OBS Studio provides real-time capture, encoding, and broadcasting for YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and many other providers. High performance real time video/audio capturing and mixing. Create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, capture cards, and more.

Is OBS Studio free for commercial use?

OBS Studio is open source software and free for anyone to use it. OBS can be used commercially without restrictions, it won't add watermarks and has no limitations.

Is OBS good for recording videos?

OBS Studio stands for Open Broadcaster Software, which means its main purpose is livestreaming your gaming sessions on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, among others. However, you can record audio and video from multiple sources.

Can you edit videos in OBS Studio?

You can't edit videos on OBS Studio, for that you may need a video editor like DaVinci Resolve, Shotcut or VSDC Video Editor, which are great free options.

What are OBS Studio basic system requirements?

OBS Studio runs on Windows, macOS and Linux systems with at least 4GB of RAM.

  • Windows
    • DirectX 10.1 compatible GPU (GeForce GTX 900 Series, Radeon RX 400 Series, Intel HD Graphics 500)
    • Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows 11
    • Intel i5 2500K, AMD Ryzen 1300X
    • Hardware encoders are recommended
  • macOS
    • Intel or Apple Silicon CPU
    • OpenGL 3.3-compatible GPU
    • macOS "High Sierra" (10.13) or later
  • Linux/Unix
    • OpenGL 3.3-compatible GPU
    • X window system or Wayland

Features

  • High performance real time video/audio capturing and mixing, with unlimited scenes you can switch between seamlessly via custom transitions.
  • Live streaming to Twitch, YouTube, Periscope, GoodGame, DailyMotion, Hitbox, VK and any other RTMP server
  • Filters for video sources such as image masking, color correction, chroma/color keying, and more.
  • x264, H.264 and AAC for your live streams and video recordings
  • Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) and NVIDIA NVENC support
  • Intuitive audio mixer with per-source filters such as noise gate, noise suppression, and gain. Take full control with VST plugin support.
  • GPU-based game capture for high performance game streaming
  • Unlimited number of scenes and sources
  • Number of different and customizable transitions for when you switch between scenes
  • Hotkeys for almost any action such as start or stop your stream or recording, push-to-talk, fast mute of any audio source, show or hide any video source, switch between scenes,and much more
  • Live preview of any changes on your scenes and sources using Studio Mode before pushing them to your stream where your viewers will see those changes
  • DirectShow capture device support (webcams, capture cards, etc)
  • Powerful and easy to use configuration options. Add new Sources, duplicate existing ones, and adjust their properties effortlessly.
  • Streamlined Settings panel for quickly configuring your broadcasts and recordings. Switch between different profiles with ease.
  • Light and dark themes available to fit your environment.
  • ...and many other features. For free. At all.

What's New

30.1.1 Hotfix Changes

  • Fixed a crash on macOS 11 when starting OBS [PatTheMav/RytoEX]
  • Fixed missing HDR metadata for certain encoders [derrod]
  • Fixed broken hardware decoding of remote streams in Media Sources [pkviet]
  • Fixed broken file output from remuxing a file with PCM audio [derrod]
  • Fixed an issue where macOS Audio Capture or macOS Screen Capture sources could stop capturing [jcm93]
  • Fixed an issue on Windows causing Virtual Camera and 32-bit Game Capture to fail [PatTheMav]
  • Fixed an issue on Linux which caused QSV encoders to be enabled on systems with no Intel GPUs [kkartaltepe]
  • Backported xdg-data metadata updates [GeorgesStavracas]

New Features

  • Enabled HDR for HEVC over RTMP [nquah]
  • AV1 HDR is not currently supported by YouTube.
  • Reworked the Image Slideshow source [Lain-B]
  • The reworked Image Slideshow source loads files asynchronously and fixes an issue where the slideshow would loop before showing all images. To change existing Image Slideshow sources to the new version, you must recreate them. Existing Image Slideshow sources will continue functioning as before.
  • Added Capture Audio option to window/game capture on Windows [derrod]
  • Added Premultiplied Alpha option for game capture on Windows [jpark37]
  • Added option for automatic cropping to bounding box [derrod]
  • Added maxRGB tonemapper for SDR in HDR Tone Mapping filter [jpark37]
  • Added GPU rescaling options for streaming and recording outputs [derrod]
  • Added channel selection for CoreAudio input devices [PatTheMav]
  • Added Capture Card Device source type on macOS [PatTheMav]
  • Enabled multi-track audio support for mpegts [pkviet]
  • Added AV1 support for VA-API [nowrep]
  • Added AV1 support for WebRTC/WHIP output [Sean-Der]
  • Added Video Capture Device (PipeWire) source type [GeorgesStavracas]

Changes

  • Added HDR support for the Elgato HD60 X Rev.2 [FBirth]
  • Added theme data search paths [derrod]
  • Added Lua script location to search path for Lua native libraries [Smartkin]
  • Added Python 3.11 support for macOS [PatTheMav]
  • Updated obs-websocket to version 5.4.2 [tt2468/Lain-B]
  • Release notes for addition in 5.4.0 are here: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-websocket/releases/tag/5.4.0
  • Improved simple mode replay buffer settings [gxalpha]
  • Switched to bigger units in the UI for high bitrate/large recordings [derrod]
  • Disabled Paste Transform on locked scene items [cg2121]
  • Disabled Edit Transform if scene item is locked [cg2121]
  • Removed Windows 7 and Ubuntu 20.04 NVENC fallbacks [derrod]
  • PCM audio in (fragmented) MP4/MOV is now supported [derrod]
  • Changed default recording format to fMP4/fMOV for stable releases [derrod]

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed crashes with the Virtual Camera on Windows when apps consumed it as YUY2 [vico-shang]
  • Fixed crash when loading Python at runtime on Windows [PatTheMav]
  • Fixed crash in Image Slideshow when adding a directory with no files in it [notr1ch]
  • Fixed crash on macOS when attempting to stream to a WHIP servers with certain configurations [RytoEX/Sean-Der]
  • Fixed crash when trying to stream with WebRTC/WHIP [CrackThrough]
  • Fixed a possible crash in Lua scripts when switching scene collections [exeldro]
  • Fixed a possible crash with WHIP output [Aleksbgbg]
  • Fixed deadlock when adding a macOS Screen Capture source [PatTheMav]
  • Fixed issue where OBS could be closed by docked browser panels [WizardCM]
  • Fixed high CPU usage with Virtual Camera on macOS [jcm93]
  • Fixed checkbox misalignment on macOS in properties view [nikola3211]
  • Fixed audio track 1 audio being offset/desynced with other tracks [derrod]
  • Fixed incorrect VST window size on HiDPI display [xlinshan]
  • Fixed editable list UI element having incorrect background-color [tuduweb]
  • Fixed the resize cursor with respecting the item transformation [BGM99]
  • Fixed disk space reporting for attached network drives on macOS [PatTheMav]
  • Fixed Safe Mode removing third-party transitions from scene collection [derrod]
  • Fixed being unable to use QSV in the Flatpak package [twelho]
  • Fixed audio track titles not being set in Custom FFmpeg Output [tuduweb]
  • Fixed an issue with free disk space calculation on ExFAT and FAT32 volumes on macOS [PatTheMav]
  • Fixed an issue with free disk space calculation on macOS not matching values in Finder [jcm]
  • Fixed an issue where a removed source's scene would not be correctly logged [exeldro]
  • Clarified the macOS microphone permissions prompt [jcm]
  • Fixed a regression causing a missing tooltip for Fragmented MOV/MP4 [shiina424]
  • Fixed an issue with the background of audio meters being transparent causing visual artifacts [fzwoch]
  • Fixed an issue with Yes/No buttons on the Reset Docks confirmation message box not being translated [shiina424]
  • Fixed an issue preventing the Remux dialog from being used multiple times [RytoEX]