How to Stream to Twitch: Stream Key, RTMP URL, and the Settings That Actually Matter

Twitch hands you a stream key and hides the one other thing you need: the server URL that key belongs to. Here is the missing address, the exact OBS and vMix setup, and the bitrate rule that keeps a stream from dropping.

The one thing Twitch doesn't tell you

Open your Twitch Creator Dashboard and you'll find your stream keyunder Settings → Stream. What you won't find anywhere obvious is the server URL that key belongs to. OBS hides the problem by letting you log in with your Twitch account, but the moment you use vMix, a hardware encoder, or any custom RTMP setup, you need the URL Twitch never shows you:

That's it. Every Twitch stream starts with that address. Twitch also runs regional ingest servers — the full list is at ingest.twitch.tv— but the primary address routes you automatically, and for almost everyone it's the right choice.

Your stream key is the password; the URL is the door. You need both.

Setting up OBS (the easy path)

1. OBS → Settings → Stream.
2. Service: Twitch → click Connect Accountand log in, or choose “Use Stream Key” and paste the key from your Twitch dashboard (Settings → Stream).
3. OBS fills in the server automatically — you never see the URL, which is exactly why nobody learns it.

Prefer to do it the way every other encoder works? Choose Service: Custom, Server: rtmp://live.twitch.tv/app, Stream Key: your key. Identical result, and now it's the same setup you'll use on any hardware you ever touch.

Setting up vMix

vMix doesn't log into Twitch for you — this is where the missing URL bites people.

1. vMix → Settings (the cog next to Stream) → Destination.
2. If your vMix version lists Twitch as a provider, select it and paste your stream key.
3. If you're using Custom RTMP Server: URL rtmp://live.twitch.tv/app, Stream Key: paste from your Twitch dashboard.
4. Quality: start with the profile matching your upload bandwidth (table below), keyframe interval 2 seconds.
5. Click Stream. You're live.

The settings that actually matter

Twitch's hard limits for non-partners: up to 6,000 kbps video, 160 kbps audio, and a keyframe interval of 2 seconds. Everything else is a trade against your upload connection:

The rule that saves streams: your bitrate should never exceed about 70% of your stable upload speed. Not your speed-test peak — your sustained upload while the rest of your household or venue shares the line.

Why streams actually fail

Dropped frames on Twitch are almost never Twitch's fault and rarely your encoder's. They're your connection failing to sustain the bitrate you promised it. A speed test measures a ten-second burst; a stream needs that number held for hours.

Test your connection the way a stream actually uses it — a sustained upstream load over minutes, not seconds — before you go live, and pick the profile one step below what the test says. Certainty beats resolution: viewers forgive 720p, they never forgive buffering.