There is no single electricity cost for streaming on YouTube with OBS: it depends on your setup’s average power draw at the wall, how long you stream, and your electricity rate. Calculate it as average watts × stream hours ÷ 1,000 × price per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Turning off OBS Replay Buffer may change power use, but there is no established universal wattage or percentage saving.
Calculate the electricity cost of an OBS stream
Use this formula:
Cost = average wall power in watts × stream hours ÷ 1,000 × electricity price per kWh.
Dividing watts by 1,000 converts them to kilowatts; multiplying by hours gives kilowatt-hours. Multiplying by your rate gives the estimated cost.
Worked example
A system averaging 300 W for a four-hour stream uses 1.2 kWh: 300 × 4 ÷ 1,000. At the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2025 average residential price of 17.30 cents/kWh, that illustrative session costs about $0.21. The 300 W figure is an arithmetic example, not a measured or representative streaming PC. Replace it with your own measured average and electricity rate. EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3
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Measure the power your stream actually uses
For the most useful estimate, measure average power at the wall during a representative stream. Use the session average, not the power supply’s rated capacity or a component’s advertised maximum. A plug-in electricity meter is one possible aid; this calculation does not depend on a particular meter.
Be clear about what the measurement includes. If the meter covers only the PC, call the result PC-only. Displays, capture devices, lighting, audio gear, and network equipment count only if they are included in the measured outlet or measured separately and added to the estimate.
Keep the workload representative: the same game or scene, resolution, frame rate, codec, encoder, and OBS configuration you normally use. A quiet desktop scene and a demanding game session can draw different amounts. OBS notes that streaming and recording capability depends on the encoder, resolution, FPS, and scene complexity, not just hardware compatibility. OBS Studio system requirements
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Does turning off Replay Buffer or recording lower the bill?
Replay Buffer is an optional OBS capture feature listed among OBS’s recording controls. Disabling it removes that feature’s work from the configuration, but neither the OBS sources nor the cited electricity data establish a standard wattage or percentage saving. The actual effect depends on the computer and settings. OBS Studio Overview Guide
Turning off other optional recording outputs can simplify a comparison, but it does not establish a particular reduction in power. To find out whether a setting matters on your PC, measure matched sessions with it on and off, keeping the scene, game activity, stream settings, and meter boundary the same.
Hardware encoding is not a guaranteed energy saving
OBS describes hardware encoding as moving encoding work from the CPU to a specialized component on the GPU. That explains where work is performed; it does not prove that hardware encoding always lowers total system electricity use. Compare whole-system wall measurements rather than assuming a CPU, GPU, or encoder label predicts the bill. OBS Hardware Encoding
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Use your local electricity rate
The EIA’s reported 2025 averages were 17.30 cents/kWh for residential customers, 13.41 cents/kWh for commercial customers, 8.62 cents/kWh for industrial customers, and 13.63 cents/kWh across all sectors. The residential average is a broad U.S. reference, not a personalized tariff. In 2025, the EIA’s all-customer-type state range ran from 8.20 cents/kWh in North Dakota to 35.72 cents/kWh in Hawaii; that is not a residential-only state comparison. EIA: Prices and factors affecting prices
For your own estimate, use the marginal or effective rate that best reflects additional electricity use. Your bill may include time-of-use rates, taxes, fixed charges, and other billing details; a flat national average will not capture all of them. Electricity prices also vary by locality and customer type.
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Stream bitrate affects the stream’s video quality and ingestion requirements; it is not a direct electricity-cost figure. YouTube’s encoder recommendations vary by codec, resolution, and frame rate. For example, its H.264 recommendations list 8 Mbps for 720p60 and 17 Mbps for 1080p60, while AV1 or H.265 recommendations list 6 Mbps and 12 Mbps respectively for those formats. Use YouTube’s table for your chosen format rather than mixing values across codecs. YouTube live encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions
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YouTube supports RTMP/RTMPS and H.264, H.265/HEVC, or AV1; its guidance recommends CBR and a two-second keyframe interval, with a maximum of four seconds. Test using representative motion and audio, then monitor stream health. These are ingestion and quality recommendations, not estimates of your PC’s power draw. YouTube explains that an encoder converts video to a digital format and enables sources such as gameplay or external audio and video hardware. Create a YouTube live stream with an encoder
For an energy comparison, hold codec, resolution, frame rate, scene or game workload, encoder configuration, stream duration, and electricity rate constant. Measure the same devices in both runs. No controlled benchmark establishes a typical electricity saving for disabling OBS Replay Buffer or recording.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When you want the channel live without leaving a PC on
For a YouTube channel built around uploaded recordings or a playlist, StreamNeo runs the loop in the cloud after you upload the video, add your YouTube stream key, and go live. It is an alternative to keeping an OBS computer running at home, not a way to stream live camera footage.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 300 W example a typical OBS streaming PC?
No. It is an arithmetic example only, not a measured or representative system.
Does YouTube bitrate tell me how much electricity my stream uses?
No. Bitrate guidance addresses ingestion and quality; estimate electricity from measured average wall power, duration, and your rate.
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