YouTube adds 60fps live streaming into the mix to take on Twitch

YouTube has supported 60fps playback on videos for a while now, but until today, it didn’t offer a high-rate option for live streams. Now, it does.

Available from today in ‘early preview’, any time you start a 60fps stream, YouTube will transcode it into either 720p60 or 1080p60 for “silky smooth playback for gaming and other fast-action videos,” the company said. Streams will also be available at 30fps for viewers watching on a device that doesn’t support the 60fps option.

Clearly, the move is a push to recapture some of the eyeballs that now head straight to services like Twitch for live game streaming. To that end, the company says it has also worked with Elgato Game Capture, XSplit Broadcaster, and XSplit Gamecaster to ensure that they support 60fps live streaming to YouTube straight out of the gate.

Rounding off the list of changes is the new option to watch live streams using the HTML5 player, which allows you to vary playback speed if you jump back in time to re-watch any part of a live broadcast.