Getting Started With Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS)

StreamYard lets you broadcast simultaneously in both landscape and portrait from a single studio session with Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS). This means you can reach desktop viewers with landscape content while mobile viewers get perfectly optimized vertical content—all at the same time.

What Is Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS)?

With multi-aspect-ratio streaming, you can:

  • Stream to YouTube in both formats simultaneously. Note: This counts as two destinations and is available on paid plans only.
  • Send landscape to some platforms and portrait to others from the same studio
  • Use different backgrounds, overlays, and assets for each orientation
  • Preview both formats side by side in your studio
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MARS is available on all plans, including our Free plan. However, streaming in both formats to YouTube is available on paid plans only.

How to Select Orientations for Your Broadcast

When creating a new broadcast, you'll see an orientation dropdown for each destination you add with different options based on the selected destination.

For most destinations:

  • Landscape—traditional horizontal format (16:9), best for YouTube, Facebook, Twitch
  • Portrait—vertical format (9:16), best for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts

 

For YouTube only:

  • Landscape + Portrait—stream in both formats simultaneously. This creates two separate posts on YouTube and counts as two destinations.
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Recommended orientations are automatically suggested based on the platform you select.

How to set orientation:

  1. From your StreamYard dashboard, click Live stream under the Create section
  2. Add your destination(s)
  3. For each destination, select your preferred Orientation from the dropdown
  4. Enter your broadcast details and click Create live stream
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Important: Only YouTube supports the Landscape + Portrait option and it requires a paid plan. If you want to stream in both orientations to multiple platforms, you'll need to add separate destinations (one landscape, one portrait).
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Important: Instagram only supports Portrait mode. It is not possible to stream to Instagram in Landscape mode at this time.

Entering the Studio with Multi-Orientation

When you enter the studio:

  • If you selected only landscape or only portrait: Your studio will match that orientation
  • If you're streaming to destinations with different orientations: You'll see a preview for both orientations

Toggling the vertical preview

When broadcasting in multiple orientations, you can show or hide the vertical preview:

  1. Find the dual-view button in your studio controls (bottom row)
  2. Click to Show vertical—you'll see both landscape and portrait side by side
  3. Click again to Hide vertical and return to single view
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Important: Toggling the preview doesn't change what viewers see—it only affects your studio view.

Changing Orientation in the Studio

You can adjust the orientation setting while in the studio (before going live):

  1. Click Edit (top toolbar to the right)
  2. Click on each destination's row to expand
  3. Change the Orientation selector
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Important: Orientation settings are disabled once you go live.

Understanding Your Orientation Setup

Single orientation (landscape or portrait only)

Your entire broadcast uses one format. The studio interface matches your selected orientation.

Mixed orientations (different formats to different platforms)

  • Your studio interface defaults to landscape for editing
  • The vertical preview shows how your portrait streams will look
  • Edit layouts and on-screen banner in the landscape view—changes apply to both orientations automatically
  • Use the dual asset feature to customize each orientation independently (see How to Use Dual Assets article)

YouTube dual orientation (landscape + portrait)

  • Creates two separate YouTube posts
  • Counts as two destinations toward your plan limit
  • As a mixed orientations broadcast, you can use the dual asset feature to customize each orientation independently

Using MARS With Pre-Existing Reusable Studios

In order to use MARS inside a pre-existing Reusable Studio, the Studio needs to be upgraded to support the new multi-orientation mode. 

This happens automatically after the first time you record or go live inside that Studio following the availability of MARS for your account.

If your Reusable Studio is empty (meaning no live stream or recording have been set up yet), you can manually force this upgrade by following these steps:

  • Enter your pre-existing Reusable Studio
  • Click on Create + in the top right corner of your Studio
  • Select Recording
  • Start an empty recording and stop recording after a few second

That's it! Your Studio will now support MARS.

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Important: If your Reusable Studio is already configured for a live stream or recording and a banner appears saying that MARS is not yet supported, you won't be able to use MARS features for that specific broadcast, but will be available starting from the next one.

Best Practices

  • Choose orientations before going live—you can't change them after starting your broadcast!
  • Preview both orientations when using mixed formats to ensure your content looks good in both
  • Use dual assets to optimize graphics for each orientation (see "How to Use Dual Assets")
  • Create Custom Layouts optimized for both orientations. You can check how to do it in this article
  • Transform overlays—You can resize and reposition static overlays directly in the studio, with independent positions for each orientation. See How to Transform Overlays.

 

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