Livestreaming Testing in Speedify

Speedify includes a built-in Livestreaming test alongside the standard Speed test. The Livestreaming test evaluates your upload performance to estimate what video streaming quality your internet connections can consistently support, and reports back the resolution and frame rate (fps) you can expect.

How the Livestreaming Test Works

Unlike a standard speed test, the Livestreaming test does not try to max out your upload speed. Instead, it sends fixed-rate, consistent internet traffic that simulates a real video stream, and measures performance variations and packet loss to judge how stable your connection is at a specific speed.

The test runs through several stages, starting at 480p at 30fps and working up to 4K at 60fps. Here's the full breakdown of quality levels and their required bitrates:

Results are intentionally conservative to leave extra upload bandwidth available for performance variations and other apps you may be running while streaming. In some cases you might be able to push to a higher quality than the test reports, but you could run into issues if your internet connections are not fully reliable.

For more technical users, the test evaluates performance with both TCP and UDP internet traffic. Some streaming services, such as those using RTMP, use TCP. Others, such as services using WebRTC, prefer UDP. The test evaluates both protocols and uses the lower result if there's a difference between them. You may notice the test cycling through a few iterations at different quality levels as it works to settle on the best result.

How to Run the Test

You can access the Livestreaming test in two ways:

• Directly from the Dashboard, if Speedify is connected and Enhance Streaming is enabled.
• From the ☰ menu, under Performance Tests.

Testing an Individual Connection

You can also run the Livestreaming test on a single connection instead of all active connections. On the Dashboard, click the connection you want to test and select Start Single Livestream Test. You can also get there by opening the hamburger menu and navigating to Performance Tests > Start Single Livestream Test.

How Accurate Is the Test?

The Livestreaming test gives a reliable picture of how your internet will handle livestreaming and video calls, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Different streaming services have different recommendations for how much upload speed a particular quality level requires. The test evaluates quality based on average recommendations across different services, so your results may vary slightly depending on which service you use and any custom streaming settings you've configured.

The test also only evaluates your network upload performance, not every element of your streaming setup. Factors like your camera quality, CPU, GPU, and streaming software can all affect the final stream quality.