Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting helps your viewers enjoy a smoother experience, whether they’re on high-end setups or older mobile devices. This is done by streaming with multiple resolutions, bitrates, and even codecs from your device to viewers, who have varying network conditions and device capabilities. 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 built into desktop softwares OBS Studio and XSplit, and our streaming platform Streamrun. In most cases, enhanced broadcasting works out of the box for all users, but Twitch HEVC or AV1 encoding, as well as 1440p and 4k resolutions, require being part of the Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting Beta Community.

TLDR: Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is available for anyone who wants to stream with multiple resolutions up to Full HD with H.264 codec. Higher resolutions and modern codecs (AV1 and HEVC) are being tested with TEB Beta Community, as of June 2025. TEB can be used with OBS, XSplit, and Streamrun.

• What’s Still in Beta?
• Why Enhanced Broadcasting Improves Viewer Experience?
• Twitch AV1 and HEVC Are Here. Kind Of
• What Doesn’t Work Without Streamrun
• Using Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting in Streamrun
• Technical details
• Summary

What’s Still in Beta?

The Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is still evolving. Some features, like AV1 codec and HEVC codec and high resolutions (1440p and 4k) are currently being tested by selected streamers in TEB Beta community. Currently, Twitch is not actively looking to expand the beta group but it’s worth asking, especially if you’re a Twitch Partner.

Features that are available to anyone include streaming with multiple resolutions and qualities in AVC (H.264) codec and Automatic Stream Configuration: Setting up the stream in OBS, XSplit, or Streamrun is simple, because stream settings are fetched from Twitch automatically and they match your devices capabilities and resources without manual adjustments. That's why you might see the message "Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is controlling some of your stream settings", as settings are automated and you don't need to (and you can't) control them manually.

Dual format: Simultaneous Horizontal and Vertical streaming

In summer 2025, Twitch launched its Dual Format streaming initiative, which brings simultaneous horizontal and vertical streaming to Twitch. Based on the first information, Dual Format will use Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting to combine both horizontal and vertical formats into a single outgoing stream. Streamrun supports vertical streaming in three ways: an automatic vertical frame, Dual HD input, or two separate inputs using for example, the Aitum Vertical plugin. With Streamrun, you can keep multistreaming while also taking advantage of Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting for both orientations as the feature rolls out in the future.

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 often provides transcodes (like 720p or 480p) from your 1080p stream, this isn’t guaranteed. Especially if you're not a Twitch Partner.

With Enhanced Broadcasting multiple encodes are created in OBS, XSplit, or Streamrun, ensuring consistent quality options, independent of availability 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. So, 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 with Streamrun, especially if your upload bandwidth is limited. Your viewers will gain the rest when Twitch expands support.

What Doesn’t Work Without Streamrun

Streamrun solves several common issues Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting (TEB) users face

• Disconnect Protection and Stream Delay are not available in Twitch when using TEB. These features continue to work when streaming through Streamrun
• Multistreaming to multiple platforms while using Enhanced Broadcasting on Twitch is only possible with Streamrun.
• If you're streaming from devices like GoPro, DJI, or mobile phones, or using desktop software other than OBS or XSplit, you’ll need Streamrun to use TEB

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.

Technical details

Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting uses an extension to the RTMP streaming protocol called the Enhanced Real-Time Messaging Protocol, ERTMP. ERTMP brings several improvements over traditional RTMP, the most important being:

• Support for modern video codecs: VP8, VP9, HEVC, AV1
• Support for modern audio codecs: AC-3, E-AC-3, Opus, FLAC
• Support for multitrack video, allowing different resolutions and qualities to be streamed simultaneously over separate ERTMP tracks

Twitch also uses a mechanism called Automatic Stream Configuration (ASC) to automate stream setup before the ERTMP stream is sent. ASC automatically configures resolutions, bitrates, and other parameters based on your device’s capabilities. Eliminating the need for manual setup of multiple video tracks.

Summary

Is Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting good? Absolutely. It’s built for creators who want more control over 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
• Try out multistreaming with Streamrun using Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting. All new users receive $10 in free credits

Join our Discord server to get all your TEB-related questions answered. No matter what software you use for streaming.