Upload and Download Speeds for Video Games

How Much Speed Do I Need for Online Gaming?

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

Yous don't need a lot of speed to play games online. It'due south non a bandwidth-intensive activity, so all you need is a 5 Mbps connectedness or faster.

Just keep in heed that no amount of speed is going to stop your game from lagging if your latency ranges into hundreds of milliseconds. There's a lot more to having a expert gaming experience online than signing up for the fastest internet program on the planet.

We've boiled downwardly the nearly of import points of cyberspace speed for gaming online, so you know exactly what kind of connection you need to get the virtually out of your online gameplay.

Looking for the best net provider for gaming?

Verizon Fios has the lowest latency in our tests. If it's not in your area, see if 1 of our other best internet providers for gaming is.

Download speed and upload speed

Playing games similar Halo Infinite and Fortnite online doesn't require a lot of bandwidth. Unlike an online video—which is streamed over the internet to your device—the graphics chip in your reckoner, game panel, or mobile device renders (draws) the virtual world locally and displays it on your screen. In fact, very piffling information passes between the gaming server and the gamer. Both sides exchange the post-obit information:

Keyboard input
Mouse input
Controller input
Player location (you lot and everyone else)
The current world land
Thespian advice
Server notifications (similar in-game announcements)

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

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

Upload speed plays an of import role too

Since games are interactive, you too have to consider the speed at which information from your computer or panel travels to a remote server. Even a poor connection tin can usually meet the necessary speeds, which is why upload speed ofttimes takes a backseat to more than important factors.

The typical game with loftier-definition graphics needs an upload speed of at least i–two Mbps.^1,two,three

Exercise you lot need a connection with meliorate upload speeds?

We prefer cobweb over other cyberspace connections because it has symmetrical speeds. Enter your goose egg lawmaking to find out which options are available to you.

Minimum speed requirements across game platforms

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

As long as your cyberspace connection meets these requirements, y'all can play games online. However, if you lot want to accept a consequent online experience, we suggest having a slightly amend connectedness.

Our speed recommendations for playing games online

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

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

If you're not sure you have a broadband connexion, you can take a speed test to brand sure. Unfortunately, speed requirements don't affect the critical question for playing games online: latency.

Loftier latency is your worst enemy

Latency is the amount of time a information packet uses to brand its trip to a remote server and back. Picture a racquetball bouncing off a wall—how long does that ball accept 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 duration—in other words, it pings the server. Latency is likewise referred to equally "ping charge per unit."

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

For example, you move a mouse and your game reports that motility to a remote server. The server acknowledges the movement and sends a response showing your movements along with all the other player movements. Your game renders the response, just considering your latency is loftier, your movement 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 you and the server

Games that support co-op and multiplayer employ regional servers because geolocation does matter, fifty-fifty if a server is just a few states away.

Why? Considering y our bespeak moves through multiple "hops" equally information technology travels betwixt you and the server. The more hops your bespeak must traverse, the longer its journeying takes—which translates to a higher latency. Traffic congestion between you lot and the remote server can as well crusade a slowdown, besides, delaying your controller input.

Your net connection type

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

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

Keep in mind that the speed at which your signals travel dorsum and forth is dissimilar from your download speed or bandwidth. A motion picture will download at a slower charge per unit over a v Mbps DSL connectedness than it volition over a 50 Mbps satellite connection.

When playing games online, nevertheless, the DSL connection would be much more responsive than satellite because the gaming data doesn't launch into space and dorsum. The high latency of the satellite connection would cause and then much lag that well-nigh fast-paced games wouldn't fifty-fifty exist playable online.

The all-time internet connections for gaming online

A fiber-to-the-dwelling house (or edifice) internet plan from a provider like AT&T, Google Fiber, or Verizon Fios is the best connectedness for playing games online. Cable net comes in at a close second, with some 5G networks as well providing stable connections with low latency. Other wired connections more often than not introduce more latency just are still better for gaming than wireless connections.

Consistent and reliable latency data is hard to gather. The FCC was a source for some of the nearly comprehensive studies of internet latency. However, the agency has since stopped including latency in its annual broadband reports, and so newer technologies like 5G and home 4G LTE are not included.

Although 5G is still an emerging wireless technology —especially its gigabit millimeter-wave connections— it promises to take lower latency than any other wireless connectedness . 4G and 4G LTE connections more often than not take much more lag than wired connections only are capable of reaching our recommended latency of below 100 ms.

How to reduce lag

If your latency is high enough that yous're starting to feel lag when playing games online , you lot can have a few steps to help reduce your latency and proceed your game running smoothly.

Don't use Wi-Fi if you can

Wireless connections, even fast ones, will add together a bit more than filibuster to your connection. Wi-Fi is convenient, but it adds an additional translation step between your gaming devices and your internet connection. Plus, you'll run across a delay if there are more than wireless devices connected to your router than it tin can handle at once.

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 must utilise Wi-Fi, connect your wireless device to the 5 GHz band. It has a shorter range than a ii.iv GHz connection but is faster and less congested, resulting in reduced latency. Stay close to your Wi-Fi router, as well—inside fifty anxiety or and then, depending on the router—and continue a clear line of sight to the router with as few obstructions every bit possible for a amend connexion.

With the Nintendo Switch, we recommend playing information technology 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 Lite.

Y'all can use a similar adapter on a notebook or desktop that doesn't have an Ethernet port.

Ability cycle network devices

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

To power cycle, unplug your modem or wireless gateway, look thirty seconds, and plug information technology back in. Practice the same with a standalone router when your modem comes back online.

Update drivers and firmware

Hardware manufacturers release updates to improve device functioning. Updates typically include security fixes, code optimizations, improved device compatibility, and increased stability. You lot should always keep your firmware and drivers current to prevent issues that can slam the brakes on your internet connectedness. Be sure to do the following:

Update your computer'southward drivers and operating arrangement, especially the graphics drivers
Update your panel's operating system
Update the firmware for all controllers and peripherals
Update your router'south firmware

Turn off unnecessary applications and devices

If your connection still struggles while playing games online, try to reduce the amount of traffic on your home network. Make sure that someone isn't streaming 4K video in some other room when y'all're well-nigh to start a new match.

You can also prevent other devices from bogging down the network past turning off smart devices and pausing software and Bone updates while you play—only recall to reactivate everything when you're done.

Employ the closest server

Distance is one of the biggest factors in latency. Fifty-fifty if every device on your connectedness is running at superlative efficiency, information technology still takes time for a signal to travel to a remote location and back.

Games nigh always connect yous to the nearest server, but if you're experiencing unexplained latency problems, double-check that you're not connecting to the European server when you're playing in North America. Yous may demand to switch servers if the electric current one is experiencing issues.

Apply 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 accost never changes.

When you assign a static IP accost, you tin tell the router to frontwards data to that address through specific ports. A port is merely a "dock" that handles a specific type 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 ports to that address, y'all must make the changes in your router or wireless gateway. Port forwarding works with any device—not just gaming consoles.

Use Quality of Service (QoS) controls if bachelor

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

On some routers, you tin simply establish one specific bandwidth amount and list the devices that can utilize that bandwidth. There are no means to prioritize specific traffic, like gaming or streaming.

Avoid peak hours

Y'all may see a slowdown during height hours when everyone in your home accesses the internet at the same time. Plus, a router is limited to how many wireless devices it can handle simultaneously before slowdowns occur. This heavy load is why we always suggest using a router with four or more streams to ameliorate handle busy homes.

Peak hours are too associated with cable net, but information technology'southward no longer the case now that providers like Spectrum and Xfinity use fiber as their network courage. Rural areas that are still 100% cablevision may still feel top hour slowdowns, still.

We advise that you play games later on in the evening, or upgrade your router if information technology has less than four streams.

Check your connections

A bad Ethernet cablevision can pb to gaming lag woes, whether information technology's the cable connecting your router to your modem or cobweb ONT, or the one tethering your estimator to the network. Also, check your modem's cyberspace connection, as a loose cable will cause lag-inducing instability.

Upgrade your internet

If you've tried all these steps and are even so experiencing more lag than you tin can tolerate, you may demand to upgrade to a better internet connection.

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

Downloads tin can as well strain your connection

Playing your games online will push the limits of your internet connection more than than any other online activity, but it's non the but way that games can put a strain on your connexion.

Many modern games take up a lot of storage infinite on your reckoner or console . This means that downloading games from an online distributor like Steam or the Microsoft Shop can have a long time. It can also swallow through monthly data caps in no time flat.

Updates tin exist information hogs too. For example, Bethesda's Steel Reign update for Fallout 76 weighs a hefty xv.9 GB when downloaded from the Microsoft Shop, and 7.1 GB when downloaded from Steam. ⁸ Bethesda's long-awaited Doom Eternal Update 6 patch adding ray tracing to the visuals is around 4 GB on Steam.

Latency should still be your number-one priority in choosing an internet plan for playing games online , merely choosing a program with unlimited data will save you a lot of headaches. Fast download speeds besides aid out with those large new games. After all, having extremely long download times on Twenty-four hours Ane isn't much fun.

Livestreaming

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

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

Game streaming

Cloud gaming services similar Stadia and PlayStation At present store and run their games in a virtual machine you stream from their servers. Rather than download and run these games locally on your reckoner, console, or mobile device, y'all stream them from the cloud. This eliminates any hardware bottlenecks that could forestall a game from running at its highest quality on your device.

That said, you don't need a $4,000 desktop or the latest console to play these games. Instead, you merely demand a browser or an app, depending on the platform. For instance, you can stream Stadia on a low-end Chromebook or a Chromecast—Google's servers do all the heavy rendering, not your devices.

The downside to game streaming is that games are rendered on the server and then streamed across the internet in Full Hd or 4K resolutions. And because these experiences are interactive and non passive (like Netflix and Hulu), input latency tin can be an upshot.

To play these services without any major issues, you need a good net connectedness 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 4.5 Mbps for Xbox Remote Play. An upload speed of nine Mbps or more is platonic.⁹

What near 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's optimized to stream games to four other players at 1080p and 60 frames per 2nd, so Valve suggests using a connexion of x–30 Mbps at the least.

This speed suggestion probably likewise applies to Remote Play Together+Anywhere, which still streams the multiplayer game from a PC, just now the game owner is streaming remotely too. Meanwhile, Remote Play Anywhere streams to i client only, so the necessary internet speeds shouldn't demand to go beyond 10 Mbps.

Online games vs. playing games online

We spend a lot of fourth dimension discussing games you can play online, which are games that target the single-thespian experience start and include multiplayer components. Games that fall nether the "play games online" umbrella would include Doom Eternal , Pokemon Sword and Shield , Destiny 2 , and Halo Space . They can experience latency when played in co-op and multiplayer modes, especially when more than than a few players are moving on the screen.

Online games, nevertheless, can be highly susceptible to latency. These include The Elder Scrolls Online , Earth of Warcraft , and similar MMOs. The thespian count is typically high, which means both the server and the customer (your game) must keep runway of every histrion. This can be a huge processing load even if you take the best connection bachelor. Your frame rate may drib and your input may experience ho-hum.

The bottom line: proceed your latency low

If gaming online is your main concern when choosing an internet program, option the 1 that gives you the lowest latency, similar Verizon Fios. Just keep in mind that other online activities like downloading games, livestreaming, or cloud gaming (not to mention things like watching video, working online, or doing schoolwork) have their own requirements that you lot should consider.

Sources

Nintendo Customer Support, "Troubleshooting Slow Download and Upload Speeds," Accessed December 3, 2020.
Xbox Support, "Troubleshoot your network connection speed," Accessed December 4, 2020.
PlayStation Assistance & Support, "PS4 Fault Code NP-37667-9," Accessed December iv, 2020.
PlayStation Help & Support, "PS4 Error Lawmaking NP-38497-ane," Accessed December 4, 2020.
Federal Communications Commission, "2015 Broadband Progress Report," Feb iv, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2020.
Stadia Aid, "Bandwidth, data usage, and stream quality," Accessed December 5, 2020.
Federal Communications Commission, "Seventh Measuring Broadband America Fixed Broadband Report: Appendix F-1," May 20, 2011, Accessed December 16, 2020.
Bethesda, " Fallout 76 Update Notes ," July vii, 2021. Accessed July thirteen, 2021.
Microsoft, "Understanding Your Remote Play Setup Exam Results," Accessed December 22, 2021.
Bungie, "Network Setup: Wifi vs. Wired Connections," Accessed December 22, 2021.

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Author - Peter Christiansen

Peter Christiansen writes about satellite internet, rural connectivity, livestreaming, and parental controls for HighSpeedInternet.com. Peter holds a PhD in communication from the University of Utah and has been working in tech for over 15 years equally a reckoner programmer, game developer, filmmaker, and writer. His writing has been praised past outlets like Wired, Digital Humanities Now, and the New Statesman.

Editor - Cara Haynes

Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital infinite for seven years, and she's edited all things internet for HighSpeedInternet.com for 5 years. She graduated with a BA in English and a pocket-sized in editing from Brigham Young University. When she'southward not editing, she makes tech attainable through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no 1 should experience lost in cyberspace land and that a good internet connection significantly extends your life span.

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