The video experts blog

What is Video Streaming: System Requirements Comparison

By Max Wilbert | Posted on October 13, 2023April 17, 2024 by Max Wilbert | 24 min Read

To successfully live stream video online, you need several tools. You need high-quality video editing software, video editing tools, and advanced tools such as video stabilization features.

But one of the most important tools in your arsenal will be the live video streaming software you use. With many platforms available with varying strengths, weaknesses, and price points, it can be difficult to navigate and choose the right one. Furthermore, different platforms run better or worse depending on hardware requirements. This means finding the best solution for your needs can be arduous and time-consuming.

However, this article guide will help. We compare the main features and minimum requirements of some of the top live video solutions and streaming services available. We cover the top video streaming contenders before highlighting some foundational features and how to choose the right platform for your live streaming needs.

Table of Contents

Top Streaming Video Software Contenders
Streaming System Requirements
Features to Look for in Streaming Software
How to Choose the Right Video Streaming Software
Equipment you Need to Live Stream
FAQs
Conclusion

Streaming System Requirements

Each streaming software has unique system requirements. Here are the Wirecast, OBS Studio, vMix, and Streamlabs OBS system requirements.

OBS Studio System Requirements

Here are the system requirements for OBS:

Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux
AMD FX series or Intel i5 2000-series processor (dual or 4-core preferable) or higher
DirectX 10 capable graphics card
At least 4 GB of RAM (recommended, but not necessary)

Wirecast System Requirements

Here are the system requirements for Wirecast:

Here are the system requirements for OBS:
- Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux
- AMD FX series or Intel i5 2000-series processor (dual or 4-core preferable) or higher
- DirectX 10 capable graphics card
- At least 4 GB of RAM (recommended, but not necessary)
vMix System Requirements

Here are the system requirements for vMix:

A Windows PC running Windows 7 or newer (Windows 10 recommended)
A 2 GHz dual-core processor or better (Intel Core i7 at 3 GHz or higher recommended)
1 GB, DDR2, or faster RAM (8 GB recommended)
A 7200 RPM hard drive (SSD recommended)
DirectX 10 compatible graphics card (Nvidia card with at least 1 GB RAM recommended)

Streamlabs OBS System Requirements

The beauty of Streamlabs OBS is that it is highly compatible with most streaming setups.

Here are the system requirements and settings for Streamlabs OBS:

Compatible with macOS and Windows
1280 x 720 resolution is suggested (1920 x 1080 will also work)
Enable dynamic bitrate streaming
Software codec = x264; Hardware codec = NVENC
Set CPU usage to “Very Fast”

When choosing the best live streaming software to use for your broadcasting needs, you need to consider the type of system you will be working with. You need to know what operating system your computer uses, and how much RAM and storage your computer has.

This will help you narrow down and figure out the best streaming software for your business.

Features to Look for in Streaming Software

vmix vs obs — **OBS Studio, Wirecast, and vMix are three of the best streaming video software.**

As you compare streaming software, it is important to consider what features are important for your broadcasting experience. Determine which feature you need to reach your goals, and look for a platform that offers everything you need.

We will compare all four streaming software options in terms of the following features:

Pricing
Capture and input sources
Multi-source streaming
Multi-bitrate streaming capabilities
Chroma key support
Cinemagraphic tools
OVP and social media integrations
Sports-specific features
Ease of use

Let’s start by comparing the pricing options for each software.

Pricing

Pricing is a major consideration when it comes to choosing streaming software. Here’s a pricing breakdown for OBS Studio, Wirecast, vMix, and Streamlabs OBS.

OBS Studio Pricing

OBS is free and open-source software. You can download the application for free on as many devices as you like. You can also modify the code to create new features for your specific needs.

Wirecast Pricing

Wirecast offers two packages: Wirecast Studio for $299.04 (billed annually) and Pro for $399 (billed annually). Pro adds a few additional features not included in the Studio version. These include:

Recording isolated sources
Additional support inputs (Teradek Cube, IP cameras, Web streams)
3D set support
Support for Firewire HDV cameras
Live scoreboards, instant replay, and audio effects
Output feed to Blackmagic Design or DeckLink capture cards

Wirecast offers premium support for an additional yearly fee. Users of earlier versions of Wirecast can upgrade to the latest version at a reduced cost. They also offer a free trial version of their software that includes watermarks.

vMix Pricing

vMix has the most complicated pricing structure of the encoding software we’re comparing here. It comes in six versions, which are priced as follows:

BASIC: $60
HD: $350
4K: $700
PRO: $1200
MAX: $50/month

Each license does not expire and includes free upgrades to new versions for one year. To view up-to-date pricing information and to see which features are supported in which version, check out vMix’s pricing page.

Please note that vMix offers a 60-day free trial.

Streamlabs OBS Pricing

Users can access Streamlabs OBS for free, but a paid upgrade is required to access premium features.

Ultra, which is the paid software from Streamlabs OBS, costs $19/month or $149/year. Other plans include Standard ($(/month) and Pro ($17/month)

When it comes to Streamlabs vs OSB, they both offer free versions, but OSB is always free. When comparing pricing for vMix vs OBS, the pricing structure for vMix is much more complicated and is based on the quality of the video you want to encode.

With Wirecast vs OSB, you have to pay for a license with Wirecast, whereas you don’t have to pay anything for OSB. However, Wirecast provides you with access to top-tier features with their licenses.

With vMix vs Wirecast, vMix offers some lower-priced plans and allows for low-cost upgrades to new software whereas, with Wirecast, there are two top-tier pricing options, with lifetime licenses.

Capture and Input Sources

The second feature we’re going to take a look at is video capture and sources supported by each of these streaming video software apps.

OBS Studio Sources

OBS Studio supports a slightly smaller range of sources compared to for-pay software options. These include:

Video via capture cards
Webcams
Images and GIFs
Video and audio files
Web pages
Desktops
Specific application windows

OBS also has a special “game capture” mode and the ability to insert an image slideshow.

Also, as mentioned above, Dacast broadcasters can access an easier and faster version of the OBS setup right through your Dacast account.

Wirecast Sources

Wirecast supports many input sources as well. These include:

Multiple cameras and PTZ optics (again, often via capture cards)
Webcams
Video and audio files
Images
Application windows or desktops via Wirecast’s free Remote Desktop Presenter software

One interesting video source is Wirecast Cam. This mobile app allows wireless streaming from an iPhone or iPad during a live broadcast. Wirecast also includes an image slideshow feature.

vMix Sources

vMix supports a huge range of inputs. These include video cameras (via supported capture cards) running at up to 4K resolutions. Other sources include:

Webcams
Video and audio files
DVDs
Audio devices, such as sound cards
Playlists
Desktop applications
Photos
PowerPoint presentations
Web browsing

vMix also supports NDI (Network Device Interface) for sending video over gigabit ethernet networks.

Streamlabs OBS Sources

The Streamlabs website does not specify any limitations on input sources, so one can assume that any of the inputs supported above will be supported with Streamlabs OBS.

When comparing Streamlabs vs OBS for video input sources, Streamlabs supports all input sources, whereas OBS only supports a limited amount of video sources.

Multi-Source Streaming

OBS Studio, Streamlabs OBS, and Wirecast all support as many sources as you can connect for your broadcasts. With Wirecast, you can even stream multiple, separate live broadcast streams from the same machine.

Generally, the limiting factor here is your hardware, rather than the software itself. Once you start inputting a range of cameras, animations, and so on, the load on a computer becomes taxing. Sufficient RAM, a fast RAID or SSD disk, and a powerful processor make all the difference here.

As we mentioned, vMix comes in six versions. Each version supports a different number of inputs. The Basic and Basic HD versions of vMix only support four total inputs. Each camera, image, animation, audio source, or other input counts against that limit.

Additionally, the Basic version limits you to two cameras/NDI inputs. The Basic HD version limits you to three.

However, the SD, HD, 4K, and Pro versions of vMix each support up to 1000 total inputs, including cameras or NDI devices. That should be more than enough for even the most complex live presentation.

With OBS Studio, Streamlabs OBS, and Wirecast, there are no limitations regarding how many sources you can connect. With Streamlabs vs OBS or Wirecast vs OBS, things are equal when it comes to multi-source streaming capabilities for these live streaming software options.

Multi-Bitrate Streaming

streamlabs obs requirements — **Multi-bitrate streaming helps improve the viewers’ experience.**

Multi-bitrate streaming is a feature that makes your video files available in different sizes so that viewers can use the optimal size for their internet speed. Paired with an adaptive video player, viewers are automatically served the best quality live streams possible at a video quality level their internet connection supports.

One drawback of OBS Studio is that it doesn’t support streaming in multiple bitrates simultaneously. Depending on their chosen online video platform (OVP), this can be a drawback for some streamers.

Wirecast and vMix both have native support for multi-bitrate streaming. Streamlabs OBS supports dynamic bitrate streaming. This allows users to send out multiple simultaneous versions of a live stream, each at a different quality, at the same time.

This process does use more bandwidth and processing power. It also allows content to reach users with varying internet speeds and in various locations.

With Streamlabs vs OBS for multi-bitrate streaming, Streamlabs wins as it allows for dynamic bitrate streaming, and OBS doesn’t support streaming at multiple bitrates simultaneously. With Wirecast vs OBS and vMix vs OBS, both Wirecast and vMix come out on top, allowing for native multi-bitrate streaming as well. If you want to provide your viewers with multi-bitrate streaming, you are going to want to choose something other than OBS.

Chroma Key and Color Effects

chroma key compositing — **Movie camera with green screen monitor.**

Chroma key is the technical name for what’s commonly called a “green screen.” Other colors besides green are sometimes used, however. OBS Studio, Wirecast, Streamlabs OBS, and vMix all support this technology.

Wirecast and vMix both come with several “virtual sets.” These allow you to easily use a chroma key to isolate your subject, then put them on a virtual scene such as an office room or news headquarters.

Virtual sets are also available from various third parties if you’re looking for something in particular.

In the battle of comparisons between Streamlabs vs OBS, vMix vs OBS, Wirecast vs OBS, and vMix vs Wirecast, they are all pretty equal regarding chroma key and color effects. Wirecast and vMix stand out a little more than Streamlabs or OBS Studio, as they offer their own virtual scenes, so you don’t have to use another third-party software to get video effects to fill in your green screen.

Animations, Lower Thirds, and Titles

As far as animations, OBS Studio doesn’t have a built-in tool. OBS Studio handles text as a “source” just like a camera or video file. To set up a title or transition, set up these sources beforehand. Use the text source tool to enter text, or to select a text file as a source. The latter option is useful for situations such as news tickers or captions.

Starting with Wirecast 7, Telestream began collaborating with NewBlueFX. This allows them to include a 3D animated title tool in their application. The free version included with Wirecast is somewhat basic.

However, you can upgrade this tool if you pay for the Standard, Advanced or Ultimate versions with Wirecast. This tool adds limited NDI support for pulling in animated titles from another computer on your network.

vMix includes a built-in title tool. Titles that you create in this tool can be animated using XAML, but this requires some basic programming knowledge. Using an application like Microsoft Blend or Adobe After Effects may simplify this process. There are various tutorials available to help you through this process with vMix.

Streamlabs OBS offers animations, text overlays, and graphic overlays with a Prime membership. Dedicated tools for these functions are available in the Prime app store.

If adding titles and animations is important to you, in the battle for the best live streaming encoding software between Streamlabs vs OBS, Streamlabs stands out for its dedicated tool available with a Prime membership. With vMix vs OBS, vMix has a more robust built-in title tool, but you will need some programming knowledge to be able to fully use it. With Wirecast vs OBS, they both offer basic animation abilities, with OBS standing out because you don’t have to pay to access these tools. For vMix vs Wirecast, they both offer some animation features, with Wirecast winning because you don’t need programming knowledge to use them.

Online Video Platform Integration

Make sure your streaming video software integrates with your online video platform (OVP).

Integration with various online video platforms can simplify the process of pre-recorded videos and setting up a new live stream. This saves you a few minutes of setup time by offering presets for commonly used services.

It may not sound like much, but in a production environment, any time saved is golden. OBS Streaming video software integrates directly with Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live DailyMotion, and several others. Again, Dacast offers a version customized with the best OBS Studio settings to use with our online video platform.

Wirecast has direct integration with more than 30 services. These include online video platforms (OVPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs). Dacast is one of the many supported services.

vMix also features integrations, including Dacast, TikiLIVE, Twitch, StreamingChurch.tv, and more.

Streamlabs OBS does not have any native OVP integrations, but it can be connected to most streaming platforms

With each of these streaming video software apps, connecting to a streaming server is quite simple. This is true regardless of the provider when using the “Custom RTMP Server” option.

Social Media Integrations

Many live streamers strive to interact with their audiences via social media during broadcasts. One of the best ways to do this is to showcase live social media comments on-screen during your stream.

OBS Studio doesn’t have a dedicated tool to integrate social media. However, it is possible to set up some powerful integrations using a free plugin called CLR Browser. It requires some setup, but the result is a transparent, borderless, scalable, and auto-updating tweet overlay. You can learn more about the process on the OBS site.

Wirecast has direct Twitter integration, allowing you to pull feeds into your broadcasts. This features a slick look and simplifies interacting with your viewers. As a bonus, this is an integrated feature ready to go for every Wirecast user.

vMix integrates social media using a plugin called vMix Social, which is available for free. This plugin is powerful, as it allows you to insert social media posts, feeds, and other content from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and any IRC chatroom.

Streamlabs OBS has integrations with Facebook Gaming, YouTube, Twitch, and Discord. It also has tools for converting live streams from Twitch into short-form clips for streaming on TikTok and other social media platforms.

It’s possible to bring in content from other social media sources on OBS and Wirecast by using screen and window capture tools. However, the native vMix method is smoother and less buggy.

Instant Replay and Sports-Specific Features

Several critical minimum requirements and features are specially designed for live sports streaming.

OBS Studio supports instant replays using a pretty simple method. You’ll also need a plugin called “Video Source Plugin.” This supports the broadcasting screen recording of live-streaming sports and instant replays using a configurable length of time. Then, you can press a keyboard shortcut to save and then replay that content.

For scoreboards, OBS Studio uses an add-on called “Scoreboard Assistant.” This plugin is not free, but it’s available for a sliding scale “pay what you can” donation.

Wirecast has several valuable sports features. These include customizable live scoreboards, instant replays, and more.

vMix is also ideal for sports use with an instant replay feature supporting up to four camera angles simultaneously. Slow-motion is also supported. Selected clips can also be exported for showcasing on social media. Scoreboards are supported via templates or a build-your-own feature.

Streamlabs OBS does not offer any sports-specific tools.

Ease of Use

For ease of use, different streaming video software packages have advantages. OBS Studio, vMix, and Wirecast are all relatively complex. Streamlabs OBS, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward.

However, each of these applications can be learned within a few hours. Mastery will take longer, but between YouTube tutorials and dedicated forums, you can find answers to just about any questions you may have.

Generally, we’ve found Wirecast, Streamlabs OBS, and OBS to be similar in their ease of use. Wirecast may have a slight edge. vMix is a bit more complex and may take additional learning.

How to Choose the Right Video Streaming Software

Selecting the right streaming video software is an individual decision.

To narrow down your options, consider these questions:

What sort of streaming will you do?
Do you want to stream live videos on your website?
Will you be live-streaming business or professional events and conferences?
What is your budget?

You’ll have to factor in your equipment, workflow, necessary features, and budget. If you need a certain feature that’s offered in one of these applications and not in the other, your decision may be easier.

We highly recommend taking advantage of the trials of these software options. That way, you can test them out to see which you prefer, and you can answer for yourself which is best for you.

If you prefer a simple solution for use with Dacast, we offer a themed version of each streaming video software for simple integration with our platform. You also have the option to stream live video on your website through our video streaming platform.

Equipment You Need to Live Stream

Every video streamer has a different setup and depending on your streaming needs, you may need some equipment and not others. Here is some basic equipment that each video broadcasting setup should have.

Video camera: Depending on the quality you’re going for or your budget, you can use your computer’s webcam or buy an external camera for video recording. Ensure that your camera is compatible with your capture card.
Microphone: A quality microphone is a necessity for live video streaming since audio is one item that broadcasters should not compromise.
Capture card: This is necessary if you’re using a software encoder. A capture card is a device that transfers your video from your camera to your streaming setup.
Great lighting: As much as it’s easy to overlook, having good lighting in your streaming setup helps optimize your live video streaming quality.
Streaming software: This is the software that converts your video and audio content into a format that will be streamed, like the options discussed above.
Streaming platform: This is where your live stream will finally end up: where your viewers will access it from. Choosing one will depend on your target audience. Dacast is one professional streaming platform you can try out.
Stable network connection: Stable internet will ensure that your stream is consistent and high quality.

FAQs

1. What streaming software works best with Mac?

Not all video streaming platforms are compatible with macOS and it’s important to find one that does. Here are a few great streaming video software for Mac:

Restream Studio
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio
Streamlabs Desktop
Ecamm Live

2. What features should you look for in streaming software

Here are some of the features to look for on an online video streaming software.

Pricing
Ease of use
Social media integrations
Online video platform integration
Animations, lower thirds, and titles
Chroma key and color effects
Multi-bitrate streaming
Multi-source streaming
Capture and input sources

3. Is OBS a good streaming software for Mac?

OBS Studio is a free open-source professional live streaming software that’s compatible with macOS 10.13 versions or newer. Therefore, OBS is one of the best Mac streaming software. Most users, however, agree that the software runs more smoothly on Windows PCs

4. What is video streaming software?

Video streaming software is an encoding software that converts audio and video content into a form that can be shared digitally across devices. You can then choose a video streaming platform that’s compatible with the encoding software you choose.

Some video streaming software are free and open source while others are paid. Choosing one will depend on your budget, your budget number of inputs, etc.

5. How can you choose the best video streaming software for your broadcasting needs?

Here are a few items to keep in mind when choosing a video streaming software:

Whether you’re streaming live content, prerecorded content, or both.
Whether it’s a business event, a conference, etc.
What your streaming budget is
Factor in the equipment you have, e.g. your computer

Conclusion

As we’ve outlined, good video streaming software is invaluable for professional broadcasters. The best have real-time video editing system software, video mixing and audio editing tools, inputs and sources from many files, and encoding backend to stream online.

While they’re highly functional, they are complex. Therefore, time spent testing is necessary. But using this guide, you can shorten the learning curve.

To maximize your video streaming efforts, consider a professional-grade streaming platform—like Dacast. Dacast is a professional video streaming solution designed for those who want the best results. With Dacast, you’ll have the highest quality live streaming capabilities with white labelling, secure video delivery, 24/7 support and more included.

You can try Dacast for free right now with our 14-day free trial.

START FREE NOW

Max Wilbert

Max Wilbert is a passionate writer, live streaming practitioner, and has strong expertise in the video streaming industry.