respond to viewer comments and questions. Note that with lower latency, your viewers may experience more playback buffering. If you don't interact with your audience, a lower latency is not as important.