How to Multistream: Watch Twitch & YouTube Streams Together

To multistream means to watch several live streams from platforms like Twitch and YouTube at the same time, arranged together on one screen. Instead of switching between tabs, you can create a grid of video players to follow all the action from a single browser window. This is useful for watching a tournament from multiple player perspectives or keeping up with several creators during a collaboration.

ViewGrid is a free tool for this. You paste in the links to the streams you want to watch, and it arranges them in a grid for you.

Why Watch Multiple Streams at Once?

While focusing on one stream is great, some situations are better with a wider view.

Following Live Events
For big gaming tournaments, like a VALORANT Champions Tour or a Dota 2 International, you often have multiple matches happening at once. A multistream setup lets you watch the main broadcast, a B-stream with different casters, and the point-of-view of your favorite player, all on one screen. You can find pre-made grids for many popular events on our live events calendar.

Keeping Up with Collaborations
When a group of streamers collaborates on a game like Among Us or a tabletop RPG session, seeing only one perspective means you miss reactions and conversations happening elsewhere. By putting all their streams in a grid, you get the full picture and can switch your audio to whoever is talking.

Learning from Different Perspectives
If you're trying to get better at a game, watching one pro player is helpful. Watching several at once can show you different strategies in real-time. You can see how one player handles a situation on the map while another takes a completely different approach, giving you more insight than a single stream ever could.

Tracking News or Multiple Sources
During breaking news, weather events, or rocket launches, different channels provide unique camera angles and commentary. A multistream grid allows you to monitor official news feeds, independent journalists, and live camera VODs from YouTube simultaneously.

How to Set Up Your First Multistream Grid

You could try arranging browser windows manually, but it can be clumsy and use a lot of your computer's resources. A dedicated tool simplifies the process. Here’s how to build a layout using ViewGrid.

1. Open the Grid Builder
2. Navigate to the ViewGrid multi-stream viewer. You don't need an account to start building a grid.

1. Add Your Streams
2. In the top bar, you’ll see an input field. You can add streams in a few ways:
3. * Paste a URL: Copy the full URL of a Twitch, YouTube, Kick, or Rumble stream or video and paste it in.
4. * Use a Channel Name: For Twitch, Kick, and Rumble, you can often just type the channel name (e.g., "shroud").
5. * Search YouTube: You can search for live YouTube streams directly from the input bar without leaving the page.

Add as many streams as you want to watch. Each one will appear in the grid below.

1. Choose a Layout
2. Above the video players, you'll find layout buttons (e.g., 2, 4, 6, 8). Click one to automatically arrange your streams into a clean grid. On a desktop computer, you can have up to 20 streams on screen. On a mobile browser, layouts support up to 6 streams.

1. Control the Audio
2. Every stream you add starts muted. This prevents a wall of noise when you open a grid. To hear a stream, just click the speaker icon on that video player. Clicking another stream's speaker icon will automatically mute the previous one, so you can switch audio focus with a single click.

1. Focus on One Stream
2. If you want to make one stream bigger without losing the others, click on the video itself (not the speaker icon). This will bring it into "focus view," making it the main window while the others become small thumbnails on the side. Click it again to return to the grid.

1. Open the Chat
2. Next to the layout buttons, there's a chat icon. Clicking it opens a side panel where you can view the live chat for any of the Twitch, YouTube, or Kick streams in your grid. You can switch between chats using a dropdown menu at the top of the panel.

Practical Considerations

Watching multiple video streams is more demanding than watching one. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Internet and Computer Speed
Each stream in your grid uses bandwidth. If you have many high-resolution streams running, you'll need a stable and reasonably fast internet connection to avoid buffering. It also uses your computer's processing power. If you notice your computer slowing down, try closing other applications or reducing the number of streams in your grid.

Watching on a TV
ViewGrid doesn't have a dedicated "cast" button. However, many people watch their grids on a TV. The most common ways to do this are by:
Connecting a laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable.
Using the web browser built into your smart TV to open viewgrid.tv directly.
* Using your computer or phone's built-in screen mirroring feature (like AirPlay or Miracast).

These methods depend on your specific devices, not on ViewGrid itself.

Sharing Your Layout
The web address (URL) in your browser's address bar updates automatically as you add or remove streams. If you create the perfect layout for an event, you can just copy that URL and send it to a friend. When they open the link, they'll see the exact same grid you created. If you want to save layouts for yourself, you can create a free account.

For a more detailed walkthrough focused on combining just two platforms, you might find our article "How to Watch Youtube and Twitch Together on One Screen" helpful.