It’s time to Dual Stream: Twitch unites vertical and horizontal formats at TwitchCon Europe

The 2026 edition of TwitchCon Europe took place in Rotterdam during the last two days of May, and Twitch used its annual European gathering as a venue for new product announcements. Most notably, the streaming platform is introducing Dual Format broadcasts that can run simultaneously in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

Dual Format, which is currently in beta, will optimize the watch experience to fit each viewer’s device. Desktop users will continue to see Twitch’s traditional horizontal orientation, while mobile users will see a vertical stream that fits better on their phone screen. If those mobile users would rather watch horizontally, all they need to do is rotate their device 90 degrees.

Last year, at the stateside TwitchCon event in San Diego, Twitch announced its support for vertical live streams. At the time, the move seemed like an attempt to compete with TikTok, which had turned TikTok Live into a multibillion-dollar juggernaut that had drawn enough streaming traffic to eclipse Twitch’s numbers.

In the year since, mobile live streaming has only gotten hotter. The U.S. live streaming market is expected to bring in more than $2.5 billion of revenue this year, and mobile broadcasts are a big reason why.

To keep up with the evolving nature of its primary industry, Twitch is deploying technical enhancements that will empower Dual Format streamers. “Dual Format leverages Enhanced Broadcasting technology, which uses the client to encode multiple variants of your stream to viewers,” reads a Twitch blog post

. “When we roll this out next month, we’ll be adding server-side transcoding support for Partners and many Affiliates, to offset the strain this can put on some systems.”

Other Twitch updates announced at TwitchCon Rotterdam support the company’s mobile live streaming push. Since Dual Format broadcasts improve audience engagement rates overall, those streams support Twitch’s communal Hype Train celebrations. Now, Twitch is adding support for Mythic Train — a supercharged version of Hype Train that rewards participants with golden versions of chat emotes.

Clips are also central to Twitch’s mobile strategy. The short-form highlights, which are drawn from long-form streams, can be used to populate the platform’s TikTok-style Discovery feed. That hub is optimized for vertical viewership, and it’s about to get a restock. Auto Clips, announced at TwitchCon Rotterdam, will cut hype moments from streams any time a user says “Twitch Clip That.”

Streamers who are interested in trying out Auto Clips can sign up for the feature’s beta by filling out this form. And if you’re still waiting for the Twitch announcement that best suits your account, you can follow the platform to Germany. Twitch announced that TwitchCon Europe will head to Berlin in May 2027.