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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFor a PC sending a live stream directly to YouTube, the creator’s main ongoing operating cost is usually the electricity used by the PC—not cloud egress for delivering the stream to viewers. YouTube says it receives the encoder’s live feed and transcodes it into formats for viewers. Cloud egress charges are relevant when you operate a separate cloud-hosted delivery system, not simply because your PC sends data over the internet.
Does YouTube charge you for cloud egress?
Not for viewer delivery in the direct-PC setup described here. Your encoder sends an ingest stream to YouTube, and YouTube handles viewer-facing transcoding and delivery. The bytes your PC uploads are data sent to YouTube; they are not, by themselves, a cloud egress bill charged to you. YouTube’s live encoder guidance describes its ingest workflow and recommended settings.
Cloud egress can be a cost in a different architecture: for example, if you operate cloud encoding, packaging, an origin server, or a content-delivery network and pay to send the resulting video to viewers. AWS’s example below models that kind of viewer distribution. It should not be applied to a PC streaming directly to YouTube.
How much electricity does a PC stream use?
Use the PC’s average wall draw while it is doing the actual streaming workload—not the stream’s bitrate—to estimate its electricity cost:
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Cost = average watts ÷ 1,000 × operating hours × electricity price per kWh
For an illustrative PC averaging 100 watts at the wall around the clock for 365 days:
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- Energy: 100 ÷ 1,000 × 8,760 = 876 kWh per year.
- At the U.S. 2025 average residential price of 17.30¢/kWh, estimated cost: 876 × $0.173 = $151.55 per year.
This is arithmetic under an explicit 100 W assumption, not a measured result or a universal PC estimate. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that 2025 average residential rate; your marginal rate may differ by location, utility, tariff, and time of use. The EIA also reported 2025 rates of 35.72¢/kWh in Hawaii and 8.20¢/kWh in North Dakota for all customer categories, not residential-only state figures. Check the category and rate that apply to your bill. EIA electricity data.
Measure the draw rather than guessing
A plug-in electricity meter can help measure the PC’s wall draw during a representative stream. Measure the complete setup if you want its full cost: PC, display, and any peripherals left on. Streaming encoder load, other PC tasks, CPU or GPU, and power-management settings can all change the total. No single wattage is valid for every streaming PC.
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How much data does a 24/7 stream send?
A useful estimate for decimal gigabytes sent is:
Data in GB ≈ bitrate in Mbps × 0.45 × operating hours
Over 365 days of uninterrupted streaming, that is approximately bitrate in Mbps × 10,800 GB, or 10.8 TB per Mbps. For example:
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| Constant bitrate | Estimated data sent in a 365-day year |
|---|---|
| 6 Mbps | 64.8 TB |
| 14 Mbps | 151.2 TB |
These are calculated upload volumes to YouTube, before protocol overhead or downtime. They do not turn into cloud egress charges for a direct YouTube ingest stream. YouTube’s H.264 recommendations include 8 Mbps for 720p60, 14 Mbps for 1080p30, and 17 Mbps for 1080p60; use the setting appropriate to your codec, resolution, and frame rate rather than choosing a bitrate solely to reduce a data estimate. YouTube Help: live encoder settings.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When can cloud egress become a real cost?
If a cloud service is doing more than accepting an ingest stream for YouTube—for instance, encoding and packaging the video and distributing it through a CDN—viewer traffic can generate cloud delivery charges. A published AWS example estimates a one-hour event with about 1,000 viewers at $69.74 total, of which $67.24 is CloudFront distribution. That model includes AWS encoding, packaging, viewer traffic, bitrate assumptions, and U.S. East pricing, and assumes viewers consume the highest bitrate. It is an architecture-specific example, not a quote for every AWS setup and not an estimate for streaming directly from a PC to YouTube. AWS live-streaming solution guide.
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Compare the costs on the same basis
For a fair comparison, separate the two architectures and align the time period:
- Direct PC to YouTube: estimate electricity from measured average wall watts, hours online, and your applicable marginal electricity rate. Treat upload volume as data sent to YouTube, not as cloud viewer-delivery egress.
- Creator-operated cloud delivery: identify the services actually used—such as encoding, packaging, storage, origin, and CDN—and estimate their charges for the same period and viewer traffic.
- Do not infer watts from bitrate: bitrate determines approximate data sent, while PC power depends on the hardware, encoding workload, other tasks, and connected equipment.
The EIA’s national average is a benchmark, not your bill rate. Electricity prices vary substantially, so substitute your own rate and use an actual measurement where possible.
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