Two numbers decide your plan: how many people listen at the same time, and at what quality you broadcast. The rest is detail.
Choosing a bitrate
- 128 Kbps: fine for speech, news and podcasts. Sounds good on phones.
- 192 Kbps: the sweet spot for music stations. Audibly better than 128.
- 320 Kbps: studio quality. Noticeable on good headphones and speakers, costs more bandwidth.
Estimating listeners
Look at your peak, not your average. If you normally have 30 listeners but 90 during your Saturday show, you need a plan for at least 100. Hit your limit and new listeners simply get no connection.
What it costs in bandwidth
100 listeners x 128 Kbps = roughly 12.8 Mbps outbound 100 listeners x 320 Kbps = roughly 32 Mbps outbound
With us you do not need to worry about that: traffic is unlimited on all radio plans. So you choose purely on listeners and bitrate.
Start a size smaller. You can upgrade at any moment and your stream keeps running during the switch.
Quick guide per type of station
| Type of station | Bitrate | Listeners | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast or talk show | 128 Kbps | up to 100 | Icecast HD |
| Local music station | 192 Kbps | up to 500 | Icecast UHD |
| Dance or hifi audience | 320 Kbps | unlimited | Icecast HiFi |
| Live from your own studio | 128 to 320 | up to 5,000 | Only Server |
Working it out yourself
To know how much bandwidth you use, multiply your bitrate by the number of listeners and divide by a thousand. Handy if you host elsewhere; with us traffic is unlimited.
Formula: (bitrate in Kbps x listeners) / 1000 = Mbps Example: (192 x 250) / 1000 = 48 Mbps at full capacity
Common mistakes
- Calculating with your average instead of your peak. Your limit applies at the busiest moment.
- Taking the highest bitrate while your audience mostly listens on phones. On a phone you barely hear the difference between 192 and 320.
- Forgetting that your own monitoring takes a listener slot while testing.