Not every streamer craves the limelight of a massive Twitch audience. In fact, for a lot of gamers, the only audience that matters is their friends.
This is where Discord comes in. Although Discord is primarily known for its text and voice chats, you can also use Discord’s voice channels to host livestreams.
These livestreams let you broadcast your voice, webcam, or computer screen to anyone else in the voice channel. It’s a great way to host a smaller stream for your friends, without worrying about any strangers that might butt in.
The only caveats are that streaming your screen can only be done from the Windows and Mac desktop apps, not the mobile or browser versions. And if you want to stream audio that’s playing on your computer — like the sound of a game or YouTube video, for example — you’ll need to be using the Windows desktop version.
Lastly, you should also note that multiple people can stream in the same voice channel at once. So if you’re in a popular server, don’t be surprised if others start a stream while you’re still on.
Here’s how you can get your next stream started using Discord.
Before anything, note that if you’re using a Mac, you might have to enter the “Security & Privacy” menu in order to give Discord permission to record your screen.
1. Open the Discord app on your Mac, PC, or smartphone. Remember that you’ll need to be using the downloaded and installed app, not the Discord website.
2. Find and join a voice channel that you’re allowed to stream in. The way to tell if you can stream is by joining the voice channel, and then looking to see if “Video” or “Screen” are clickable at the bottom of the window. If you’re using the Discord mobile app, you’ll just see an icon that looks like a video camera.
3. At the bottom of the desktop app, you’ll see options for “Video” and “Screen.” Choose if you’d like to stream video from your webcam or share your computer screen, then click the one you want.
If you’re using the mobile app, you can only tap the camera icon, which will start broadcasting from your phone’s camera.
4. If you click “Video,” your webcam will turn on (Discord might ask for permission to use it), and you’ll begin streaming immediately. You can choose the proper camera in Discord’s “Voice & video” settings menu.
5. If you select “Screen,” choose the window you want to share. You can broadcast everything on your screen at once, or just specific windows.
6. Choose a resolution and frame rate — the better your resolution and frame rate, the more internet bandwidth your stream will take up.
7. If you’re streaming from a PC, you’ll also see an option for “Sound.” Toggle this button to the right, and you’ll be able to stream sound from your computer as well. People will still be able to hear your microphone as well.
8. When you’re ready to begin streaming your screen, click “Go Live.”
You’re all set! Now you just need to invite friends to the voice channel, who can then watch your stream by clicking on your name in the list of people on the call.
