Whats a Good Download and Upload Speed for Gaming

How Much Speed Practice I Demand for Online Gaming?

Mar 18, 2022 Share
Brand Guides, Gaming, Internet Speed Guides

You don't need a lot of speed to play games online. It's not a bandwidth-intensive activity, so all yous need is a 5 Mbps connection or faster.

But go on in mind that no amount of speed is going to stop your game from lagging if your latency ranges into hundreds of milliseconds. There'due south a lot more to having a skillful gaming experience online than signing up for the fastest internet program on the planet.

Nosotros've boiled downwardly the most important points of internet speed for gaming online, so you know exactly what kind of connection you need to get the well-nigh out of your online gameplay.

Looking for the best internet provider for gaming?

Verizon Fios has the everyman latency in our tests. If information technology's not in your area, see if one of our other best net providers for gaming is.

Download speed and upload speed

Playing games like Halo Infinite and Fortnite online doesn't require a lot of bandwidth. Different an online video—which is streamed over the internet to your device—the graphics scrap in your figurer, game panel, or mobile device renders (draws) the virtual world locally and displays it on your screen. In fact, very piffling information passes betwixt the gaming server and the gamer. Both sides exchange the following data:

Keyboard input
Mouse input
Controller input
Player location (you and everyone else)
The current world state
Player communication
Server notifications (like in-game announcements)

Out of the items on the above listing, player location tin can innovate slowdowns, particularly in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. These games can have more than real on-screen players than the typical online gaming scenario, causing frame rate drops and "teleporting" players.

Overall, many modern games with loftier-definition graphics need a download speed of at least 3 Mbps to play online.^1,two,iii

Upload speed plays an important part too

Since games are interactive, you lot also accept to consider the speed at which information from your computer or panel travels to a remote server. Even a poor connection tin can unremarkably run into the necessary speeds, which is why upload speed often takes a backseat to more important factors.

The typical game with high-definition graphics needs an upload speed of at least 1–two Mbps.^ane,2,3

Exercise you demand a connection with better upload speeds?

We prefer fiber over other internet connections because it has symmetrical speeds. Enter your zip code to detect out which options are bachelor to y'all.

Minimum speed requirements beyond game platforms

* Based on suggestions fabricated by Bungie for Destiny ii on PC. ¹⁰

As long equally your internet connection meets these requirements, you can play games online. Nevertheless, if you desire to take a consistent online experience, we suggest having a slightly improve connectedness.

Our speed recommendations for playing games online

Since the actual speed requirements are so low, games and game systems often don't requite specific recommendations. Instead, they only crave a "broadband internet connection."

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines a broadband connection as having a download speed of 25 Mbps and an upload speed of 3 Mbps—more than plenty for you to have several consoles playing online simultaneously.⁵

If yous're non sure you have a broadband connection, yous tin take a speed test to make certain. Unfortunately, speed requirements don't bear on the critical question for playing games online: latency.

High latency is your worst enemy

Latency is the corporeality of time a data packet uses to make its trip to a remote server and back. Moving-picture show a racquetball bouncing off a wall—how long does that ball have to come back to you?

The ping utility answers this question past throwing a ball of information at a specific destination and recording the entire trip's elapsing—in other words, it pings the server. Latency is also referred to every bit "ping rate."

So, if your latency gets too high when yous're playing a game online, you lot first to experience lag.

For example, yous motility a mouse and your game reports that move to a remote server. The server acknowledges the movement and sends a response showing your movements along with all the other actor movements. Your game renders the response, but because your latency is high, your move appears delayed compared to the other players.

Factors that impact latency

There are a number of factors that bear on latency. These include the following:

The physical altitude between y'all and the server

Games that support co-op and multiplayer use regional servers because geolocation does matter, even if a server is merely a few states away.

Why? Because y our signal moves through multiple "hops" every bit information technology travels between you and the server. The more than hops your signal must traverse, the longer its journey takes—which translates to a college latency. Traffic congestion between you and the remote server can as well cause a slowdown, too, delaying your controller input.

Your cyberspace connexion type

Certain types of internet connections inherently take more than latency than others.

For instance, satellite internet has the highest latency because it's a wireless transmission that travels int o space and back to reach a remote server. Insulated cable connections have lower latency than uninsulated phone lines, while fiber optic cables have lower latency than both.

Keep in listen that the speed at which your signals travel back and forth is different from your download speed or bandwidth. A movie volition download at a slower rate over a five Mbps DSL connection than it will over a fifty Mbps satellite connection.

When playing games online, however, the DSL connexion would be much more responsive than satellite because the gaming data doesn't launch into space and back. The high latency of the satellite connection would crusade and so much lag that well-nigh fast-paced games wouldn't even be playable online.

The best internet connections for gaming online

A cobweb-to-the-dwelling house (or edifice) internet plan from a provider similar AT&T, Google Cobweb, or Verizon Fios is the best connection for playing games online. Cable net comes in at a shut 2d, with some 5G networks also providing stable connections with low latency. Other wired connections generally introduce more latency just are still ameliorate for gaming than wireless connections.

Consistent and reliable latency data is difficult to get together. The FCC was a source for some of the most comprehensive studies of internet latency. However, the agency has since stopped including latency in its annual broadband reports, so newer technologies similar 5G and dwelling 4G LTE are non included.

Although 5G is still an emerging wireless technology —especially its gigabit millimeter-wave connections— it promises to have lower latency than any other wireless connectedness . 4G and 4G LTE connections generally have much more lag than wired connections but are capable of reaching our recommended latency of below 100 ms.

How to reduce lag

If your latency is high enough that you lot're starting to experience lag when playing games online , you can take a few steps to help reduce your latency and go along your game running smoothly.

Don't apply Wi-Fi if yous can

Wireless connections, fifty-fifty fast ones, will add a fleck more than delay to your connection. Wi-Fi is convenient, just it adds an additional translation step betwixt your gaming devices and your cyberspace connection. Plus, you'll see a delay if in that location are more wireless devices connected to your router than it can handle at in one case.

To bypass this delay, connect your gaming device to your router using an Ethernet cable. Y'all won't see the latencies associated with Wi-Fi or the dramatic speed fluctuations, making your connectedness that much more responsive.

If you lot must use Wi-Fi, connect your wireless device to the 5 GHz band. It has a shorter range than a 2.4 GHz connection but is faster and less congested, resulting in reduced latency. Stay close to your Wi-Fi router, also—within fifty feet or so, depending on the router—and keep a clear line of sight to the router with as few obstructions as possible for a better connection.

With the Nintendo Switch, we recommend playing it docked and using a USB-based Ethernet adapter to connect it to your network. The Nintendo-approved Dual USB Playstand works with the Switch and Switch Light.

Yous can utilize a similar adapter on a notebook or desktop that doesn't have an Ethernet port.

Power wheel network devices

Power cycling your router and modem can sometimes improve their operation. Since very small differences in latency tin can brand a big impact on the amount of lag you experience in a game, it's worth restarting your equipment.

To power bike, unplug your modem or wireless gateway, wait thirty seconds, and plug information technology dorsum in. Do the same with a standalone router when your modem comes back online.

Update drivers and firmware

Hardware manufacturers release updates to better device functioning. Updates typically include security fixes, code optimizations, improved device compatibility, and increased stability. Y'all should always keep your firmware and drivers current to prevent issues that tin slam the brakes on your internet connectedness. Be sure to exercise the following:

Update your figurer'due south drivers and operating system, especially the graphics drivers
Update your console'due south operating organisation
Update the firmware for all controllers and peripherals
Update your router's firmware

Plow off unnecessary applications and devices

If your connexion still struggles while playing games online, effort to reduce the amount of traffic on your dwelling house network. Make certain that someone isn't streaming 4K video in another room when you're about to start a new match.

You can also forestall other devices from bogging down the network past turning off smart devices and pausing software and Os updates while you play—simply call up to reactivate everything when you're done.

Use the closest server

Distance is 1 of the biggest factors in latency. Even if every device on your connection is running at height efficiency, information technology nonetheless takes time for a signal to travel to a remote location and back.

Games almost ever connect yous to the nearest server, simply if you're experiencing unexplained latency problems, double-check that yous're not connecting to the European server when you're playing in Due north America. You may need to switch servers if the current one is experiencing issues.

Use port forwarding

Online gaming networks similar Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network suggest that gamers assign "static" IP addresses to their consoles and route incoming and outgoing traffic to those addresses. While routers typically assign dynamic addresses to your devices which change over time, a static address never changes.

When you assign a static IP address, you can tell the router to forward information to that address through specific ports. A port is merely a "dock" that handles a specific blazon of "transport" (data) arriving to and leaving from your router. Gaming networks typically transport and receive internet data through specific ports.

To create a static IP address and open up ports to that accost, you must make the changes in your router or wireless gateway. Port forwarding works with any device—non simply gaming consoles.

Use Quality of Service (QoS) controls if available

You lot may be able to allocate more than bandwidth to your gaming devices by making a few adjustments in your router or wireless gateway. The router will consider this traffic every bit "critical" and will prioritize your gaming data over other applications, like Netflix and YouTube.

On some routers, you can only establish 1 specific bandwidth amount and list the devices that tin apply that bandwidth. At that place are no means to prioritize specific traffic, like gaming or streaming.

Avert top hours

You may see a slowdown during elevation hours when everyone in your home accesses the internet at the aforementioned fourth dimension. Plus, a router is limited to how many wireless devices information technology tin handle simultaneously earlier slowdowns occur. This heavy load is why we ever suggest using a router with four or more streams to meliorate handle busy homes.

Tiptop hours are also associated with cable cyberspace, but information technology's no longer the instance now that providers like Spectrum and Xfinity utilise cobweb as their network backbone. Rural areas that are nonetheless 100% cablevision may still feel tiptop hour slowdowns, however.

Nosotros suggest that you lot play games later in the evening, or upgrade your router if information technology has less than 4 streams.

Check your connections

A bad Ethernet cable can lead to gaming lag woes, whether it's the cable connecting your router to your modem or fiber ONT, or the one tethering your figurer to the network. Also, cheque your modem's internet connexion, as a loose cable will cause lag-inducing instability.

Upgrade your internet

If you've tried all these steps and are still experiencing more lag than you can tolerate, you may need to upgrade to a better cyberspace connection.

Want to see what providers are bachelor in your area? Enter your zip lawmaking below.

Downloads can also strain your connection

Playing your games online will push the limits of your internet connexion more than any other online activeness, but it's not the just style that games tin can put a strain on your connectedness.

Many modern games have up a lot of storage infinite on your computer or console . This means that downloading games from an online distributor like Steam or the Microsoft Store can take a long time. Information technology can likewise eat through monthly data caps in no fourth dimension flat.

Updates can be data hogs too. For instance, Bethesda's Steel Reign update for Fallout 76 weighs a hefty xv.9 GB when downloaded from the Microsoft Shop, and seven.ane GB when downloaded from Steam. ⁸ Bethesda's long-awaited Doom Eternal Update 6 patch adding ray tracing to the visuals is around four GB on Steam.

Latency should yet exist your number-1 priority in choosing an net plan for playing games online , but choosing a plan with unlimited data will save you a lot of headaches. Fast download speeds also help out with those big new games. Afterwards all, having extremely long download times on Twenty-four hour period 1 isn't much fun.

Livestreaming

Your internet needs become a fleck more than complicated if you lot stream your games on Twitch or YouTube. Streaming has all the normal requirements for a depression-latency connexion for playing games online, plus the additional upload speed you need to keep a steady bitrate on your livestream.

For more information on what to expect for in an internet connection for livestreaming, check out our guide to cyberspace speed for live video game streaming. We also provide a guide on how to stream on Twitch that offers all the information you need.

Game streaming

Cloud gaming services like Stadia and PlayStation At present shop and run their games in a virtual automobile you lot stream from their servers. Rather than download and run these games locally on your estimator, console, or mobile device, you stream them from the cloud. This eliminates any hardware bottlenecks that could prevent a game from running at its highest quality on your device.

That said, you don't need a $iv,000 desktop or the latest console to play these games. Instead, you only need a browser or an app, depending on the platform. For example, you lot can stream Stadia on a depression-terminate Chromebook or a Chromecast—Google'southward servers do all the heavy rendering, not your devices.

The downside to game streaming is that games are rendered on the server and and so streamed across the internet in Full Hard disk drive or 4K resolutions. And considering these experiences are interactive and not passive (like Netflix and Hulu), input latency can be an consequence.

To play these services without whatever major issues, you need a good internet connexion to back up game streaming. Here are the internet speed requirements for the four major gaming streaming services:

Note that Microsoft suggests an upload speed of at least four.five Mbps for Xbox Remote Play. An upload speed of 9 Mbps or more is ideal.⁹

What about Steam Remote Play?

Valve Software suggests speeds only in regards to Steam Remote Play Together. This service allows one Steam gamer to run a purchased multiplayer game locally on a PC and then invite four or more than Steam friends to play remotely. It'south optimized to stream games to four other players at 1080p and 60 frames per 2d, so Valve suggests using a connection of x–30 Mbps at the least.

This speed proffer probably besides applies to Remote Play Together+Anywhere, which still streams the multiplayer game from a PC, simply at present the game possessor is streaming remotely too. Meanwhile, Remote Play Anywhere streams to one client just, then the necessary cyberspace speeds shouldn't need to go beyond 10 Mbps.

Online games vs. playing games online

We spend a lot of time discussing games you tin can play online, which are games that target the single-actor experience first and include multiplayer components. Games that fall under the "play games online" umbrella would include Doom Eternal , Pokemon Sword and Shield , Destiny 2 , and Halo Infinite . They tin experience latency when played in co-op and multiplayer modes, specially when more than a few players are moving on the screen.

Online games, however, can exist highly susceptible to latency. These include The Elder Scrolls Online , World of Warcraft , and like MMOs. The player count is typically high, which means both the server and the client (your game) must proceed track of every player. This can exist a huge processing load even if you have the all-time connectedness available. Your frame rate may drop and your input may feel slow.

The bottom line: keep your latency low

If gaming online is your master concern when choosing an cyberspace programme, choice the one that gives you the lowest latency, similar Verizon Fios. Just keep in listen that other online activities like downloading games, livestreaming, or cloud gaming (non to mention things like watching video, working online, or doing schoolwork) have their ain requirements that you should consider.

Sources

Nintendo Customer Support, "Troubleshooting Irksome Download and Upload Speeds," Accessed Dec three, 2020.
Xbox Support, "Troubleshoot your network connection speed," Accessed Dec 4, 2020.
PlayStation Help & Back up, "PS4 Fault Code NP-37667-9," Accessed December 4, 2020.
PlayStation Assist & Support, "PS4 Mistake Lawmaking NP-38497-1," Accessed December 4, 2020.
Federal Communications Commission, "2015 Broadband Progress Report," February four, 2015. Accessed December four, 2020.
Stadia Help, "Bandwidth, data usage, and stream quality," Accessed December 5, 2020.
Federal Communications Commission, "7th Measuring Broadband America Fixed Broadband Study: Appendix F-1," May 20, 2011, Accessed December xvi, 2020.
Bethesda, " Fallout 76 Update Notes ," July 7, 2021. Accessed July xiii, 2021.
Microsoft, "Agreement Your Remote Play Setup Exam Results," Accessed December 22, 2021.
Bungie, "Network Setup: Wifi vs. Wired Connections," Accessed Dec 22, 2021.

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Author - Peter Christiansen

Peter Christiansen writes well-nigh satellite net, rural connectivity, livestreaming, and parental controls for HighSpeedInternet.com. Peter holds a PhD in advice from the University of Utah and has been working in tech for over xv years as a reckoner developer, game developer, filmmaker, and writer. His writing has been praised by outlets like Wired, Digital Humanities Now, and the New Statesman.

Editor - Cara Haynes

Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital space for 7 years, and she's edited all things net for HighSpeedInternet.com for 5 years. She graduated with a BA in English and a minor in editing from Brigham Immature University. When she'south not editing, she makes tech accessible through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no i should feel lost in internet land and that a good net connexion significantly extends your life bridge.

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