Best Audio Bitrate for OBS: Settings by Use Case (2026)

Getting your audio bitrate wrong in OBS can quietly sabotage an otherwise solid stream or recording. Set it too low and listeners notice tinny, compressed audio. Set it too high for a platform that re-encodes anyway, and you’ve gained nothing. This guide gives you the specific number for your situation, explains why it works, and shows you exactly where to change it in OBS Studio.

Quick Answer: What Audio Bitrate Should You Use in OBS?

For most people, the answer is straightforward:

Live Streaming: Use 160 kbps. It delivers clean, clear audio within the limits of what Twitch and YouTube will actually pass through to your viewers.

Local Recording: Use 320 kbps. With no platform cap in the way, you get the best audio quality with minimal storage cost.

If you are voice-only (podcasts, talking streams), 128 kbps is enough. If you are streaming music or high-fidelity audio, push to 320 kbps. The sections below explain exactly why each number makes sense for each scenario.

What Is Audio Bitrate and Why Does It Matter in OBS?

Audio bitrate is the amount of data used to represent one second of audio, measured in kilobits per second (kbps). A higher bitrate means more audio detail is preserved during encoding. A lower bitrate means the encoder has to throw away information to compress the file, which can introduce artifacts like muddiness, distortion, or a thin, hollow sound.

What Is Audio Bitrate and Why Does It Matter in OBS?

In OBS, your audio bitrate setting controls how much data the encoder dedicates to your audio track before it is sent to a streaming platform or saved to a local file. This is separate from your video bitrate and has almost no impact on CPU performance.

Setting the bitrate too low is the most common mistake. At 64 or 96 kbps, listeners on good speakers or headphones will notice a quality drop, especially during music or high-pitched sounds. Setting it unnecessarily high for a live stream wastes a small amount of bandwidth without any audible benefit, because the receiving platform re-encodes your stream before delivering it to viewers.

The goal is matching your bitrate to your use case so you are not wasting resources or leaving quality on the table.

Best OBS Audio Bitrate by Use Case

Live Streaming (Gaming, Talk, Facecam)

Recommended: 160 kbps

• Balances audio quality with upload bandwidth

• Matches Twitch’s effective encoding ceiling, so nothing is wasted

• Covers the full audible range for voice and game audio clearly

160 kbps is the sweet spot for live streaming because it gives you clean, professional-sounding audio without pushing beyond what platforms will actually deliver to your audience.

Local Recording (No Upload Limit)

Recommended: 192–320 kbps

• No platform cap means higher quality goes directly into your file

• 320 kbps is effectively transparent for most audio content

• Storage impact is minimal (see FAQ below)

When you are recording locally for editing or archiving, there is no reason to limit yourself. Use 320 kbps and preserve the best possible audio from your session.

Voice-Only Content (Podcasts, Talking Streams, Voiceover)

128 kbps is sufficient for voice-only content. The human vocal range sits between roughly 85 Hz and 8 kHz, well within what 128 kbps AAC handles cleanly. Pushing to 192 or 320 kbps for a talking-head stream or podcast will not produce a noticeable improvement in perceived quality. Save the extra bandwidth for situations where it actually pays off.

Music Streams or High-Fidelity Audio

If your stream features live music performance, DJ sets, or critical listening content, use 320 kbps. Music spans the full audible frequency range, and lower bitrates compress high frequencies noticeably on instruments like cymbals, acoustic guitars, and pianos. One important caveat: Twitch has restrictions around streaming licensed music content, so check their guidelines before going this route.

Bitrate Quick Reference

Platform-Specific Audio Bitrate Limits

One of the most important things to understand about streaming audio is that your bitrate setting does not reach your viewers unchanged. Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook all re-encode your stream after receiving it. That means pushing 320 kbps to Twitch will not sound better to your viewers than 160 kbps, because Twitch is going to re-encode it anyway.

Knowing each platform’s effective ceiling prevents you from setting a bitrate higher than the platform can use.

For Twitch, 160 kbps AAC is the practical ceiling. YouTube Live is slightly more flexible but re-encodes at delivery, making anything above 192 kbps of limited value. Facebook Live is the most compressed of the major platforms, so 128 kbps is all you need.

How to Change Audio Bitrate in OBS (Step-by-Step)

Once you know the right number, changing it in OBS Studio takes under a minute. The path is the same across recent versions of OBS:

1. Open OBS Studio and click Settings in the bottom-right controls panel.

2. In the Settings window, click the Output tab on the left sidebar.

3. Switch the Output Mode dropdown from Simple to Advanced. This unlocks individual audio track controls.

4. Click the Audio tab within the Output settings (just below the Output Mode selector).

5. Find Track 1 (the default audio track for most streams and recordings) and locate the Audio Bitrate dropdown.

6. Set it to your target value: 160 kbps for streaming, 320 kbps for recording.

7. Click Apply, then OK to save.

If you use multiple audio tracks (for example, separating game audio from mic audio in post-production), repeat step 5 for each active track.

Note: If you stream and record simultaneously in OBS, you can set different bitrates per track. Use 160 kbps on your streaming track and 320 kbps on your recording track to get the best of both scenarios. Make sure to set the tracks properly before setting the bitrate. 

Other OBS Audio Settings That Affect Quality

Bitrate is the most important audio setting in OBS, but it does not work in isolation. Three other settings shape the final result.

Other OBS Audio Settings That Affect Quality

Sample Rate: Use 48 kHz as your default. It matches broadcast standards and most professional audio hardware, including USB and XLR microphones, audio interfaces, and wireless mic receivers. If your setup is music-focused and your source files are 44.1 kHz, you can use that instead, but 48 kHz is the safer default for streaming and recording. You set this under Settings > Audio.

Channels: Use Stereo for most streams. It carries both left and right channels, which matters for game audio and music. If your content is voice-only and you want to reduce the bitrate demand slightly, Mono is acceptable. Mono halves the audio data, meaning a 128 kbps mono track performs comparably to a 192 kbps stereo track for a single voice.

Audio Codec: Choose AAC when streaming to any major platform. It is universally supported and compatible with Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. For local recording, consider Opus instead. Opus delivers better quality at equivalent bitrates and is increasingly supported by editing software. You can select the codec under the Advanced Output settings when recording.

One thing worth keeping in mind: a high bitrate setting only preserves the quality of what your microphone actually captures. If your input audio is noisy or heavily compressed at the source, no OBS setting can recover it. This is where input quality matters as much as output settings. A wireless microphone like the Hollyland LARK MAX 2, which captures at 48 kHz with 32-bit Float and includes AI Noise Cancellation, feeds OBS genuinely clean audio that high bitrate settings are actually worth preserving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 320 kbps audio bitrate too high for streaming?

For live streaming to Twitch or YouTube, yes. Both platforms re-encode incoming audio before delivery, so anything above 160–192 kbps provides no audible benefit to viewers. Setting 320 kbps for streaming wastes a small amount of bandwidth but does no harm. Reserve 320 kbps for local recordings where no re-encoding happens.

Does higher audio bitrate affect stream performance or CPU?

Negligibly. Audio encoding is extremely lightweight compared to video encoding. Increasing your audio bitrate from 128 kbps all the way to 320 kbps adds almost no CPU load. You can safely set it to 320 kbps for recording without any performance concern, even on a mid-range system.

What is the default audio bitrate in OBS?

OBS Studio defaults to 160 kbps, which is a sensible starting point for most streaming use cases. If you have never changed this setting, you are likely already at 160 kbps and within the recommended range for Twitch and YouTube Live. Check under Settings > Output > Audio to confirm.

Should I use AAC or Opus for OBS audio?

Use AAC for streaming because it has the broadest platform support across Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. Use Opus for local recording. Opus is a newer codec that delivers better quality at equivalent bitrates, making it the better choice when you control the output file and your editing software supports it.

Does audio bitrate affect recording file size significantly?

Minimally. A one-hour recording at 320 kbps audio adds roughly 140 MB of audio data to your file. Compared to the several gigabytes that one hour of video typically occupies, the audio contribution to file size is almost irrelevant. Use 320 kbps for recordings without worry.

Conclusion

The one-sentence rule: use 160 kbps for live streaming, 320 kbps for local recording, and 128 kbps if your content is voice-only. Open OBS Settings, go to Output, switch to Advanced mode, and set your Track 1 bitrate to match your use case. That single change is one of the fastest improvements you can make to your audio output today.