How to Live Stream Church Services

Streamloop streams pre-recorded video as a live stream from the cloud, so the church computer can be off and no one runs OBS. It is for churches that replay a recorded service. A second product, Live Scenes, sends one live OBS or encoder feed to several platforms.

A scheduled live stream lets members set a reminder, so people gather at the service time. A YouTube Premiere also takes reminders, but it shows one upload on YouTube only. A church that streams live to one platform does not need Streamloop.

Phone only: see the phone steps for YouTube and Facebook. With no volunteer on Sunday, a recorded replay can fit better.

Hardware encoder: follow the same steps, with your encoder in place of OBS. See custom RTMP streaming for the server URL and stream key fields.

1. Pick a free aux or matrix output, and set it post-fader so the mix follows the service.
2. Connect the output to a USB audio interface on the computer, or to your hardware encoder.
3. In OBS, add the interface as an audio input.
4. At rehearsal, check the levels in headphones.

For 1080p at 60 fps, Facebook gives 15 Mbps as its maximum recommended bitrate. Run a speed test at service time, on the wired connection, as YouTube recommends.

1. Verify the YouTube channel. You must be at least 16 years old.
2. In YouTube Studio, click Create, then Go live, to open the Live Control Room.
3. On the Manage tab, click Schedule stream, so members can set reminders.
4. Copy the stream key into OBS or your hardware encoder. See Find your YouTube stream key for the screen.
5. Start OBS or your hardware encoder a few minutes early. When the preview shows, click Go live.
6. For captions, turn on live automatic captions. They are English only and need normal latency.

From a phone: the YouTube app needs at least 50 subscribers. Below 1,000, YouTube may limit the viewers and make the archive private by default.

In the YouTube app, tap Create, then Live. Tap Edit to enter the details or schedule the stream. Then tap Go live.

Your account must be at least 60 days old. The Page needs at least 100 followers, and you need Facebook access or task access to create content on it.

In Advanced settings, turn on the persistent stream key, so OBS or your hardware encoder keeps the same key every week. Turning it on changes the current key. Live Producer can also schedule a broadcast up to 24 hours ahead.

Copy the server URL and stream key into OBS or your hardware encoder. See Find your Facebook stream key for each screen. Stream from the Page, not from a personal profile.

From a phone: the same rules apply. Meta gives these iPhone app steps: tap the post box at the top of your Feed, then Live video, then Go live. Tap Finish to end.

Streamloop Live Scenes, which adds graphics to a live feed, also has a Starting soon layout with a countdown.

In OBS, the free Multiple output plugin can send the second stream, with no service fee. Multistream relay services take one stream and copy it to each platform, and so does Streamloop.

• A Scene stream (Live Scenes) takes RTMP, RTMPS or SRT from OBS, vMix or a hardware encoder. It can also pull an IP camera over RTSP.
• One Scene stream goes to up to 5 destinations.
• It streams up to 1080p at 60 fps, and it has no guest cameras.

Live Scenes is billed per minute while live, with no encoding fee for live inputs. A 2-hour service at 1080p and 30 fps to YouTube and Facebook costs about $0.07.

It covers songs that your church musicians perform live.

• The CCLI Streaming Plus License adds master recordings: artist tracks, backing tracks and multitracks.
• In the US, prices start at $84 a year for churches already licensed with CCLI. Elsewhere, check CCLI for your country.
• The license covers the church website and social media channels, on any day of the week.
• CCLI recommends both license numbers in the description of each post.
• A license does not stop YouTube checks. YouTube scans every live stream and can interrupt it, unless the song owner adds your channel to an allowlist.
• Public domain songs need no license if the arrangement and the recording are also out of copyright.

1. In Streamloop, create a stream and choose Pre-recorded video.
2. Upload the service video. Each file can be up to 15 GB.
3. Add YouTube and Facebook as destinations. A stream takes up to 5.
4. In Schedule, set Recurrence to Weekly, pick Sunday, and set From and To less than 24 hours apart.
5. Select Schedule the stream.

The stream then starts and stops itself each week. Streamloop keeps the schedule in UTC, so after a daylight-saving change the local start moves by one hour. Set it again.

Streaming a 2-hour run at 1080p and 30 fps to two destinations costs about $0.044 each week. A file that needs re-encoding also has a one-time encoding fee of $0.005 per minute of encode time.

The encode time can differ from the video length. A file that already matches the output needs no encode.

Say in the title or the description that it is a recorded service.

Live service

1. The stream is scheduled on YouTube and Facebook.
2. An unlisted test stream ran at rehearsal, and the stream mix sounds right.
3. The internet is wired, and the speed test passed.
4. The license numbers are in the description, and captions are on if you need them.

Recorded replay

1. The To time is at the end of the service video. In a longer window, the video plays again from the start until the To time.
2. A YouTube destination connected by sign-in has an answer to "Made for kids?". If not, Streamloop does not start the stream.
3. The repeat does not show "Repeat is paused until this is fixed" after a failed run.