Increase recording bitrate

Increase your studio's recording bitrate for maximum source quality in professional production workflows.

What bitrate means

Bitrate is the amount of video data Riverside records each second. A higher bitrate gives the encoder more information to capture detail, texture, movement, lighting changes, and other visually complex scenes.

A higher bitrate does not increase your camera's resolution. It preserves more of the quality already captured at that resolution and reduces visible compression.

When to use increased bitrate

We recommend enabling 15 Mbps recording for productions where source quality is particularly important, including:

• Broadcast and premium media production
• Documentary and interview production
• Footage intended for extensive editing and finishing work
• Productions with detailed sets, textures, movement, or complex backgrounds
• Content that may be cropped, reframed, color corrected, or otherwise edited after recording
• Workflows with strict internal delivery specifications

When to stick with standard bitrate

Standard recording settings are usually the right choice for ordinary meetings, webinars, internal communications, and productions where maximum source quality isn't necessary.

More broadly, increased bitrate isn't always the better choice. The best bitrate is the highest one your recording environment can reliably support. A higher bitrate places greater demands on recording devices, processing resources, storage, and uploads. On an underpowered device, increasing bitrate can make your recording workflow less reliable instead of improving it.

For that reason, we recommend turning on increased bitrate selectively, for productions that need it.

Production requirements

Higher bitrate also means a more demanding recording workflow. Before using 15 Mbps recording, production teams should:

• Use modern, high-performance computers for participants being recorded.
• Close unnecessary applications and browser tabs before recording.
• Connect devices to power for longer sessions.
• Ensure sufficient local resources are available during recording.
• Allow additional time after recording for media to upload.
• Run a technical test using the actual devices and production setup before an important shoot.

Good to know

• Increased bitrate creates larger files. 15 Mbps video generates approximately 6.75 GB per hour, per video track. A 1 hour production recording 4 separate 15 Mbps video tracks can generate approximately 27 GB of video data, before accounting for audio and other files. Actual storage and transfer needs vary depending on your recording configuration.
• A higher bitrate doesn't increase your camera's resolution. It preserves more of the detail already captured at that resolution.