Your first stream, step by step

Most first streams go wrong in one of three ways: no sound, a picture that stutters, or nobody knowing you’re live. This guide gets all three right.

1. Set up your channel. Add a picture, a banner and a line about what you stream in Settings → Profile and Settings → Channel. People decide in seconds whether to stay.
2. Check your camera and microphone. Use the camera and microphone check. Talk, and watch the bar move — if it doesn’t, viewers won’t hear you.
3. Check your connection. Creator studio has a connection check that takes about ten seconds and tells you which settings your internet can handle. See best settings for your internet speed.
4. Name your stream. In Creator studio, give it a title that says what’s happening (“Ranked grind to Diamond”, not “Stream #4”) and pick a category.
5. Decide where else it goes. You can send the same stream to Twitch, YouTube and Kick at once. See streaming to other platforms.
6. Set up your streaming app. A streaming app sends your camera, screen or game to us — for example OBS Studio, Streamlabs Desktop, vMix or XSplit Broadcaster. Each guide lists exactly which boxes to fill in. Your Onzsa server and stream key are in Settings → Channel under “Stream key”, and in Creator studio once you have set up a broadcast.
7. Rehearse. Run the whole thing privately first — it checks every platform and tells you about problems before anyone is watching. See rehearse first.
8. Go live, and say hello. Followers get a notification. Read chat out loud and answer people by name — for a new channel that matters more than anything else.

Before you start, skim the content rules — especially music and 18+ content, the two that catch new streamers out most.