Best bitrate and encoder settings for 1080p60 live streaming on YouTube with OBS Studio?

I feel your pain! For 1080p60 on YouTube, 6000 kbps is actually the bare minimum, and it will definitely show artifacts in fast-paced games. YouTube's recommended bitrate for 1080p60 is around 4500-9000 kbps, but they actually ingest up to 12,000 kbps for non-partnered channels. I'd suggest bumping it up to 8000-9000 kbps CBR—most viewers on YouTube can handle that, especially since YouTube transcodes down for lower connections. To reduce pixelation, also try setting the NVENC preset to 'P5: Slow' (or 'Quality' if you're on an older OBS version) and enable 'Lookahead' at 20 frames. That helps the encoder allocate bits more efficiently. Also, make sure your keyframe interval is set to 2 seconds (or 120 frames at 60fps) to match YouTube's recommended GOP size. I run a similar setup with an RTX 3080 and these settings made a huge difference.

Great question! For live streaming, CBR is still the safest choice because it maintains a consistent bitrate, which is crucial for real-time delivery. However, OBS now offers 'CBR with a VBR cap' (also called 'CBR + VBR' in some versions) which can give you better quality in static scenes while capping the max bitrate to avoid network spikes. I'd set the max bitrate to 9000 kbps and the buffer size to the same. Since you have an RTX 3070, you have the dual NVENC encoder, so you can also enable 'B-frames' (set to 2) and 'Max B-frames' in the advanced settings—this improves compression without impacting performance. Also, don't forget to set the 'Rate Control' to 'CBR' and 'Psycho Visual Tuning' to 'On' if available; it helps preserve detail in high-motion scenes. For audio, if you're using AAC, keep it at 160-192 kbps at 48kHz—that's plenty for voice. And I'd recommend testing with YouTube's 'Stream Health' feature in YouTube Studio to see if you're dropping frames or hitting network limits.

Thanks for the tips, pixelspark91 and audiomaster71! I applied your suggestions: set my bitrate to 8500 kbps CBR, switched the NVENC preset to P5, enabled lookahead at 20, set keyframe interval to 2 seconds, and turned on B-frames. I also checked my stream health during a quick test—no frame drops, and the quality during fast movement is night and day. The pixelation is gone, and it looks crisp even in chaotic scenes. I really appreciate the help, this community is awesome!