Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting helps your viewers enjoy a smoother experience, whether they’re on high-end setups or older mobile devices. Twitch is also rolling out support for next-gen codecs like HEVC (H.265) and AV1, along with 1440p and 4K streaming. These upgrades are delivered through Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting (TEB).

TEB support is already built into desktop softwares OBS Studio and XSplit, and our platform (Streamrun). In most cases, enhanced broadcasting works out of the box, but Twitch HEVC or AV1 encoding and higher than 1080p resolutions, require being part of the Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting Beta Community.

What’s Still in Beta?

The Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is still evolving. Some features, like AV1 codec and HEVC codec are currently being tested by selected streamers. Currently, Twitch is not actively looking to expand the beta group, but it’s worth asking. Especially if you’re a Twitch Partner.

Why Enhanced Broadcasting Improves Viewer Experience

Offering multiple video qualities means more viewers can tune in without buffering. Especially those on slower networks or older devices. While Twitch usually provides transcodes (like 720p or 480p) from your 1080p stream, this isn’t guaranteed.

With Enhanced Broadcasting using OBS, XSplit, or Streamrun, you can generate multiple encodes, ensuring consistent quality options, independent of Twitch’s backend transcoding.

Twitch AV1 and HEVC Are Here. Kind Of

Twitch is actively testing support for HEVC (H.265) encoding and AV1 encoding. These modern codecs allow you to stream at higher quality without maxing out your upload bandwidth. If you’ve been asking, “Does Twitch support HEVC?”, the answer is yes. But.. Provided you’re part of the Beta Community.

Streamrun supports both HEVC and AV1 codecs for all users. This means anyone can stream high-quality video at moderate bitrates to Streamrun, and we’ll transcode it to Twitch using optimal settings defined by Twitch’s Automatic Stream Configuration. When Twitch opens up AV1 and H.265 support to all streamers, Streamrun can automatically switch outgoing streams to AV1 or HEVC without manual setup needed.

You’ll get most of the benefits of AV1 and HEVC today, and your viewers will gain the rest when Twitch expands support.

What Doesn’t Work Without Streamrun

Twitch Disconnect Protection and Stream Delay only work with Streamrun. They aren't available as standalone features when streaming directly from OBS or XSplit using Enhanced Broadcasting.

Also, other multistreaming platforms do not yet support Enhanced RTMP's Multitrack format. If you want to multistream to Twitch using Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting, or stream multitrack video to Amazon IVS, Streamrun is currently the only platform that supports it.

If you're streaming with other software than OBS or XSplit, or using devices like GoPro, DJI, or mobile phones, Streamrun is needed to use Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting.

Using Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting in Streamrun

The Output Stream element supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting automatically, and it's easy to set up.

1. Create an Output Destination using your Twitch channel’s stream key
2. Add an Output Stream element to your configuration and set the Output type to "Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting"
3. Select your Twitch account from the dropdown menu that appears

That’s it! When you go LIVE with the Output, Streamrun uses Twitch’s Automatic Stream Configuration to fetch the optimal stream setup, including resolutions, codecs, and bitrates, from Twitch's servers. Your stream then goes live with multiple resolutions to ensure the best experience for all viewers.

In Short

Is Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting good? Absolutely. It’s built for creators who want more control, higher quality, and a smoother viewer experience. With built-in support (hopefully soon to be public) for AV1, HEVC, and high resolutions (1440p and 4k), it’s a major step forward. And it works seamlessly on Streamrun.

Read more from Twitch documentation