If you have dreams of becoming the number one streamer on Kick, the first thing you must do is to address your streaming settings. Otherwise, your viewers will watch a blurry and low-quality stream. Most Kick streamers use OBS as their streaming software, so in this article, we’ll go over the best OBS settings for streaming on Kick.
When changing your streaming settings, most of the important options are located in the encoder settings, more importantly, the video encoder.
To change the encoder settings, go to Settings → Output → Output Mode: Advanced → Streaming tab.
Once you’ve found the Video Encoder settings, you need to decide based on which GPU provider you are using:
One more thing to do is to change your Rescale Output to Disabled. Once you’re done, we can move onto the next section.
In the same Streaming tab, the next part we’ll go over is your bitrate and rate settings:
In the world of streaming, bitrate is used to measure how much data you are sending to your stream every second. So, the higher the bitrate, the more you’re sending, and the higher quality your stream will look.
However, high bitrates come at the cost of your and your viewer’s internet. If you’re sending more data, it strains your internet. And, if your bitrate is high, that also means your viewers’ internet has more things to download as well, which can make them lag.
To keep the viewers’ experience in check, the Kick platform usually limits the bitrate on its website to 8,000 kbps. So, by setting it to the same amount, you’re already using the maximum. If you set it to anything higher than that, there’s really no point, and it will only cause more issues for your viewers.
There are more settings in the same Streaming tab that we’re going to talk about.
For Keyframe Interval, the best setting is 2 seconds. This is because the Kick platform itself suggests that streamers use a 2-second interval, so there’s no arguing there.
Next, we’ll take a look at the Preset settings, which are very important. In this setting, you will see seven options, from P1 to P7.
The preset controls how hard the encoder will work to compress the video. Setting it to a higher number, like P7, means you will get better quality. However, it becomes heavier on your GPU. Conversely, setting it to a lower number, like P3, will give you lower quality, but it is much easier for your PC to handle.
This setting really depends on how strong your GPU is. However, we really recommend going for at least P5. If you think your GPU can handle P7, then that’s great!
The last thing in this category is Tuning. This setting pretty much chooses what the encoder prioritizes on your stream, so setting it to High Quality is likely the best bet. This setting makes sure the encoder prioritizes visuals, leading to a higher quality stream.
If you tried changing these settings, but you’re met with “Encoding Overloaded” warnings, or your stream looks choppy, then that’s because your computer isn’t strong enough to support the best Kick settings in 2026.
If these issues are happening, there are two things you can do:
Good audio is just as important as visual settings. There’s not much to discuss since you can’t amplify your audio on OBS. So, the only thing you can do is to make sure you are using the correct audio devices.
To adjust your audio settings, go to Settings → Audio.
The Desktop Audio essentially determines what your viewers will hear from your gameplay and system. This means sounds from your game, or other audio like music or browsers. Here, you can select Default or manually select your headphones or speakers.
Make sure you’ve chosen the correct channel, or else your viewers won’t be able to hear anything.
The next thing to do is to make sure your Mic/Auxiliary Audio settings are also in check. For this section, you’re just selecting the correct microphone, which should be pretty simple. If this is done incorrectly, you’ll be talking to yourself as your viewers won’t be able to hear you speak!
Finally, we’ll check out the resolution and FPS settings. To change these settings, go to Settings → Video.
The Base Resolution is what OBS will capture. So, simply set this to your monitor’s resolution. For example, 1920×1080 or 2560×1440.
This is what you send to the Kick streaming platform. For most people, 1920×1080 is the most viable option, as this means you are streaming at 1080p. If you game at 1440p or 4K, you can still downscale to 1080p to make sure your viewers don’t lag while watching the stream.
Finally, for Common FPS Values, the best setting is 60 FPS. The 60 FPS number has become a golden standard in not only streaming, but videos in general. Most viewers can’t handle anything less than this.
If you’re streaming with a bitrate of 8,000 kbps and 1080p, 60 FPS is very achievable for most computers.
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