How to improve Pixelated Twitch Stream

[AGTDenton]

Hi Guys

No matter what settings I choose within Action I cannot get any Twitch stream to look unpixelated on any game.
Everyone says it's unwatchable.
When I compare my footage to my friends xBox OneX stream of the same game, his is crystal clear and he's on a far slower internet connection, so what am I missing or not doing correctly?

I have followed Twitch's guidelines but it makes absolutely no difference.

If I set my bitrate to anything above 6.000 the live stream shows only a black screen, sometimes you can hear the audio, but once the live stream ends Twitch uploads the video with the higher bitrate settings.

Many Thanks

Action
Action Version: 4.31.0
Recording Resolution: 1080p x 60fps x 6.000 bitrate
Recording Mode: Screen

Windows and Hardware
OS: Windows 11 21H2
Video Card: ASUS TUF 3080 Ti
Video Driver Version: 531.18
CPU brand and model: Ryzen 5950X
Motherboard brand and model: MSI MEG ACE MAX X570S
Memory: 64GB
Monitor Resolution: 3440x1440
Internet: 450Mbps Down / 450Mbps Up FTTP

[Piotr]

Hello. Do you use NVidia NVENV hardware acceleration?

[AGTDenton]

Hello. Do you use NVidia NVENV hardware acceleration?

I have 3 NVENC options available:

nVidia NVENC
nVidia NVENC HEVC
nVidia NVENC HDR10

I have tried all 3 with no noticable difference in quality.
Do I need to configure NVENC elsewhere?

Many Thanks

[nanalyly]

The encoder compresses video and audio data for streaming, and Twitch caps bitrate at 6,000–8,000 Kbps for H.264 encoding, which limits quality at higher resolutions like 1080p60.

[RubyJackson]

Twitch hard limits live ingest at ~6000 kbps for non-partnered streamers. Going over can cause black screens.

[ryansmith53]

From what I’ve seen, the main reason your Twitch stream looks pixelated is the combination of bitrate limits and fast-moving scenes at 1080p60. Even though your hardware is more than capable, Twitch’s compression for non-partnered streamers (around 6,000 Kbps) just can’t handle high-motion gameplay very well.

You could try a few tweaks:

Lower the output resolution to 900p or 720p while keeping 60 fps — the image will look much cleaner at the same bitrate.

Use NVENC (new) instead of the legacy version if available. It offers better quality at lower bitrates.

Set your keyframe interval to 2 seconds and use CBR (constant bitrate) for stability.

Try B-frames = 2 and Preset = Quality in your encoder settings.

If you’re streaming fast-paced games (like shooters or racing games), Twitch’s bandwidth cap will always be the bottleneck. Recording locally in higher quality and uploading to YouTube later might give you the best of both worlds.