I think you will agree with me that opt for the best Twitch server for your stream in 2021 can be a quite hard process. With a wide range of server options to choose from, it’s almost difficult to know where to start. If you want to know how to pick the best Twitch server for your stream you’re in the right place.

Twitch is usually hosted on a number of servers, covering ingest servers that are found all around the world. These are often preferred based on their proximity, although other factors may force a streamer to switch to a server other than the one nearest to them. However, in general, the nearest server to one’s streaming location is the best way to go. Exceptions will be discussed further down:

Ingest Server:

First, start off with Ingest server, it is basically a physical point where Twitch broadcasts are transmitted to be processed and presented to viewers. Twitch’s primary server, live.twitch.tv, provides the broadcasts. They are then transmitted to other points across the world.

Why is it necessary to do so? Physical servers are still required to conduct digital transmission.

Ingest servers are similar to publishing sites for Twitch streams. Publishing points are used by a variety of platforms. The Content Delivery Network (CDN) is in charge of them. If you’ve ever noticed CDN precede a site address, such as cdn.live.twitch.tv, you will understand why.

Server Locations

As I have stated above, Twitch’s ingest servers are located all around the world. This isn’t an exaggeration; they’re spread throughout about 30 nations. I have compiled a list of all ingest servers and their associated addresses for your convenience.

Seattle, Washington

rtmp://live-sea.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Salt Lake City, UT

rtmp://live-slc.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

US Central: Denver, CO

rtmp://live-den.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Europe: Germany, Frankfurt

rtmp://live-fra02.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Asia: Thailand: Bangkok

rtmp://live-bkk.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

US Central: Dallas, TX

rtmp://live-dfw.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Seattle, WA

rtmp://live-sea.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

US East: Chicago

rtmp://live-ord02.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Asia: Singapore

rtmp://live-sin.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Asia: Hong Kong

rtmp://live-hkg.twitch.tv/app/{stream_key}

Because ingest servers are physical, these locations are almost certainly datacenters – or, in the case of deprecated servers, were datacenters. As a result, streams are routed to the most appropriate server. How is this determined by Twitch or the streamers themselves? These answers can be found in the following sections.

Default Servers

Twitch assigns streamers to different servers based on their preferences. Twitch’s major default is, of course, its mother server: live.twitch.tv. Twitch will automatically send broadcasts to the ingest server closest to the stream’s source.

For instance, if a streamer is streaming from England, then his or her stream will be transmitted to a London server. However, if he or she is streaming from Los Angeles, the stream will be sent to that Los Angeles server.

Furthermore, ingest servers appear to be free from any kind of border restrictions. For example, instead of connecting to Quebec ingest server, a Twitch streamer in Vancouver will connect to the Seattle one.

However, some streamers must connect to servers that are hundreds of miles away from their location. These streamers usually reside in countries/continents where there are no ingest servers or where there are too few servers for the amount of land they cover. You will get amazed to know that there isn’t even a single Twitch server in Africa. African Twitch streamers are compelled to utilize European servers. For streamers, this distance creates a slew of issues, many of which will be addressed shortly.

How to Choose the Best Server?

The reason a server is preferred by a streamer on the basis of its proximity is that the stream will be as faster as he or she is closer to the server. This is a general guideline with certain exceptions (for example, if you’re broadcasting in Colombia, you should choose/be defaulted to a Brazilian server rather than the closer but deprecated Colombian server), but it’s one that should be followed unless there’s a compelling reason not to.

Moreover, this is not simply a rule by Twitch or by us. When it comes to delivering broadcasts to ingest servers, other live broadcasting providers follow the same policy.

The next question may arise in your mind like why should streams remain at the same location? The farther the distance, the more ping. The time it takes for data to be transmitted to the server is measured in ping. A higher ping indicated a longer delay.

While the difference in ping time between servers in the same geographic zone is typically insignificant, the difference between Mexican broadcasters utilizing an American server against an Austrian server is considerable.

Other factors to consider while preferring a Twitch or other platforms’ ingest server, include round trip time, bandwidth, and connection reliability.

In a case, if you feel the Twitch has automatically linked you with a server that is deceiving you, you may alter it in a variety of ways. For example, if you are an OBS user you can alter the location of your streams on OBS by simply going to “broadcast settings.” You can also take help from your manual or a community forum for instructions if you’re using a diverse encoding or streaming software. However, you don’t have to trust your gut to figure out which ingest server is ideal for your stream. There is software that will take care of it for you.

Twitch Test

It is basically an open-source software that checks a streamer’s connectivity to all Twitch ingest servers. It calculates three main factors:

• Bandwidth (a measure of a severs’ upload speed)
• Round Trip Time (RTT – a statistic that measures the time it takes to establish connectivity with a server)
• Quality ( a Twitch Test –specific statistics that integrates server connection stability as well as quality)

As per some researches and studies, a server with sufficient bandwidth, low Round Trip Time (RTT), and a superior rating will assure the greatest results.

Whereas the server nearest to the streamer’s location will most likely meet the above criteria, a different server may be better in one or more aspects. Twitch Test can help you to tell whether the Tokyo server is better than the San Francisco server or not.

Wrapping Up

In the end, there is no doubt that Twitch has a slew of ingest servers spread throughout the globe. Streams are submitted here to be authenticated and disseminated to viewers. Twitch streamers are connected to the server that is nearest to their location out of all of them. This is because the better the connection is, the closer the server is to one’s location. Streamers can, however, switch to different servers for a variety of reasons.

Hopefully, this blog will guide you choose the right Twitch server for your stream. However, if you still have any doubt or query regarding how to pick the best Twitch server for your stream, don’t hesitate to request our Streaming Marketing Secrets experts to guide you. Feel free to contact us at https://lascurry.com/ or you can even apply to join our SMSU!