TikTok LIVE Studio and OBS: how to go LIVE on TikTok from PC for gaming

On a computer, TikTok describes three ways to go LIVE in its step-by-step guide How to go LIVE on TikTok. They don't rely on the same tools, and they aren't necessarily open to the same accounts.

TikTok points out that the availability of desktop LIVE options may vary by account and region. So if one of them doesn't show up for you, it isn't necessarily a bug: your account or your region may simply not have access to it yet.

For a gaming LIVE, you'll most often use LIVE Studio or OBS: both let you build a scene with your game, your camera and your overlays. This guide covers the tools and the requirements; for the content itself, getting your viewers to act in the game, read how to run an interactive gaming LIVE on TikTok.

Before you install anything, check that your account can go LIVE. Plenty of requirements get passed around online; only some of them are published by TikTok.

What TikTok publishes

These points come from the TikTok Help Center, on the requirements for LIVE and Gifts and the age requirements for TikTok LIVE.

To earn money, TikTok's LIVE monetisation requirements add an account in good standing with the Community Guidelines, authentic engagement and access to LIVE Gifts, in a country or region where they're offered.

What gets passed around but isn't published by TikTok

Some of these claims may have been observed on one account, at one point in time. Without an official source, nothing says they apply to yours: what the app and LIVE Studio show on your account is what counts.

Age verification, going LIVE on mobile, a missing LIVE button: it's all covered in TikTok LIVE requirements.

Installing LIVE Studio isn't enough: the software has its own LIVE access. You check your status in LIVE Studio, in the top right corner, under “Your LIVE access”, which is also where you can apply (Apply for LIVE access, LIVE Studio Help Center).

Instant access

It's for an active LIVE creator on TikTok whose account meets five criteria, none of which an official page puts a number on:

• a certain account age;
• a recent LIVE of a certain length;
• a minimum number of followers;
• no recent suspension of LIVE access;
• no current suspension or revocation.

TikTok states that “the requirements vary by country or region”.

The application form

If you're not an active LIVE creator on TikTok, or if you're coming from another platform, you go through a form where you present your channel. The review takes a few days, and the answer arrives as a TikTok notification.

TikTok's Creator Networks blog describes the same criteria, again without any figures: account history, recent LIVE activity, followers and good account standing (how to get LIVE access on TikTok LIVE Studio).

Keeping your access

Your access is renewed automatically, for longer periods, if there has been no recent suspension or revocation. If you're given trial access, the LIVE Studio FAQ asks you to go LIVE for at least 25 minutes, twice during your first week; otherwise, your access is revoked. It can also be revoked when the trial period expires.

To get it back, you need to meet the requirements again and reapply, from the LIVE Studio download page or via “Your LIVE access”.

Don't confuse this with the 25 minutes of cumulative LIVE time that count as a valid LIVE day for mission-based LIVE rewards: same duration, but a different rule.

TikTok LIVE Studio is available for Windows and macOS from the official LIVE Studio download page. The English version of TikTok's installation article confirms that LIVE Studio currently supports both; only the French version of that article still mentions Windows alone.

One thing to know before you download: according to TikTok, if you're not a LIVE creator on the TikTok mobile app, you probably don't have access to go LIVE in LIVE Studio, and you'll need to apply for it (Install and start LIVE Studio).

Going LIVE for the first time in LIVE Studio, in 5 steps

1. Download LIVE Studio from the official page, for Windows or macOS, and install it.
2. Open it and log in with your TikTok account.
3. Set up your camera, your microphone and your other sources, such as your game capture.
4. Add a title to your LIVE and adjust the settings, including the video quality, to suit your connection and your machine.
5. Go LIVE from LIVE Studio.

These steps follow those in TikTok's guide How to go LIVE on TikTok.

Windows system requirements, according to the LIVE Studio FAQ

macOS system requirements, according to the LIVE Studio FAQ

Each model listed should be read as “or newer”. These tables reproduce the official FAQ as we read it on 7 October 2026: check it again before you buy any hardware.

The download page shows its own table, which doesn't match the FAQ on every point. For LIVE gaming on Windows, it lists an Intel Core i5 11th Gen or an AMD Ryzen 5 5000 Series, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series or an AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series and 8 GB of memory, and states that LIVE Studio for Windows requires Windows 10 64-bit or later.

What we recommend at Streamline: when the two tables disagree, go with the more demanding value, and for a resource-heavy game, aim for the FAQ's Gaming/Advanced tier, because your game, LIVE Studio and your tools all run on the same machine.

In LIVE Studio, everything starts with the scene: what your viewers see, a kind of canvas on which you arrange sources (What's a scene? in the LIVE Studio Help Center). You can prepare several scenes (gameplay, break, chatting), switch between them during the LIVE and add up to 20 sources to each scene (Learn the basics of LIVE in LIVE Studio).

Useful sources for a gaming LIVE

• Game capture: captures your full-screen game at a higher resolution. It's the source designed for gaming, but it may not be compatible with every game.
• Window capture or Display capture: the fallback if Game capture doesn't pick up your game.
• Camera: your face, so your viewers can see you react.
• Capture card: to share the audio and video from a console.
• Cast: to share your phone screen.
• Text, Image, Video, Link: announcements, branding, a preview of a web page.

Each type is described in detail in What's a source? in the LIVE Studio Help Center.

Portrait, landscape or dual layout

LIVE Studio offers three scene layouts, described on the same help page about scenes: portrait, for viewers watching vertically on their phone; landscape, designed for widescreen content such as PC gaming; dual layout, which lets viewers switch between the two.

TikTok's Creator Academy also recommends a 1080p resolution and offers “Gameplay” scene templates for gaming (LIVE Studio on the Creator Academy).

Before you go LIVE, preview your video and test your audio: game sound drowning out your voice is easier to spot before the LIVE than during it.

What TikTok says

For streaming with third-party software such as OBS, TikTok's guide boils down to a few steps:

1. Get the server URL and the stream key provided by TikTok: TikTok calls them the “Server URL” and the “Stream Key”, and you'll also see “streaming key”.
2. Enter them in OBS's streaming settings.
3. Click “Start Streaming” to send your stream to TikTok.

The LIVE Studio FAQ compares the two programs: they offer similar features, but LIVE Studio is developed by TikTok and you use it by logging in to your TikTok account. TikTok also presents it as safer for your information and your content.

What TikTok doesn't say

In the official pages we consulted on 7 October 2026, TikTok doesn't publish:

• where to get the stream key;
• who is entitled to one;
• how long it stays valid;
• any role for an agency in getting one.

If someone presents any of these points to you as a TikTok rule, ask them for their source.

And if you're offered a stream key in exchange for money or your password, say no. TikTok reminds creators that it will never ask for your password by email (Creator Academy security FAQs). These are the same warning signs as in TikTok agency code scams.

A stream key “unlocked” in exchange for a payment or your login details isn't part of any process TikTok describes.

What we recommend at Streamline

This advice is ours, not a TikTok requirement:

• treat your stream key like a password: don't share it, and never show it on screen;
• set your resolution and bitrate to suit your connection and your machine, rather than copying values found online;
• do a full test run before every new concept, and keep a backup scene in case the game crashes;
• if you don't have a stream key, use LIVE Studio rather than looking for a shortcut.

Moving to PC doesn't change the rules: your LIVEs are still subject to TikTok's LIVE monetisation guidelines. Among other things, they allow TikTok to demonetise:

• content generated or managed primarily by automated systems, such as AI or other third-party tools, without meaningful involvement from the creator;
• pre-recorded or looped videos presented as a real LIVE;
• content that is mostly passive or repetitive;
• a blurred, obstructed or frozen screen for an extended period;
• Gift baiting and fake engagement, such as “follow for follow” exchanges.

Depending on how serious and how frequent the violations are, TikTok can send a warning, temporarily restrict LIVE access or monetisation, and go as far as permanently restricting access to LIVE Gifts, LIVE Match and time-based rankings.

What this means for a PC gaming LIVE

In practice, avoid anything that looks like these cases: a game running on its own while you step away, a recorded session replayed on a loop, a loading or pause screen left on display.

A scene that freezes because your machine can't keep up raises the same problem. It's a technical issue, which is one more reason to choose a suitable setup and to test before you go LIVE.

As for interactive tools, remember that the guidelines specifically target content managed primarily by AI or other third-party tools without meaningful creator involvement. A tool that links Gifts to your game doesn't play for you: you stay in control, you actually play and you talk through what's happening.

And keep Gifts on TikTok: TikTok prohibits buying, selling or trading them outside the platform (TikTok's rules on virtual items).

No tool exempts you from the monetisation guidelines: to stay eligible for monetisation, you stay in control and you actually play.

The LIVE Studio Help Center advises gaming creators to diversify their content, in particular by involving their viewers in their gaming sessions (Choose your LIVE content). On PC, that's the whole idea behind interactive LIVE gaming on TikTok: Gifts and chat messages trigger events in your game, in real time.

What Streamline provides

Streamline Agency, a TikTok LIVE gaming agency that won awards from TikTok LIVE in 2025 and in 2026, provides its creators with:

• a creator dashboard with OBS overlays (win counters, leaderboards), webhooks so the chat can trigger actions, and the library of TikTok gifts with their value;
• Minecraft and FiveM servers hosted, maintained and kept up to date by the agency;
• interactive game concepts designed by the agency (GTA V, Minecraft, Fortnite, Mario Interactif Tower, Streamline Royale), presented in Streamline's catalogue of game concepts;
• a dedicated manager reachable every day, plus coaching and feedback on their LIVEs.

What an agency can't give you

The TikTok pages we consulted describe no role for agencies in getting a stream key or LIVE access: an agency that promises you either is relying on a rule TikTok doesn't publish. TikTok also states that agencies are independent third-party businesses that it neither endorses nor sponsors (how to create a TikTok LIVE Creator Network).

To understand what an agency actually does, read what a TikTok LIVE agency is and how TikTok pays it.

At Streamline, membership is free, with no commitment and 0% commission: creators keep 100% of their earnings. For comparison, read how much a TikTok LIVE agency takes and who pays what. The agency works with creators from the FR+ zone (France and French-speaking countries), Germany and Switzerland; to find out more, discover Streamline Agency and the regions it works with.