1 What is a TikTok Stream Key?
OBS Studio is a free streaming tool that allows you to broadcast your livestreams on different platforms. To make that possible, OBS Studio needs access to your streaming platform's account. The so-called Real Time Messaging Protocol, or RTMP for short, is a technique that bypasses the entire process of logging in and instead relies on a so-called stream key.
The stream key is a randomly generated string of numbers and letters that contains all the information about your account on a streaming platform.
Thus, with the TikTok Stream Key, you are able to insert the Stream Key once at OBS Studio and start a stream directly. It is the most convenient and secure way to identify yourself as the owner of the channel, because you can find the stream key exclusively behind your password-protected account area on the platform. Moreover, it is possible to regenerate the TikTok stream key at any time and thus put a stop to potential hackers in case of the slightest inconsistency.
Despite all the security, however, you should make sure that you never pass on your stream key to third parties, because anyone who has your TikTok stream key can start a livestream with your account with just a few clicks and possibly commit fraud.
2 TikTok Stream Key Requirements
Basically, there is a place in the TikTok app where your TikTok Stream Key is located, but this is only accessible to a very specific group of people or is only displayed under certain conditions. The fact is that not everyone has the opportunity to go live on TikTok right away. Only those of you who have managed to generate 1.000 followers will have the streaming feature unlocked on TikTok. So if you want to go live but don't have the necessary number of followers yet, we would like to recommend our detailed guide on "Getting followers on TikTok". There you will learn how you can grow on TikTok in a short time, so that you can quickly start your own TikTok livestream.
There are no other requirements. Once you have 1000 followers, the feature will be automatically unlocked and you will have advanced access to the TikTok app. You can then go live either directly with your smartphone and the app, or using the RTMP variant and a streaming tool like OBS Studio. We will show you where to find your TikTok Steam Key, which you need for this method, in the following section of this guide.
Important note:
This key is not available on some creators LIVE despite the fact that they have the live feature. At the current time of this article, there is also no information, why this is the case. However, we will keep you updated and add to this post as soon as there is more information about it!
3 Find TikTok Stream Key
If you want to set up your stream on your PC with OBS Studio, you will only find your TikTok Stream Key in the TikTok app. You can download and install it in the app store of your operating system (iOS or Android). After logging in with your account, your stream key is within reach.
- Open the TikTok app.
- Open the camera at the bottom center on the "+".
- Swipe to "LIVE" (as already mentioned, only available with more than 1,000 followers).
- Below the red "Start Live" you will find the clickable text "Device Camera" and "Transfer to PC/Mac". Select this item and click on "Start Live".
- Now a new window will open where you can find the server URL and the stream key. You need these two items for OBS, so copy them.
As mentioned before, you should be careful: Do not share your personal TikTok Stream Key with other people. It contains all the information about your TikTok account and can be used by anyone to start a livestream with your account. Once you set up the Stream Key with OBS Studio, you won't need it again. It is permanently stored in the program and will only be needed again when you reinstall the program or want to use another streaming tool.
4 TikTok Stream Key: Insert in OBS
Since the stream key can currently only be displayed on your smartphone in the TikTok app, you will have to type the rather long sequence of numbers into your streaming program by hand while you have the TikTok app open on your phone. We would like to show you in detail how this works in this short step-by-step guide. If you haven't downloaded OBS Studio for your PC or Mac yet, you can do so here. The helpful program is completely free and setting up an account is not necessary before downloading, during installation, or actual use. You can simply download it and start using it right away without any restrictions.
- After you have downloaded OBS Studio, start the program.
- Click on “File” in the upper left corner and then on Settings.
- Now the settings menu opens. Click on the Stream tab on the left side.
- Now you can select the platform from the drop-down menu. Click on the menu to see the different platforms. At the moment, OBS Studio does not yet offer direct integration with TikTok and the platform is not listed. We have to choose an individual one. To do this, select the first item at the top - Custom.
- Now open the TikTok app on your smartphone, follow the instructions from point 4 of this article and enter the URL of your RTMP server in “Server” on your PC and the TikTok Stream Key displayed into “Stream Key”.
- Make sure that you have entered everything correctly and without any typos and then click on Apply.
- Now you can close the menu by clicking “Okay”.
5 Conclusion
Streaming with TikTok is becoming increasingly popular. The portal, which was initially launched for the distribution of pure short videos, is now a serious competitor for Instagram & Co. With the TikTok Stream Key, you can even start your stream on your own PC or laptop. You can use any streaming tool, but we would like to recommend the completely free tool OBS Studio. Once you have collected 1000 followers on TikTok, you can start a livestream and retrieve your stream key in a few steps to insert it into the streaming program of your choice.
