How To Set Up OBS For Streaming Or Recording A Video (Beginner Guide)

How to set up OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) for streaming or recording a video.

OBS is a a free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux. OBS is sponsored, among others, by YouTube, Twitch and Facebook.

These are the notes I took while watching the excellent tutorials made by Kevin Stratvert on Youtube (playlist).

After you’re done learning how to record your video with OBS, you can check out my post on How To Edit With DaVinci Resolve 17.

First download, install and open up OBS Studio. Then, set it up as explained in this tutorial.

How To Set Up A Scene In OBS

Set up (create) a “Scene“. The scene is the black rectangle area to which you can add different sources. You can create multiple scenes and then name them for clarity.

You can right-click on an existing scene’s name and Duplicate it. This is a convenient way to create another scene that already has a bunch of sources associated with it.

To add a webcam just click on the “+” icon and then on “Video Capture Device“.

Scene Transitions

If you have more scenes set up (e.g. one with a webcam and another without it), you might want to switch from one scene to another during a recording. You can do so by just clicking on the scene’s name down in the Scene panel.

A smoother way to switch between scenes is to set shortcut keys. You can do so by going to File/Settings/Hotkeys/Switch to scene and setting a different hotkey for each scene.

You can also choose how to transition between scenes by picking a transition’s type in the “Scene Transitions” panel.

Scene Collections

A Scene Collection is a group of scenes. Each scene then has a set of sources associated with it. This is convenient when you set up a collection for, say, a YouTube videos setup, then another collection for a Streaming setup. By having collections you can easily switch to a setup to another, while finding all your “pre-sets” there.

How To Add A Source In OBS

To add a “Source” (display, audio, background, camera…) to a Scene, simply click on the “+“icon in the Sources panel.

1. Add Display

Click on “Display Capture” to show your computer screen. To show your mouse movements toggle “Capture Cursor” on (more info on how to highlight your mouse cursor).

Fix Black Screen Issue (On Laptops)

If the screen appears black, it’s because you have 2 graphic cards installed. In that case, go to your Windows search bar, type in “graphic settings”, choose “desktop app”, click browse, navigate to where OBS is on your system, most likely in C:\ProgramFiles\obs-studio\bin\64bit and click on obs64.exe and then click on ADD, OPTIONS, POWER SAVING or HIGH PERFORMANCE, SAVE, now close and reopen OBS.

2. Add Camera

Click on “Video Capture Device” to add a webcam to the recording. You can then resize it (or crop it) and move the webcam image across the screen to place it wherever you want.

3. Add Audio

To add a microphone click on “Audio Input Capture” in the Source panel. Add it and then rename it “microphone”, for your convenience. Click OK and the Properties screen will show up. Here, under Device, select your microphone. Now you’ll see your microphone working in the Audio Mixer panel.

If you also want to record your system’s sound, go to “Audio Output Capture” in the Source panel. Again, rename it accordingly and within Properties choose the Device you want to capture the sound from.

You can add multiple audio tracks to a recording. To do so, go up and click on File/Settings/Output/Recording. Here you can indicate how many audio tracks you want to include. Back on the main screen, in the Audio Mixer you’ll see all of your audio sources. Click on the Settings gear and then on Advanced Audio Properties. Here you can define which audio source should be on which track.

Once you bring your video file into your editing program (e.g. DaVinci Resolve) you’ll now see that it has multiple audio tracks attached to it, and now you can adjust the levels all independently from one another.

Additional OBS Tweaks

Adjust Source Size And Position

To resize the dimensions of the webcam (or the display capture) on the scene, or to modify its position, select it in the Sources, and drag around the red border that appears and then click on the item and drag it on the screen.

Crop Sources

To crop a source, click the ALT key while you drag the red rectangle in.

Crop Screen

If you only want to record a PORTION of your screen, right-click on “display capture” and then on “filters”, then click on the plus “+” icon, then “crop/pad” and then crop portions of your screen as needed.

Drag And Drop Sources Into A Scene

You can click on a file on your desktop, then drag it and drop it onto a scene.

How To Add A Color Source To A Scene

Let’s say you want to add a border or a background to a source. Just go down to the “+” icon and click on “Color Source“. Pick a color (or use the color picker to match another color on the scene). Adjust the size of it. Put it in the desired position.

How To Use Source Layers

If you want a source (like the color source just created) to appear behind another source, just click on it the Sources panel and drag and drop it lower down the list, behind the source that you want to be in the foreground.

How To Show/Hide Sources

Click on the “eye” icon in the Sources list to hide a source from the scene.

How To Lock Sources

If you want to lock some sources in their current position to avoid mistakenly changing their position, just click on the “lock” icon next to their name in the Sources panel.

How To Group Sources

Hold down the SHIFT key while you select the all sources that you want to group, then right-click and choose “Group Selected Items“. Now give the group a name.

How To Use Audio And Video Filters

When you select one of your sources in the Sources panel, you’ll see some buttons that appear right above (Properties and Filters). For example select the Webcam and then Filters. By clicking on the “+” icon you’ll see all the available Audio/Video Filters and Effect Filters.

Transform A Source

Right-click on a Source, then select “Transform” and you’ll find options to rotate items, flip, center, stretch-to-screen or fit-to-screen.

Audio Mixer In OBS

To the right of “Source”, you have “Audio Mixer“, where you can set your system audio (volume), your microphone audio, and even your webcam audio.

OBS Streaming & Recording Settings: Auto-configuration Wizard

Now set the Recording settings, by clicking on the “Tools” menu, then “Auto-configuration wizard”, which is the easiest way to optimize the settings for either recording or streaming.

Pick the resolution that matches that of your display, and as FPS (frames per second) chose a higher frame rate if you are recording a game, and a lower frame rate if you are recording things like your desktop or an application.

If you want to tweak the settings click on File/Settings/Output and then customize your streaming and recording settings.

For even more control you can click on “Output Mode” and select “Advanced”.

How To Record a Video In OBS

Now go to “Controls” on the right and click on Start Recording. At any moment you can pause and then resume your recording. To set Shortcut keys to start and stop the recording, go to File-Settings-Hotkeys and set your preferred shortcut keys.

Your Recordings

If you click “stop” and later you want to go back to your recording, click on the “file” menu, then on “Show Recordings“. There you will see the folder with all your recordings in MKV format (this format allows for the file to be saved even if OBS fails/crashes mid-way through a recording).

Remux Recordings

If you want to edit the file, or upload it to YouTube, you’ll need to convert the MKV file to MP4. Click on File/Remux recordings select the file, hit “remux” and you’ll find the mp4 in the same location where the MKV file was.

You can set OBS to auto remux your files as mp4. To do so, click on Files/Settings/Advanced and under Recording you’ll see the option to “Automatically remux to mp4“.

Change Default Recording To MP4

Go to File/Settings/Output and change the default Recording Format to mp4. You’ll get a warning that mp4 files will be unrecoverable if for whatever reason you cannot finalize the file (e.g. computer crashes).

Additional Customizations To OBS

How To Customize The User Interface

Just click on a Panel and place it wherever you want on the screen. If you want to go back to the original settings, just right-click on a panel and select “Reset UI“.

How To Set Up Multiple Profiles

This is convenient if you want different setups for different purposes (e.g. streaming vs recording). This way you can store all of your specific settings in a specific profile.

Studio Mode

In the Controls panel you can find Studio Mode.

It shows you 2 panes. On the left you’ll see Preview, and on the right you’ll see Program (it shows what’s being recorded or streamed). You can make adjustments inside Preview, then click on Transition and show it live to your audience.

Chroma Key / Green Background

You can stand in front of a green background or a green screen and you can remove that green background. In OBS, select the Source that has the green background, then click on Filters (just above) and add an Effect Filter for Chroma Key. Then select color green and that eliminates the green background. Now you can add any type of background behind you.

How To Bring Multiple Guests And Cameras Into OBS

Say you want to have guests joining your recording and you want to have multiple camera streams. OBS Ninja makes this really easy. Go to OBS Ninja and click on “Add A Camera to OBS”. Select the camera you want to use, check the audio source, and then click on Start. This will provide you with a url. Copy that url and add it a Browser Source within OBS. Now you can have any number of cameras or any number of guests in OBS.

How To Zoom In & Out And Annotate The Screen In OBS

When you are recording in OBS, you might want to zoom in on part of your screen, or annotate on the screen. There is a tool called ZoomIt, made by Microsoft, and it’s free to download. Once you install it, you can press Ctrl + 1 and that’ll zoom in. And you can also start annotating your screen.

OBS Help And Forum

For more help and tips on how to set up and use OBS Studio, check out the official OBS Wiki and OBS Forum.

Free Post Production Tools

For a list of free post-production tools (video editing, audio editing, composition, motion graphics, 3D graphics) check out this list.

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