Beamd

Where to find your YouTube stream key

The short version, then the thing that catches people out.

Finding the key

  1. Open YouTube Studio and choose Create, then Go live.
  2. Pick Stream, not Webcam.
  3. Look at the top of the video window. There is a control reading "Key: Default stream key". Press the copy button next to it, the one drawn as two overlapping squares.
  4. The button beside it with the circular arrow resets the key. That gives you a new one and breaks anything already using the old one, so leave it alone.
Server URL for YouTube
rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2
Worth knowing

YouTube gives you two kinds of key, and that control at the top of the video window is a dropdown, so it is easy to be on the wrong one. A key belonging to a scheduled broadcast works once, for that broadcast. "Default stream key" is reusable, which is what a 24/7 channel needs. If your stream worked yesterday and refuses to connect today, you almost certainly copied the single-use one.

Using it with Beamd

With Beamd you can skip all of this: connect your YouTube account and it reads the reusable key straight from the API, so there is nothing to copy and nothing to keep track of.

Your key is stored encrypted and is never shown back to you, on screen or in email.

Stream 24/7 with your computer off

Other platforms

Instructions for every platform Beamd supports.

All platforms · Beamd · Compare · Status · Privacy