OBS Studio

About this release

OBS Studio is the tool that most streaming and screen recording actually runs on, and it earned that place by being free, open and endlessly flexible. The whole thing is organised around scenes, each a composed layout of sources, a display capture, a game window, a webcam, an image, a browser overlay, text, stacked and positioned however you like. During a show you switch between scenes live, and the audio mixer and transitions make it a small broadcast desk rather than a plain recorder.

The capture side is deep. It grabs a full display, a single window, a specific game, a capture card feed or a webcam, mixes any number of audio inputs with per source filters for noise suppression and gain, and encodes with the hardware encoder on your GPU so the machine stays free for whatever you are actually showing. Recording writes to a local file at the same time you stream, so you always keep a clean copy.

Because it is open, it carries a large ecosystem of plug-ins and browser based overlays, and its streaming output speaks the protocols every major platform accepts, so pointing it at a service is a matter of a key and a server. For a lecture recording, a product demo, a game stream or a full multi camera show, the same application scales from the simplest capture up to a genuinely complex production.

What it does

• Scene and source model for composing and switching layouts live
• Capture of full display, single window, specific game, capture card or webcam
• Unlimited audio inputs with per source noise suppression and gain filters
• Hardware accelerated encoding on GPU with software fallback
• Simultaneous streaming and local recording to a clean file
• Studio mode for previewing a scene before taking it live
• Streaming output for every major platform through standard protocols
• Browser sources for web based overlays and alerts
• Extensive plug-in ecosystem for extra sources and effects
• Scriptable with hotkeys for hands free scene switching

Changes in this version

• Updated encoder integration for the current GPU driver generations
• Improved browser source performance and memory use
• Reworked audio filter chain with lower latency
• Better handling of high refresh rate game capture
• Refreshed the interface language set

What the package contains

• OBS Studio full offline installer
• Default scene collection and source templates
• All interface languages
• Notes on setting up a first stream and a first recording
• Readme with the install order written out step by step

Installation notes

Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.

1. Extract the archive to any folder you like.
2. Run the installer, it needs no special preparation.
3. Open the application and run the auto configuration wizard for a first setup.
4. Add your first scene and sources, then set the recording folder.
5. Enter a stream key only if you intend to go live.
6. Save the scene collection so it is there next time.

System requirements

Things worth knowing

• Use the hardware encoder on your GPU so the processor stays free for what you are capturing.
• Point recordings at a fast drive with room, a long high bitrate capture grows quickly.
• Game capture is more efficient than display capture when you are recording a single game.

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Listing information

This entry is catalogued under Video & Motion and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, 40 interface languages, and the supported platform list is Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 32.2.1 is the current catalogued build, last checked 2 days ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 3 years ago.