Need help with Wirecast?
You’ve come to the right place. Find answers, download updates, check out training resources, or get in touch with our support experts.
Still Need Help?
For fastest support, use the in-app support feature. In the Wirecast application, under the Help menu, click āSend Support Informationā¦ā and complete the form.
Contacting Support
- Contact us through the Telestream Support Portal
- Look for answers in our Online Help (Mac/Win) and Knowledge Base
- Contact Sales for Refunds, Subscriptions, and Upgrades
Install & Activate
Common questions related to activating your product.
Depending on your date of purchase, use the following:
- After Feb 2017: 2Checkout ā Manage My Account
- Feb 2013 ā Feb 2017: Avangate Order Lookup
- Before Feb 2013: eSellerate Order Lookup
If purchased through a reseller, contact them directly to recover your license.
Your license may only be activated on one (1) computer at a time. Reset your license by:
- Deactivating the license on the original machine.
- Using the License Reset Tool.
My support expired on my perpetual (lifetime) Wirecast license, how can I renew?
We are no longer selling support renewals for perpetual/lifetime licenses. You can stay on your last supported version, purchase a new Subscription to regain access to updates and support, or use our self-help resources.
How to lower CPU usage
System CPU usage should remain below 70% while streaming.
- Disable āLive GPU Accelerated Iconsā
- Set canvas size to 1280Ć720
- Select a lower resolution encoding preset
Why am I getting dropped frames?
We recommend checking your bandwidth via speedtest.net. System CPU usage should remain below 60% while streaming. Try switching to MPEG4 if using H.264.
- Chroma Key: Supports Green and Blue screen. Use main, fill, and back lights for best results.
- USB Webcams: Supported via AVFoundation (Mac) and DirectShow (Win).
- PTZ Cameras: Visca over IP control supported (e.g. PTZOptics).
Wirecast Demos & Tutorials
Overview & Setup
- Wirecast Quick Start
- Capture, Produce, Stream
- Wirecast Activation Guide for Mac
- Wirecast Activation Guide for Windows
- Wirecast Offline Activation Guide
Capturing Your Content
- Audio Shots
- Blackmagic Capture Devices
- Camera Shots
- Capture Monitors, Windows, and Applications
- Live Output Snapshots
- What is NDI?
- Adding NDI Sources
- NDI Input Sources
- Troubleshooting NDI Sources
- PTZ/Robotic Cameras
- PTZOptics Camera
- Remote Desktop Presenter
- Rendezvous
- Using Wirecast Go as a Local Wi-Fi Camera
Producing Your Show
- 9Ć16 Portrait Live Streaming
- Animated Title Library
- Borders Around Sources
- Chroma, Luma & Color Keys
- Clocks & Timers
- Dropshadow
- Editing Window
- Elgato Stream Deck
- Hotkeys
- Layering System
- Lock Shot Icon
- Microsoft Teams NDI Integration
- MIDI Controllers
- Mix-Minus
- Multi-Track Audio Routing
- Placeholders
- Playlists
- Preview and Live Windows
- QR Code Generator
- Replays
- Resize Media
- Shot Templates
- Smooth Transitions
- Stinger Transitions
- Stock Media Library
- Text Ticker
- Zoom Meeting Screen Capture for Mac
- Zoom Meeting Screen Capture for Windows
- Zoom Meeting Virtual Camera Out
Going Live
- Facebook Live Streaming
- Facebook RTMP Streaming
- Facebook Tallies: Viewers, Comments & Likes
- Find Your Broadcast with 1-click
- ISO Recording
- LinkedIn Live Broadcast Scheduling
- LinkedIn Live Events
- LinkedIn Live Targeting
- Microsoft Stream
- Multi-Viewer
- Multiple Destinations: Facebook, YouTube & Record to Disk
- NDI Output from Wirecast Pro
- Recording Your Stream
- Running a Bandwidth Test
- Secondary Display Live Output
- Secondary Display Output as a Virtual Camera Alternative
- Sponsored Live Streams
- Twitter Live Streaming
- YouTube Live Streaming
- YouTube RTMP Streaming
Wirecast Webinars
- Basics: Set Up Your Live Streaming Studio
- Advanced: Live Streaming Advanced Techniques
- Education: Video Tools for Teachers
- Sports: Power up your live sports streams!
- Worship: Church Streaming Basics
Wirecast is compatible with a vast variety of hardware and software!
Below, you will find many tested, suggested, and officially supported tools for your streaming and production needs.
Wirecast natively has the ability to add integrated audio sources such as your PCs line-in jack, microphone, and system audio capture.
Tested Interfaces:
- TASCAM (US-20Ć20, US-16Ć08, US-2Ć2, MiNiSTUDIO)
- Behringer (UMC1820, ADA8200)
- Focusrite (Scarlett 18i8)
- M-Audio, MOTU, Native Instruments, PreSonus, RME, Steinberg, Zoom
Traditional Cameras
Connect SD, HD and UHD/4K video cameras using compatible capture cards (SDI, HDMI).
USB/Web Cams
Logitech (C920, C930E, Brio), Microsoft LifeCam series, and any webcam supporting AVFoundation (Mac) or DirectShow (Win).
PTZ/Robotic
PTZOptics, Lumens, 1 Beyond, Panasonic, Sony. Supports VISCA over IP and NDI controls.
Capture devices enable a computer to accept HDMI or SDI input from camcorders and DSLRs.
- Capture Cards: AJA, AverMedia, Blackmagic Design, Bluefish444, Elgato, Epiphan, Inogeni, Magewell, Osprey.
- Control Surfaces: X-keys for Wirecast, Elgato Stream Deck, AKAI Professional APC mini/mkII, Novation Launchpad MK2.
NDI stands for āNetwork Device Interface,ā an IP streaming video protocol to simplify sharing sources across a network.
- NDI Software: Adobe Creative Cloud, EasyWorship, NewBlue Titler Live, NewTek tools, ProPresenter, Sienna tools.
- Web Streams: RTMP, RTMPS, RTMP(e), RTSP, HTTP, MMS streams directly. Teradek Cube supported.
- Output: Supports HDMI or SDI output through AJA and Blackmagic playback devices.
The Wirecast Workflow
A high-level overview of how audio, video, and network sources flow through your hardware, into Wirecast, and out to your audience.
Audio/Video Sources
- Cameras: SD/HD SDI, HDMI, USB, USB-C, and Thunderbolt
- iOS / Wirecast Go
- Microphones: USB, Line In, XLR
- Audio interfaces, mixers, and ASIO devices
- Web streams: RTMP, RTSP, MMS, HTTP
- Screen Capture and Remote Desktop Presenters
- IP Cameras & Web Display
- NDI⢠Integration
- PTZ control (VISCA)
- System Audio Capture & Media Files
Hardware Capture
- Mac (Apple Silicon & Intel)
- Windows PC
- Wirecast Gear (Win10)
- Note: Quad-core processor recommended.
- PCIe, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0/3.1
- AJA
- Blackmagic Design
- Magewell and moreā¦
Encoding
- X264, H.264
- RTMP, SRT
- ProRes, MJPEG
- AAC, and WMV
- Intel QuickSync
- nVidia NVENC
- Apple H.264
Destinations
- YouTube, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and more
- CDNs & Streaming servers
- Record to disk via ISO Recording
- Virtual camera and microphone out
- HD-SDI output
- Multi-viewer
- Live program out via hardware
- NDI output (Pro feature)
- Secondary Live Display ouput
Detailed Technical Specifications & System Scaling
Supported Operating Systems
Hardware Capability Baseline
Network Stack & Best Practices
Bandwidth Baseline: Total bitrate needed x 2 = Required upload bandwidth. Upload speed can be tested at websites such as TestMy.net/upload.
Ensure these network ports are open for traffic:
- 53 (DNS), 80 (HTTP/HTTPS), 443 (SSL)
- 1935 (RTMP), 2935 (RTMPS)
- 3478 / 5349 (STUN/Rendezvous peer-to-peer)
- 5353 (mDNS for local NDI source discovery)
- 5960-59xx (NDI port range, 1 port per active source)
- 7272 (Remote Desktop Presenter)
- 49152-65535 (WebRTC Media/Rendezvous ā selected dynamically)
- Intel Quick Sync Video: Requires an Intel CPU with an active IntelĀ® QuickSync Video core.
- NVIDIA NVENC: Requires a dedicated NVidia GPU featuring Kepler architecture or newer.
- Apple Hardware H.264: Natively utilizes modern Apple Silicon unified pipelines or designated Mac processing arrays.
Rendezvous utilizes WebRTC streams which scale system compute targets. Based on single simultaneous 720p30 streams @ 4.0Mbps:
- Studio (2 Guests): Allocate +4 Mbps bandwidth | i5 quad-core CPU baseline.
- Pro (7 Guests): Allocate +5+ Mbps bandwidth | i7 quad-core CPU baseline.
High Frame-Rate (60fps) & CPU Stack: Maintained system CPU usage exceeding 60% increases dropped frame likelihood. Consider lowering target canvas resolutions if resource saturation occurs.
Supported Languages
Wirecast interface controls, menus, and production toolkits are fully unlocked and available across 12 distinct localized languages:
Current & Previous Versions
macOS Downloads
For macOS Sequoia 15 or higher:
- Wirecast 16.5.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.2 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.0 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.4.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.4.0 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.3.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.2 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.1 | Release notes
- Desktop Presenter 2.0.8
Previous Versions
- For macOS Ventura 13 or higher: Wirecast 16.2 | Release notes
- For macOS 12 thru macOS 13: Wirecast 15.2.1 | Release notes
- For macOS 10.15 thru macOS 12: Wirecast 15.0.3 | Release notes
- For macOS 10.14 thru macOS 12: Wirecast 14.3.4 | Release notes
- For macOS 10.14 thru 10.16: Wirecast 14.2.1 | Release notes
- For macOS 10.14 thru 10.15:
Wirecast 14.0.4 | Release notes
Wirecast 13.1.3 | Release notes - For macOS 10.13 thru 10.14:
Wirecast 12.2.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 11.1.2 | Release notes - For macOS 10.12 thru 10.13:
Wirecast 10.1.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 9.0.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 8.3 | Release notes - For OS X 10.11 thru 10.12: Wirecast 7.7 | Release notes
- For OS X 10.9 thru 10.11: Desktop Presenter 2.0.6
Windows Downloads
If rolling back to a previous version, please uninstall your existing version of Wirecast.
For Windows 10 1809 or higher:
- Wirecast 16.5.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.2 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.5.0 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.4.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.4.0 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.3.1 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.3 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.2 | Release notes
- Wirecast 16.2.1 | Release notes
- Desktop Presenter 2.0.8
Previous Versions
- For Windows 10 1809 or higher:
Wirecast 16.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 15.2.1 | Release notes - For Windows 7, 10:
Wirecast 14.3.4 | Release notes
Wirecast 13.1.3 | Release notes
Wirecast 12.2.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 11.1.2 | Release notes - For Windows 7, 8, 10:
Wirecast 10.1.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 9.0.1 | Release notes
Wirecast 8.3 | Release notes
Wirecast 7.7 | Release notes
Desktop Presenter 2.0.5 - For access to other previous versions of Wirecast, please contact support.
Wirecast Plugin for Stream Deck 1.4
Install the free Wirecast Plugin for Stream Deck for easy, tactile control of your broadcast. Compatible with Mac or Windows. Stream Deck sold separately.
- Download the Stream Deck software
- Open the Stream Deck software application and click the Stream Deck Store icon above the button panel next to the Preferences icon.
- Select Plugins > Video, then locate the Wirecast Stream Deck plugin on the list and click Install
- Release Notes
- Userās Guide
QR Code Generator
Create a QR code to give your audience quick access to a custom link within your stream.
Watch VideoPTZ/Robotic Cameras
Connect and control a PTZ/Robotic camera using Wirecast Pro’s built-in PTZ Controller.
Watch VideoPreview and Live Windows
Simultaneously preview a shot you are creating and what you are broadcasting live.
Watch VideoMulti-Track Audio Routing
Route up to four unique audio output tracks to different devices in Wirecast Pro, for communicating behind the scenes without...
Watch VideoLock Shot Icon
Take a snapshot of your live shot icon thumbnail and save it as a static image for your shot.
Watch VideoHotkeys
Create and assign Hotkeys which will enable you to quickly switch between live shots.
Watch Video