Last updated: 2026-01-20

For most creators in the U.S. who want to go live in horizontal and vertical at the same time without wrestling with tech, start with StreamYard’s Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS). If you need deep, local control of two separate canvases and you are comfortable managing a desktop encoder, look at Streamlabs Dual Output or advanced OBS setups.

Summary

• StreamYard’s MARS lets you send landscape and portrait streams from a single browser studio, so you reach desktop and mobile viewers at once without rebuilding your show. (StreamYard Help)
• Streamlabs Dual Output uses two local canvases and separate settings on your computer, suitable if you want granular control and already run a powerful streaming PC. (Streamlabs)
• OBS can technically feed different outputs, but there is no built-in way to store separate layouts per aspect ratio, so you rely on manual workarounds and plugins. (OBS Forum)
• For most non-technical hosts who care about reliability, guest friendliness, and branded production more than tinkering, StreamYard is the most practical dual-aspect ratio streaming tool.

What is a dual aspect ratio streaming tool?

When people search for a “dual aspect ratio streaming tool,” they usually mean one thing: a way to go live once and publish both a horizontal (16:9) and a vertical (9:16) version of the same show at the same time.

In practice, that looks like:

• A landscape stream for YouTube, LinkedIn, or Facebook on desktops and TVs.
• A vertical stream for TikTok-style and YouTube Shorts viewers on phones.

A dual-aspect tool should solve three problems at once:

1. Production: framing hosts and guests so they look good in both orientations.
2. Distribution: sending both versions to the right platforms or feeds.
3. Workflow: doing all of that without rebuilding scenes twice or babysitting complex routing.

At StreamYard, we built MARS specifically to make this feel like running a single show, not two separate productions. (StreamYard Help)

How does StreamYard’s MARS handle dual aspect streaming?

StreamYard’s Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS) lets you broadcast both landscape and portrait from one browser-based studio. In one session, you can send a traditional 16:9 feed for desktop viewers and a vertical feed optimized for phones, with StreamYard handling the heavy lifting in the cloud. (StreamYard Help)

A few details matter here:

• Single studio, dual outputs: You set orientation options before you go live; once you’re streaming, those orientation settings are locked for that broadcast so your viewers get a consistent experience. (StreamYard Help)
• Platform-aware destinations: From that one studio, you can stream to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, Kick and more, or send feeds via custom RTMP if needed. (StreamYard Destinations)
• YouTube dual-format support: You can stream to YouTube in both formats at once using MARS; this counts as two destinations and is available on paid plans. (StreamYard Help)

Because encoding runs in the cloud, your computer only needs to upload a single contribution feed, which is especially useful if you’re on a typical laptop or home connection rather than a dedicated streaming rig.

On top of that, StreamYard still gives you the live-show features people expect: up to 10 people in the studio, local multi-track recordings for post-production, independent control of screen and mic audio, presenter notes only the host can see, and branded overlays and layouts that you can apply live.

How should you prepare overlays and assets for dual-aspect broadcasts?

The hardest part of dual-aspect streaming is layout. What looks perfect in 16:9 often feels cramped or cut off in 9:16.

To solve this, MARS supports dual assets so you can pair different designs for each orientation inside a single asset entry. For example, you can create one combined asset where the landscape version has a wide lower-third while the portrait version has a taller, phone-friendly frame, and StreamYard automatically shows the right design to each audience. (StreamYard Help)

A simple workflow many creators follow:

• Design two variants of your background and overlays: one 16:9, one 9:16.
• Upload them as dual assets so they stay linked.
• Frame your hosts and shared screens with enough “safe area” so faces and key text stay in view in both versions.

Because all of this lives inside the same studio, you are not constantly switching profiles or re-building scenes the way you might in a local encoder.

How do StreamYard MARS and Streamlabs Dual Output differ?

Streamlabs Desktop offers a Dual Output feature that keeps two separate canvases—typically one horizontal, one vertical—inside its desktop app. You can go live to one vertical and one horizontal destination simultaneously without a subscription, and Dual Output lets you set different resolution and frame rate for each canvas. (Streamlabs) (Streamlabs Dual Output Guide)

So how is that different from StreamYard in real-world use?

• Where the work happens
  Streamlabs runs entirely on your computer and leans on your CPU/GPU, while StreamYard offloads encoding to the cloud from your browser. For many creators on everyday laptops, that difference alone can decide which setup feels stable.

• How much you configure
  In Streamlabs, you build and maintain two full canvases, with their own scenes and settings. That is powerful, but also time-consuming. With StreamYard, most people treat MARS as a single show with dual layouts rather than two fully separate productions.

• Who you are streaming with
  StreamYard is optimized for bringing in non-technical guests via a link in the browser—no installs, no extra configuration—which many hosts prefer when they run interview shows, webinars, or remote panels.

If you already love desktop encoders and have a strong PC, Streamlabs Dual Output can give you very fine-grained control. But for most U.S.-based creators who care more about easy onboarding, reliability, and getting started in minutes, MARS in StreamYard usually delivers the same outcome with less friction.

Can OBS natively stream two aspect ratios simultaneously?

OBS Studio is flexible, but it does not include a dedicated, built-in dual aspect-ratio studio in the way MARS or Dual Output work.

Official OBS guidance shows that the virtual camera exposes a single scene to other apps, regardless of what’s happening in the main outputs, which underscores its single-output assumptions. (OBS Virtual Camera Guide) And in community discussions, OBS maintainers confirm there is no functionality to store different position and size data for the same scene at different aspect ratios; users rely on workarounds instead. (OBS Forum)

You can approximate dual-aspect workflows in OBS by:

• Creating separate scene collections for 16:9 and 9:16.
• Running multiple instances or using plugins and custom outputs.
• Manually adjusting layouts when switching profiles.

That level of control is appealing for technical streamers who want to design everything by hand. But it also means more configuration, more points of failure, and a steeper learning curve compared with a browser-based studio that simply asks, “Do you want landscape, portrait, or both?” and does the rest.

How should you set up dual aspect ratio streams for TikTok and YouTube?

A common scenario is TikTok for vertical and YouTube for horizontal.

With StreamYard MARS, the high-level flow looks like this:

1. Create a new broadcast in the StreamYard studio and choose both landscape and portrait as your orientations.
2. Connect your destinations—YouTube for landscape, plus any vertical destination that accepts your portrait feed via native integration or custom RTMP. (StreamYard Destinations)
3. Add dual assets so your overlays and backgrounds stay on-brand in both formats.
4. Bring in your guests with a browser link, run your show, and let the cloud studio send each audience the right orientation.

In a desktop-first setup with Streamlabs or OBS, you would instead:

• Build two scenes or canvases.
• Configure separate output resolutions and bitrates.
• Confirm your hardware can handle multiple encodes.
• Manually route streams to YouTube and your vertical platform.

Both paths can work. The real question is how much time and technical overhead you are willing to accept every time you go live.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard with MARS as your default dual aspect ratio streaming tool if you care about a quick learning curve, reliable cloud encoding, and friendly guest onboarding.
• Consider Streamlabs Dual Output if you are already comfortable with desktop encoders and want granular per-canvas tuning without relying on a browser workflow.
• Explore advanced OBS setups only if you explicitly want maximum manual control, are ready to manage plugins and workarounds, and do not mind investing significant setup time.
• When in doubt, prioritize the tool that lets you go live confidently with your current hardware and your real-world guests—most creators find that StreamYard hits that balance best for dual-aspect shows.