Despite Twitch Studio currently being in beta, it’s still a robust broadcasting software that allows anyone to start streaming on Twitch with little to no experience. The application comes with built-in integrated Twitch alerts, a broadcaster dashboard, and a clean user interface. After installing, users are taken through a guided setup. This avoids the “information overload” new users often run into with alternative 3rd-party applications.

You can also report bugs or request features directly through the program. Clicking the help icon in the upper right corner brings up an in-app menu. Here you can log issues you’re having, contact support, check out the FAQ, or request a feature on the UserVoice page. Alternatively, you can join the official Twitch Studio Discord and provide feedback directly to the product development team.

In this guide we’ll cover:

• How to get started with Twitch Studio
• Adjusting your quality settings
• Should you switch from your current broadcasting software
• How to create a new layout or edit an existing one
• Setting up your alerts
• and more!

Getting Started

To get started, simply download the Twitch Studio app and run through the usual install prompts. If you’re a Mac user, you can install the app if your system runs macOS 10.14: Mojave or newer.

Once installed, you’ll be greeted with a guided setup screen. While geared towards someone brand-new to streaming, there is a range of options along the way to further customize your options. If you decide to skip the setup initially or want to run through it again at a later date, you can select “Reset App” from within Settings.

Microphone Setup

Setting up your microphone in Twitch Studio is relatively straightforward. It uses your default mic and shows how well it’s picking up your voice with a volume bar. As with most of these options, if it’s not perfect, you can always change and adjust later. You can also further personalize your mic settings directly from here. Removing background noises, quiet sounds (basically a noise gate), or turning on a loudness equalizer (essentially an audio compressor). 

Webcam Setup

Webcam setup offers several pre-made color filters that you can cycle through by clicking on the arrows on either side. Here you will see what works best for your content. Ranging from silly filters like “x-ray” to more subtle options that just change the warmth slightly.

You can also automatically remove your background color with varying degrees of success. Obviously, these are not a “one-size-fits-all” solution and you’ll likely want to manually tweak these settings afterwards. 

Layouts Setup

Layouts, typically known as “scenes” in OBS, are essentially a collection of assets layered on top of each other. These allow you to add your own special flair to your steam so you can stand out from the crowd. Twitch Studio offers 3 layouts by default – aptly named Chatting, Be Right Back, and Main. This brings up an important point! When labeling your layouts, you want to use precise language, especially as your number of layouts increases. It’s always easier to differentiate “Game Scene” over “Scene 3”. 

Twitch Studio also does an excellent job of separating media assets into various categories. Wallpapers, patterns, images, videos, and sounds can be easily combined. This allows for a customized a layout that truly stands out.

Stream Quality Settings

Twitch Studio will run quick diagnostics on your system and optimize your stream quality settings based on your bandwidth and hardware. While the optimized settings may be sufficient for most applications, you’ll likely want to tweak these if you’re playing a fast-moving game such as an FPS.

Selecting “tweak your settings” will bring up the encoder tuning page. Here you can choose from a number of presets combining common resolutions and framerate. You can further customize these presets, adjusting things such as resolution, FPS, bitrate, or encoder. Once you’ve changed the settings, you can re-run the stream test summary and see how the changes impact your system.

Should I Switch to Twitch Studio?

Twitch Studio is most definitely suited for those just starting their streaming journey. If you’re already familiar with other streaming software you should definitely continue using those applications. The current options for advanced users are almost non-existent. OBS Studio, Xsplit, Streamlabs OBS, Lightstream and others, all offer a much wider range of options. Twitch Studio is still a great way to get a professional look for your stream right out of the box with minimal time investment.

A Word of Caution

It’s important to note that game capture is automatic by default, which uses any fullscreen application you have in focus. This means if, for example, you click out of your game to watch a video in full-screen, the application now considers your whole browser to be the full-screen application. If you now decided to switch tabs to your personal email, that would be streamed for everyone to see. I would recommend switching to capture a specific window or monitor capture before going live for the first time. This way, you can be confident only the things you want to be shared are displayed. 

Alerts

The nice thing about having a broadcasting solution made by Twitch is baked-in Twitch alerts. That being said, as tips are not processed through Twitch (currently) you’ll need an alternative solution. If you use Paypal or another service for receiving tips, you’ll need to incorporate a separate browser source for the alert. The same thing when adding notifications for donations to charity (for example, through Tiltify or Extralife). You can test your alerts directly within the app while making changes on the fly, making this process reasonably intuitive.

Along with alerts, Twitch Studio bakes in the same activity feed you see on your dashboard page. Clicking the ellipsis (more options) menu brings up additional customization for both the feed and your alerts. You can choose which actions appear in your feed, manage your channel point redemptions, and even set your alerts to “Do Not Disturb”.

Creating a Layout and Adding Layers

As alluded to earlier, we’re talking about creating a scene and adding sources. On the left-hand side under Stream Layout is a list of your current layouts. To edit an existing one, simply click on a layout and hit the “Edit Layout” button at the bottom. You can also right-click directly on the layout and choose “Edit.” Clicking on the + icon will add a new layout. You can add layers on the left-hand side or rename the layout on the right from the edit page. A range of basic “layers” such as browser source is available. In addition, there are some excellent quality of life features such as a Twitch chatbox or a countdown timer.

How to add your own assets

Clicking the browse button for “select a media file” brings up a window with your uploaded assets. At the top are several tabs that categorize your assets by type. This is split into several categories to more easily organize what media you’re looking for. If you have a specific tab selected, for example, “Videos,” when you click the browse button in the upper-left corner, it will pull up your explorer window searching for video files by default. You can always change the dropdown to say “all.” Browsing after selecting the “recent” tab will have all file types visible. 

Setting up a browser source with 3rd party alerts

Adding a browser source allows you to add custom alert packages. Once you’ve added a browser source to your layout, on the right-hand side, under the “webpage” section, paste your alerts URL. Clicking on the purple arrow will add it to the scene. Twitch Studio offers some basic customizations options here, but most changes will need to be made directly through your alerts provider. Flipping the source, adjusting the resolution, adding chroma-keying, or disabling sounds are all available from within the app.

Changing your Title, Tags, Game and more

Click on your stream title at the top/middle of the app brings up the stream info window. From here, you can customize a variety of things, such as your title and go-live notification. You can also adjust your category, customize tags, and even specify the primary language you’ll be broadcasting in.

Designed from the ground up, Twitch Studio remains a great way to broadcast on Twitch without becoming overwhelmed in tutorials, plugins, or 3rd party integrations. With a guided setup, integrated alerts, and pre-built layouts, the app takes the guesswork out of going live!