Let’s say your video bitrate is set to 3000 Kbps, you might see it dip to 1500 Kbps when there’s not much action on screen, then go back up to 3000 Kbps when action resumes. While CBR provides a constant video output of the same quality, VBR will adjust the bitrate up and down depending on what is needed.

Just don’t stream with it! None of the platforms recommended it, and it wasn’t designed for streaming anyway.ĭifferent Rate Controls work for different scenarios, such as CBR for streamers and CQP for recording high-quality video that’s good for VODs. Recording with CQP will fill your hard drive pretty quick, and truthfully you may be better off with VBR (see below), but if you need ALL the detail of a video (like when doing graphics comparison videos) CQP might be for you. The lower the number, the higher the quality, but if you’re recording at anything less than CQ Level 14 you’re probably wasting your time as it’s essentially lossless video at that point. When switching to CQP the bitrate control is removed and replaced with CQ Level from 0 to 30. If you need to record video at ultra-high quality, CQP is the way to go. So, if you’re running a 24-hour channel, this might be a good option, otherwise, stick with either CBR or VBR.

It’s a little complicated, and not really used by streamers, but this is the bitrate most popular with OTT (over-the-top) video delivery. This option allows more complex parts of your stream to use more bits and less detailed parts use less. The middle ground between CBR and VBR (which we’ll discuss below) is ABR. These are the Rate Control options you can use when your encoder is set to x264 ABR (Adaptive Bitrate)

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