How to get a TikTok stream key

What does a stream key do?

To send video to TikTok, streaming software such as OBS needs two things: a server URL and a stream key. The server URL says where the video goes. The key tells TikTok which account and which LIVE it belongs to.

Anyone who has your key can stream to your account until that LIVE ends, so treat it like a password and never show it on screen. You need a key only to go LIVE from software on a computer. The TikTok app on your phone, and TikTok’s own desktop app LIVE Studio, sign in to your account instead.

Who gets a TikTok stream key?

TikTok decides, and it doesn’t publish the rules for stream keys. What it does publish is the bar for going LIVE at all: you must be at least 18, and your account needs “a certain number of followers, which may vary by market”. Many guides quote 1,000 followers; TikTok gives no number.

A stream key is a second permission on top of that. Being able to go LIVE in the app doesn’t mean LIVE Center will give you a key. From TikTok’s own help pages and from what streaming tools report, these things count:

• Age and followers. 18 or older, and enough followers for your market.
• Region. TikTok says its LIVE requirements vary by country or region, and LIVE from software isn’t offered everywhere.
• Account standing. A recent LIVE ban, suspension or community guideline strike can remove access.
• Recent LIVE activity. TikTok’s access rules for its own LIVE Studio look at account age, time spent LIVE recently, followers and recent suspensions. It gives no numbers, and doesn’t say which of these apply to keys.
• Agencies. Many streamers get a key through a TikTok LIVE agency or creator network that can request access for its creators. Streamlabs says there is no general “apply here” form for keys and that access isn’t guaranteed.

Since 7 July 2025, Restream and Streamlabs report that TikTok expects at least half of the streams sent through third-party tools to be gaming content, and that it can withdraw access from accounts below that share. TikTok hasn’t published this rule on its own pages, so treat it as reported rather than official.

Why don’t some accounts have one?

If LIVE Center sends you somewhere else, or shows no server URL and key, your account doesn’t have access yet. The usual reasons:

• the account is under 18, or below the follower count for its market;
• LIVE from software isn’t offered in your region;
• LIVE access was suspended or removed after a violation;
• TikTok hasn’t granted it: access is reviewed, and meeting the published LIVE rules is no guarantee;
• access was withdrawn later, for example after the gaming-content change above.

Without a key you can still go LIVE from a computer with LIVE Studio, which runs on Windows and, now, on Macs. See TikTok LIVE Studio on a Mac.

Where do you find it?

The key is in LIVE Center, TikTok’s web page for going LIVE from a computer. TikTok changes these pages from time to time, so a button may be worded slightly differently.

1. On a computer, open tiktok.com and sign in.
2. Choose Go LIVE in the left column. TikTok opens LIVE Center at livecenter.tiktok.com/producer.
3. Enter a title and choose a category, then save. Current guides call the button Save & Go LIVE.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and copy the Server URL and the Stream Key.

LIVE Studio doesn’t use a key: it signs in to your account and sends the stream itself. If you want to use OBS or another app, LIVE Center is where the key comes from.

Does it change every session?

Yes. A TikTok key belongs to one LIVE. When that LIVE ends, the key stops working, and the next LIVE you set up in LIVE Center gets a new one. Some streamers also see it reset when they sign out of TikTok.

Apps that remember your settings, OBS and Mucast included, keep the old key. Paste the new one before every stream. An “invalid key” error at the start nearly always means the key is from an earlier session.

How do you go LIVE from a computer with OBS?

OBS Studio is free and runs on Windows, Linux and macOS 13 or later. These steps set it up for a full-screen portrait LIVE.

1. Install OBS Studio from obsproject.com.
2. In Settings → Video, set both the base (canvas) resolution and the output resolution to 1080x1920, and the frame rate to 30.
3. In Settings → Output, pick a hardware encoder if you have one (on a Mac, Apple VT H264 Hardware Encoder), a keyframe interval of 2 seconds and a video bitrate your upload can carry (see below).
4. In Settings → Stream, set Service to Custom. Paste the Server URL into Server and the key into Stream Key.
5. Add your sources: a camera (Video Capture Device), your screen (macOS Screen Capture on a Mac) and your microphone. With OBS 30 or later on macOS 13 or later, the macOS Audio Capture source picks up sound from other apps.
6. Click Start Streaming. Your picture appears in LIVE Center and on your LIVE.
7. To finish, end the LIVE in LIVE Center as well as stopping OBS.

Bitrate. TikTok doesn’t publish limits for streams sent with a key. Its OBS guide for TikTok Shop sellers uses 2,500 kb/s at 720p. For 1080 × 1920 at 30 fps, around 4,000 kb/s gives a clean picture for most shows; go higher only if your upload has room to spare.

Landscape. You can send a 16:9 picture. TikTok shows it with black bars above and below on phones, so a portrait picture fills more of the screen.

To stream the same show to TikTok and other platforms from OBS, see how to multistream with OBS.

How do you use the key in Mucast on a Mac?

Mucast, the Mac app this site is for, uses the same server URL and key from LIVE Center: choose Portrait, add TikTok, paste both, and press Go Live. It doesn’t get you a key. TikTok still decides that.

Each Mucast show streams in one shape. In portrait, the same show can also go to Instagram, and to YouTube and Twitch, which play portrait video (computers show it with bars at the sides). Kick and Facebook take landscape only, so they stay off. Mucast needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. The free version streams to 2 platforms at once, up to 1080p at 30 fps, without a watermark. Pro adds more platforms and 60 fps for $19.99 a month, $180 a year (with a 7-day trial) or $399 once.

Download Mucast for Mac