How to Stream on Discord? Get This Easy Guide [Desktop & Mobile]

Discord, the world’s largest interactive community for gamers, has also attracted many regular users in the past two years because of its free voice, text, and video chat features.

You can Discord live-stream game highlights with your fans. You can share what you are doing with your friends or share the screen to watch the latest movies with your friends. Don’t have an HD webcam when you want to go live on Discord? FineCam turns your phone into a 4K webcam for Discord live streaming.

In this article, we will show you the specific steps on how to stream on Discord.

Preparation for Live Streaming on Discord

If you are new to Discord, please refer to the following steps to prepare for live streaming.

Step 1. Download Discord.

Download the latest version of the Discord desktop application from the Discord official website. Because the Discord web version does not have a Go Live function.

Step 2. Launch the program.

Please follow the instructions on the Discord screen to complete the basic setup and register your Discord account.

Step 3. Create a server.

After logging in to your Discord account, find the green + icon in the leftmost menu. Name the server according to the content you want to communicate, or you can choose an existing server template to create.

Step 4. Create a channel and send invitations.

Once created, you will see your newly created server in the left menu. Select the server, and you can create additional text and voice channels. Right-click the server to copy the channel link to invite your friends to join.

How to Stream on Discord [Desktop]

Now that you are ready for Discord, please refer to the following steps to learn how to go live on Discord on a desktop.

Step 1. Restart Discord.

First, please close the running Discord program. If you are using a PC, find your Discord program on the desktop and right-click to run it as administrator.

If you are using a Mac computer, please find Security & Privacy in System Preferences and give your Discord permission to record your screen. Then launch the Discord program.

Step 2. Turn on the voice connection

Select any of the voice channels on the server. In the bottom left corner of the Discord main interface, you will be able to see Voice Connected above your avatar.

Step 3. How to share screen on Discord.

Click Screen to enable screen sharing.

Select the screen content you want to share in the pop-up window. You can select either a single application or the entire screen to share.

Then you may set the quality of the stream. But note that a resolution higher than 720P and a frame rate higher than 30fps is for a Nitro account. Then click Go Live to share your screen with the audience.

Step 4. How to share a camera on Discord.

Click Video to turn on your webcam and stream your video feed.

Step 5. End the stream.

When you finish streaming, click the phone with an x icon to disconnect the stream.

I don’t have time to clean up my room before the broadcast, can I use a virtual video background in Discord to hide my messy room? Yes. In 2021 Discord introduced the virtual video background feature, and so far offers 8 preset virtual backgrounds to choose from.

However, if you want to upload a custom background, you need to subscribe to Discord Nitro, and this feature has a limit of 10 per account. But you can upload any background you like for Discord via FineCam.

How to Stream on Discord [Mobile]

Want to stream on Discord on your iPhone or Android phone? Please refer to the following steps.

Step 1. Open the content you want to go live.

Step 2. Launch the Discord app and create a server, then select the server and channel you want to stream on as we mentioned above.

Step 3. Click on the phone with an arrow icon at the bottom and jump to the application you selected in step 1 to share.

You can also choose the camera icon to live stream your phone’s camera feed.

How to Stream Games on Discord

Step 1. Open the game you want to stream on your computer.

Step 2. You will be able to see your game in the bottom left corner of Discord above your avatar, click the screen icon to start live streaming the game.

Step 3. If you can’t see the game name displayed here, then you need to add the game in the settings.

(Click the gear icon next to your nickname, scroll down the menu on the left side of the user settings page, and find Registered Games in Activity Settings. Click Add it! to select the one you want to stream.)

Step 4. End streaming. Click the same button as starting streaming the game, only this one becomes a computer with an x.

How to Make You Look Better in Discord

Discord is very easy to use for live video streaming, but as mentioned above, maybe the video background feature that comes with Discord is not enough for your needs.

Next, I’ll introduce you to use free virtual webcam software, which offers a rich set of camera filters and effects. It can help you to get more audience love in Discord live video.

FineCam is a sophisticated virtual camera software that provides 30+ camera filters and 12 camera effects to help you create a cinematic live-streaming atmosphere.

Let me show you how to do Discord live video streaming with FineCam.

Step 1. Get the FineCam application.

Download and install the FineCam desktop application from the official website. If you want to use iPhone as a webcam to get 4K HD live video quality, then you need to download FineCam to your phone.

Step 2. Add a camera.

Launch FineCam, find the + icon at the bottom of the interface, click Add Scene and select the camera you want to use in Discord Live.

Step 3. Apply background, filters, and effects.

Modify the background of your video.

You can find the Backgrounds section in the sidebar and change the video background to a virtual background. Blurring or removing the camera background with or without a green screen is also available.

You can also click Add Background to upload local media, YouTube videos, webpages, and slides.

Apply camera filters.

Find the Filters section below Backgrounds and select a cinematic filter that you want to apply to the entire video frame.

Choose to apply a camera effect.

Click Effects below Filters to get some funny effects for your video.

Step 4. Enable the virtual camera to Discord.

Find the blue virtual camera icon on the top right of your video, and click it to enable FineCam as the virtual camera for the Discord stream.

Step 5. Choose FineCam as a camera source in Discord.

Launch your Discord, go to User Settings > App Settings > Voice & Video > Video Settings > Camera > choose FineShare FineCam as your camera source. And all the modifications you did in FineCam will take effect in Discord video streaming.

Step 6. End streaming.

After you finish streaming, click Disconnect to end your video stream, and go back to FineCam to click the Virtual Camera button again to disable the feature. So that any other video chatting platform can not use your camera without your permission.

FAQs about How to Stream on Discord

How Do I Watch a Stream with Discord?

Go to a voice channel and when you find a red LIVE badge next to someone’s username, it means they are streaming. You can click on their username and click Join Stream in the pop-up window to watch their live stream.

How to Stream on Discord without a Black Screen?

The best way to fix this is to turn off Hardware Acceleration in the Advanced option in Discord’s App Settings.

It is also recommended that you turn off hardware acceleration for the screens you choose to share. (In Google Chrome: Settings>System>turn off Use hardware acceleration when available.)

Conclusion

Now you get how to stream on Discord whether you are using a computer or mobile phone. We also tell you about the problems you may encounter while live streaming and how to solve them.

FineCam can help you get better live stream results and more attention. Enjoy your Discord live stream.