Twitch’s Dual-Layout Streaming: Technical Innovation or Industry Revolution?
As a video consumer, your choice between landscape and portrait orientation is likely influenced by your age. If you’re over 40, you’re likely watching in landscape. If you’re younger, chances are you default to portrait.
But as video producers, we all agree on one thing: we want to serve content in whatever format the viewer prefers. Until now, for live streaming, that’s been a one-or-the-other. That’s changing. At TwitchCon Europe, amid the usual fanfare and cosplay, Twitch quietly announced a feature that could reshape the future of live streaming: dual-layout live streaming.
While the announcement may not have made headlines outside the streaming community, its implications are profound, both technically and culturally. For the first time, Twitch creators will be able to broadcast both landscape and portrait layouts simultaneously, with the platform delivering the optimal version to each viewer based on device orientation. Under the hood, this is a codec milestone, and above the surface, it might just spark a revolution in how live and VOD content is created and consumed.
What’s New—and Why It Matters
To be clear, this isn’t the first time video has been streamed in portrait mode. Nor is it the first time creators have simulcast in multiple formats. What’s new is Twitch integrating these capabilities into a single, scalable workflow tailored for live user-generated content.
Creators no longer have to choose between mobile and desktop viewers or manage two separate streams. With dual-layout streaming, both orientations are packaged, uploaded, and distributed in parallel, with the platform automatically selecting the right version for each viewer’s device.
Equally important, this is built on Twitch’s Enhanced Broadcasting architecture, which shifts encoding to the creator and avoids duplicative server-side processing. That makes dual-format delivery viable at scale, something no other major platform has accomplished for live content.
The Technical Leap: How Dual-Layout Streaming Works
Let’s start with the nuts and bolts of how dual-layout works. There are two steps to dual-layout streaming: stream creation and stream rendering. The first is straightforward, the second conceptually complex but simple in practice.
The layout side is enabled through a collaboration between Twitch, Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), and the Aitum Vertical plugin. Within OBS, using the Aitum Vertical plugin, the creator configures two layouts: one in landscape mode, the other in portrait mode. You see this in Figure 1, with the landscape layout on the left, and portrait on the right.
Figure 1. Creating dual layouts in OBS using the Aitum Vertical plugin.
The Transcoding Side
The transcoding side is more complex. Dual-format streaming will be available only to streamers using what Twitch calls Enhanced Broadcasting, which, depending on how you look at it, is a cost reducer for Twitch, an enhancement for creatives, or both. In essence, Enhanced Broadcasting, which is only available to creators with transcoding-capable GPUs and 12 Mbps upload speed, produces an encoding ladder on the creator’s computer and transmits that to Twitch. That ladder will have at least three rungs and can have more.
The cost savings for Twitch is clear: Twitch doesn’t need to transcode an incoming stream and simply delivers the provided streams to viewers based on standard ABR logic.
What’s in it for the creator? Understand that Twitch doesn’t transcode all incoming streams to multiple rungs. If you’re a creator not using Enhanced Broadcasting, this means that viewers watching your channel on slower connections might not be able to view the 1080p origination stream you provide to Twitch. With Enhanced Broadcasting, you provide the rungs, and Twitch happily delivers them, enabling you to support more viewers on lower bitrate connections. In addition, because there’s no transcoding step, latency is reduced a bit, and because there's no double encoding, quality should be slightly better as well.
Twitch rolled out Enhanced Broadcasting in beta in 2023. Adoption was initially limited to streamers with NVIDIA RTX GPUs and high-bandwidth connections. Over time, Twitch expanded support and streamlined integration with OBS Studio. The company positions Enhanced Broadcasting as both a quality and reliability upgrade for streamers, and a cost-efficiency measure for Twitch itself.
For the OBS or XSplit user, enabling Enhanced Broadcasting is simple. Just check the box shown in Figure 2 in OBS or the equivalent in XSplit. In Auto mode, which Twitch recommends, Twitch analyzes your system and internet connection and provides optimized settings for your stream. Because the required GPU performs all the transcoding, you shouldn’t notice any lag in game play, though your Internet connection needs to support three or more streams, rather than a single stream.
Figure 2. Enhanced Broadcasting using OBS; click the magic checkbox and let the gaming begin.
Enhanced Broadcasting and Dual-Format
Dual-format streaming will be available only to those using Enhanced Broadcasting. Each layout, landscape and portrait, is produced separately, and must be encoded at multiple resolutions. This means encoding and uploading at least six streams. These are bundled into a single E-RTMP stream using multitrack video support, then sent to Twitch. To be clear, Twitch does not combine the two layouts into one stream using cues or metadata; both versions are fully rendered and encoded before upload.
Enhanced Broadcasting currently supports H.264 and HEVC ladders. While AV1 is not yet accepted for ingest, Twitch may add it in the future. HEVC is required for 2K delivery, though Twitch guarantees fallback H.264 variants at 1080p and below to ensure compatibility for devices lacking HEVC support. VP9 is no longer used.
System requirements for Enhanced Broadcasting and dual-layout streaming include a supported GPU (typically NVIDIA RTX-class hardware), and a stable upload speed of at least 12 Mbps. For those encoding two ladders (landscape and portrait), Twitch recommends 20 Mbps or more, particularly for 1440p.
Twitch plans a phased rollout of dual-format streaming beginning with a small group of creators this summer, followed by broader availability later in the year. Streamers can apply for early access through Twitch’s creator portal.
Codec Overview: What’s In, What’s Out
As mentioned, Twitch’s Enhanced Broadcasting currently supports H.264 and HEVC for ingest. HEVC is required for 2K delivery, with fallback H.264 variants automatically included at 1080p and below for compatibility.
Regarding codec usage, Twitch was gracious in responding to our inquiries, which we appreciate. We asked about AV1 playback support, and heard: “Long term, we’re excited about the improved codec efficiency offered by both HEVC and AV1. However, we’re hyper-conscious of practical device compatibility. We want viewers to have great experiences, which means waiting to enable AV1 codec support until there is a significant enough portion of devices that have robust and efficient AV1 decode support.”
Twitch also confirmed that VP9 will not be used for any streams with Enhanced Broadcasting or dual-layout delivery.
While not the main focus of this article, from the outside looking in (and not confirmed by Twitch), it seems like with the launch of 2K, Twitch’s codec strategy has shifted from political to pragmatic. VP9 was always questionable due to the lack of commercial transcoding hardware. While AV1 offers promising bandwidth savings, it currently lacks robust hardware support on mobile.
All three codecs, HEVC, VP9, and AV1, share equal royalty exposure from the Avanci and Access Advance patent pools. Prioritizing HEVC over VP9 or AV1 opens up far more compatible hardware endpoints at a modest cost in bitrate efficiency, at least compared to AV1. While this pushes AV1 deployment back in time, it’s the pragmatic choice.
User Experience Revolution: What Changes for Viewers and Creators?
As you would expect, Twitch explained the new feature as a benefit to viewers. As stated in the blog post, dual-format streaming achieves the following:
“Allows us to better optimize the viewing experience for a device and how a viewer is using that device. Viewers watching on a desktop will still see landscape. Viewers on mobile will see your vertical layout if they hold the phone vertically, or landscape if they rotate their phone horizontally.
The new vertical layout makes it easier for viewers to participate in events like Hype Trains and support you by subbing, gifting, and cheering while watching your stream in full screen. They’ll also be able to customize chat to have more control over how much chat they see on screen.”
But the move is about much more than just user experience. Twitch is under increasing pressure from competitors like YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and especially TikTok, all of which have already embraced higher resolutions and mobile-first formats. YouTube Live has supported 4K streaming and vertical integration with Shorts for years, while TikTok’s vertical live streams are projected to generate $77 billion in revenue by 2027. With younger viewers overwhelmingly consuming video on mobile devices, Twitch’s dual-format strategy is as much about retaining audience share as it is about improving the platform.
There’s also a clear monetization angle. By optimizing streams for mobile and offering new features like vertical layouts, Twitch can increase ad inventory and improve targeting for mobile viewers. As part of the same announcement as dual-format videos, Twitch is rolling out additional monetization tools, such as “Combos” and streamlined gifting, to make it easier for viewers to spend money in-app, especially on mobile. More engagement and longer watch times translate directly into higher ad revenue, which is critical for Twitch’s ad-supported business model.
At the same time, Twitch’s rollout of 2K streaming is a response to creator demands for higher quality and more professional tools, which helps Twitch keep top creators from migrating to other platforms. Ultimately, Twitch’s dual-format and 2K push is about future-proofing the platform. Whether this strategy will be enough remains to be seen, but the stakes, and the potential impact on the broader video industry, are clear.
But Will It Work?
Not everyone is convinced that Twitch’s dual-format push will be a hit across all types of gaming content. There’s a vocal contingent of traditionalists, who question the value of vertical video for most games. As one Reddit user put it, “I don’t think I’d ever consider streaming in vertical on Twitch because I know a lot of my usual followers are watching on PCs.”
Another streamer noted, “Fortnite is pretty much the only title I’d consider for vertical streaming since I don’t produce any long-form content for it; my uploads mainly consist of clips from my gameplay, which I share as Shorts. Switching to vertical streaming could streamline my editing process, but I’m not a fan of the empty spaces that appear on the sides of the screen for desktop viewers.”
Even among mobile users, opinions are mixed. One commenter wrote, “Even on my phone, vertical streams mean I can’t watch/use chat easily, because the stream takes up almost all the vertical real estate… I am not a fan in games stream but they are perfect for Karaokes.” Others point out that vertical streams “do seem to work wonders in terms of attracting live viewers,” particularly for content that’s already popular in short-form, mobile-first formats.
At the same time, there are clear success stories. Some creators have found that vertical streaming—especially when combined with Shorts and mobile-first platforms—can drive rapid growth. One streamer reported, “In 6 months, vertical gaming streams took me from 0–300 average live viewers. Here’s what I learned…”
The bottom line is that no one knows how Twitch’s audience will react to dual format. But we do know that its competitors can’t react, at least without dramatically increasing transcoding costs or implementing their own versions of Enhanced Broadcasting.
A Competitive Advantage in Production Costs
Viewed through this lens, Twitch’s Enhanced Broadcasting provides a significant competitive edge compared to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other streaming platforms. As we’ve seen, by shifting the transcoding workload to creators, Twitch dramatically reduces its own infrastructure and operational costs.
To implement dual-format streaming, other UGC platforms would need to duplicate extensive server-side transcoding capabilities, which would significantly increase their program costs. Twitch’s approach not only makes dual-format streaming feasible for a massive user-generated content ecosystem, but also positions Twitch to scale new features more efficiently than competitors still reliant on centralized transcoding.
What about other markets? That’s where this all gets interesting.
What About Other Markets?
While doubling your transcode requirements in a creator-rich medium like UGC may be cost-prohibitive, it’s trivial for most broadcast shops. Many news and sports organizations have been wrestling with how to support portrait mode for mobile via separate production setups, often as a post-process. Twitch’s announcement opens up the vision and potential commercial requirements to offer both formats in real-time.
Vertical video experiments abound. Many news organizations have TikTok accounts, and a number are deploying vertical videos on their websites or apps (Figure 3). CNN’s CEO Mark Thompson, wants a “heavy push into vertical video,” envisioning a future where “you can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter.” The New York Times itself is publishing vertical videos for regular news stories.
Figure 3. CNN is already going vertical on TikTok and will expand this in its own app.
Sports broadcasters like Sky Sports Germany have streamed major matches on TikTok in vertical (Figure 4), and Disney Star provided a vertical feed of the Cricket World Cup for mobile viewers.
Figure 4. Sky Sports has streamed soccer matches on TikTok in vertical mode.
The commercial incentives of pursuing vertical video are powerful. Studies cited by NewscastStudio and Embryo show vertical videos achieve a 90% brand recall rate and take up 78% more screen space on mobile, with 71% of mobile users preferring vertical video ads. Given these realities and the attractiveness of the younger demographic, it’s not hard to imagine a near future where major news events, sports, and even prime-time TV shows are simulcast in both portrait and landscape.
While Twitch’s dual-format strategy is laser-focused on enhancing its success in the gaming market, it’s even more significant as a clear signal that dual-format live streaming is not only entirely possible; it might even be coming to a screen near you in the next few weeks. Granted, it’s obviously much more complex to produce dual-format news or sports broadcasts than single-stream and webcam-based gaming.
But nothing succeeds like success, and nothing creates urgency as much as seeing another company doing what you know you should be doing. Everyone knows that delivering videos to Millennials and Gen Zs who want to watch in portrait mode is the future; Twitch just let the market know that you can serve younger and older viewers at the same time. Twitch may have started with gamers, but with dual-format streaming, it’s writing the blueprint for the next era of live video—one that will shape newsrooms, sports arenas, and living rooms, for years to come.
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