Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most teams in the U.S., the simplest way to stream internal or external meetings is to run the session in StreamYard and send one cloud-powered feed to your main platforms. If you need very advanced production (NDI feeds, complex scene routing), you can layer tools like OBS or Streamlabs as encoders on top of Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

Summary

• Use StreamYard as your "meeting studio" when you want easy guest joins, branding, and reliable recording.
• Connect StreamYard directly to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or via Custom RTMP to destinations like Microsoft Teams on paid plans. (StreamYard Help Center)
• For pre-show prep with multiple presenters, use the Greenroom on eligible plans so everyone aligns before you go live. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Reach for OBS or Streamlabs only when you truly need local encoders, NDI, or deep scene-level customization.

How should you decide where your team meeting actually “lives”?

Before you think about RTMP URLs or encoders, decide where the meeting itself will happen:

• Option 1: Run the meeting in StreamYard. This is ideal when your presenters are remote, you want a branded show, and viewers are watching on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or similar.
• Option 2: Run the meeting in a tool like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, and stream it out. This is useful when your company is standardized on a meeting platform but you still want a public or large-attendee live stream.

For most org-wide updates, town halls, and client-facing webinars, Option 1 is simpler: everyone joins a StreamYard studio via browser, you control layouts, and we send one cloud-encoded stream to your destinations.

If your security or compliance rules say "all meetings must be in Teams," you can still use StreamYard and other encoders as production layers around that requirement.

How do you stream a team meeting directly from StreamYard?

Think of StreamYard as your virtual control room plus meeting room in one browser tab.

1. Set up your studio and destinations

• Create a new broadcast and select where you want it to go: YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitch, X (Twitter), or custom RTMP for other services. (Supported platforms)
• On paid plans you can multistream to several destinations at once from a single upload, with caps between 3 and 10 depending on plan. (Multistreaming limits)

2. Invite your team and guests

• Share your guest link with presenters—no downloads, no accounts required.
• You can have up to 10 people on screen and additional teammates backstage, which is usually plenty for panel-style meetings and all-hands.
• Because everything runs in the browser, non-technical team members typically handle it fine with minimal hand-holding.

3. Prep your show flow

• Load slides or screen shares from multiple people so you can hand off demos smoothly.
• Add your logo, overlays, and lower thirds so the meeting looks like a produced broadcast instead of a basic video call.
• Use presenter notes visible only to you so you can remember key talking points without cluttering the screen.

4. Go live and record for later

• Hit "Go Live" and we send a single, cloud-encoded stream to all your selected destinations.
• On paid plans, broadcasts can be recorded for up to 10 hours per stream in HD, and you can also schedule pre-recorded streams up to 8 hours. (Plan features)
• After the meeting, you’ll have access to high-quality recordings, including multi-track local files suitable for editing and reuse.

Because encoding happens in the cloud, many teams find StreamYard easier on older laptops than desktop encoders that lean heavily on CPU/GPU.

How do you use StreamYard with Microsoft Teams or other meeting apps?

Sometimes the rule is: "We live in Teams." You can still stream widely when that’s the case.

Streaming into Microsoft Teams from StreamYard

If you want StreamYard’s studio experience but need your audience watching in a Teams event or meeting, use Custom RTMP on paid plans:

1. Create a live event or compatible meeting in Teams and copy the RTMP ingest URL and stream key.
2. In StreamYard, add a Custom RTMP destination and paste those details. (Custom RTMP for Teams)
3. Run your show in StreamYard; Teams simply receives the finished program feed.

Note: with RTMP destinations, comments from that platform won’t appear inside StreamYard’s studio, so assign someone on your team to watch Q&A in Teams directly. (StreamYard Help Center)

Streaming out of Teams using an encoder

If the meeting truly must happen inside Teams (for example, large internal-only events), Microsoft supports using an external encoder via RTMP ingest for live events. You provide the RTMP URL/stream key to your encoder (OBS, Streamlabs, or similar) and it sends a program feed into the live event. (Microsoft Teams live events)

This path gives you more routing flexibility but also more moving parts. For most non-broadcast teams, running the meeting directly in StreamYard is faster to set up and easier to repeat.

How can you prep multiple presenters without burning the audience’s time?

The difference between a messy team meeting stream and a polished one is what happens before you go live.

On eligible plans, StreamYard’s Greenroom gives you a separate pre-live space where presenters can:

• Test mics and cameras,
• Review the run of show,
• Decide screen-share order and demo handoffs,
• Align on Q&A roles and timing.

Greenroom is available on specific higher-end plans and acts like a virtual backstage that’s separate from the live studio. (Using the Greenroom)

A simple pattern that works well:

1. Bring all presenters into the Greenroom 15–20 minutes early.
2. Finalize overlays and titles (“Sales Q4 Review,” “Engineering Update,” etc.).
3. Move everyone into the main studio, do one last audio check, then go live on time.

Because guests join through a browser link, you avoid most of the “install this app, update that driver” friction that derails a surprising number of live team broadcasts.

When do OBS or Streamlabs actually make sense for team meetings?

Desktop tools like OBS and Streamlabs are powerful, but they demand more setup and more capable hardware.

They’re useful in a few specific scenarios:

• Complex scene routing: Multiple NDI feeds or individual video returns from a Teams meeting, all composed into a custom layout.
• Advanced audio: Per-source audio filters, VST plugins, and detailed routing inside an on-site production system. (OBS features)
• Hybrid productions: Mixing in physical cameras, capture cards, and on-prem gear before sending one feed to a streaming service.

OBS is free and open source with no license cost. (OBS FAQ) Streamlabs Desktop is free as well, with an optional Ultra subscription that adds multistreaming and other benefits. (Streamlabs FAQ)

For a lot of teams, though, the time investment and hardware requirements outweigh the savings. A browser-based studio like StreamYard lets you focus on content and communication instead of configuring encoders.

A pragmatic middle ground is common: teams produce most recurring meetings in StreamYard, and bring in OBS or Streamlabs only for flagship events that justify a more complex pipeline.

How do you keep costs reasonable as your streaming footprint grows?

If you’re streaming on behalf of a team or department, software pricing can add up quickly—especially if you pay per person.

StreamYard uses a workspace-based model rather than charging per user seat, which can be significantly more cost-effective than tools that bill you for every individual account. This matters when you have rotating presenters, guest experts, or producers who dip in and out of specific events.

Compared with alternatives that require high-spec machines (and sometimes paid add-ons for features like multistreaming), many teams find that a browser-based workflow plus modestly priced plans is a smaller total investment than upgrading hardware and maintaining desktop pipelines.

On top of that, we offer a free plan for basic streaming, a 7-day free trial on paid plans, and frequent introductory offers for new workspaces—useful when you’re testing whether live-streamed meetings actually move the needle before you commit.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard as your default hub for streaming town halls, all-hands, client webinars, and recurring team updates.
• Lean on native destinations plus Custom RTMP when you need to reach Microsoft Teams or other platforms from the same studio.
• Use Greenroom and backstage workflows to align presenters before you go live so the meeting feels tight and intentional.
• Pull in OBS or Streamlabs only when your requirements truly demand advanced routing, NDI, or local hardware setups—most day-to-day team meetings don’t.