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OBS Description

Open-source software for live streaming and video recording. You can download and stream quickly and easily on Windows, Mac, and Linux. High-performance real-time audio/video capturing and mixing. You can create scenes that combine multiple sources, including images, text, window captures, webcams, capture card and webcams. You can create unlimited scenes that you can seamlessly switch between using custom transitions. Intuitive audio mixer that includes per-source filters like noise suppression, gain, and noise gate. VST plugin support gives you full control. Easy to use configuration options. You can add new sources, duplicate existing ones, or modify their properties easily. The Streamlined Settings panel allows you to access a variety of configuration options to modify every aspect of your broadcast. Modular Dock UI allows you the flexibility to arrange the layout as you wish. Each Dock can be popped out to its own window.

Pricing

Free Version:
Yes

Integrations

Reviews - 8 Verified Reviews

Total
ease
features
design
support

Company Details

Company:
Open Broadcaster Software
Headquarters:
United States
Website:
obsproject.com

Media

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Product Details

Platforms
Windows
Mac
Linux
Type of Training
Documentation

OBS Features and Options

Screen Recording Software

Annotations / Drawing
Audio Capture
Backup
Collaboration Tools
File Sharing
Multi-Screen Recording
Screen Capture
Speech-to-Text
Video Editing
YouTube Uploading

Live Streaming Software

Access Control
Audience Analytics
Audience Engagement
Browser-based
Customizable Branding
Encoding
Event Scheduling
Live Streaming Production
Moderation
Monetization Tools
Multi-Screen / Split-Screen
Multiple Camera Feeds
Multistreaming
Session Recording
Social Media Integration
Streaming Platform Integration

OBS Lists

OBS User Reviews

Write a Review
  • Name: Mark M.
    Job Title: Streaming Engineer
    Length of product use: 2+ Years
    Used How Often?: Weekly
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 100 - 499
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Simply great

    Date: Feb 16 2024

    Summary: Great experience. Of course, there is a learning curve, but that is definitely worth it. No commercial software encoder is this good.

    Positive: Can do everything you want and more. The greatest piece of open source software I know. Nothing bad to say about it.

    Negative: Nothing bad to say about it, really. The documentation and error handling could be improved, but given some time they probably will.

    Read More...
  • Name: Karel M.
    Job Title: Freelancer
    Length of product use: 2+ Years
    Used How Often?: Daily
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 1 - 25
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    My Experience with OBS

    Date: Jan 05 2023

    Summary: I love OBS and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for live stream or recording software.

    Positive: I mainly use this for live streaming on Twitch and YouTube. I love the fact that it is free to use and for me it is the best software to use for anyone who is looking to live stream or record. It is also great for those people who do podcasts.

    Negative: I do not think it is the easiest software to adjust to and there is a slight learning curve but once I took the time to learn all the features and how to use them it became the perfect software for me. I also think it lacks features that allow for people to easily set up their live streams.

    Read More...
  • Name: Anonymous (Verified)
    Job Title: Office Manager
    Length of product use: Less than 6 months
    Used How Often?: Monthly
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 1 - 25
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    A Very Novice Friendly Software

    Date: Jun 10 2022

    Summary: OBS is a great tool for screen capture. There is a small learning curve and you will have to tinker with the settings a bit when starting out, but the option to re-use your previous settings makes for a quick second start.

    Positive: -They have a very clear tutorial on their website
    -Once you have everything set up, it is very easy to use the exact same settings by saving profiles and scenes
    -Automatically exports your videos to a folder you choose
    -Very versatile in usage
    -It's free

    Negative: -Learning curve
    -It's a very heavy software, so not every computer can handle running OBS and getting smooth results

    Read More...
  • Name: Anonymous (Verified)
    Job Title: Student
    Length of product use: 2+ Years
    Used How Often?: Weekly
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 1 - 25
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    The best recording and streaming tool

    Edited: Mar 02 2022

    Summary: Overall, OBS Studio is a great choice for streaming and recording videos. I've used OBS in 2021 for a webcam on Google Meet in my classes, so I customized it to the limit. It's a great tool - and I would encourage anyone to learn and use OBS.

    Positive: Highly customizable - You can install plugins, and edit OBS as you like.
    Open source.
    Totally free - you don't need to pay a single penny.
    Integration with streaming services (Twitch, YouTube, etc.)

    Negative: No cons for me, at least. I haven't found any issues.

    Read More...
  • Name: Stefan L.
    Job Title: Consultant
    Length of product use: 1-2 Years
    Used How Often?: Weekly
    Role: User, Administrator
    Organization Size: 1,000 - 4,999
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    If you are serious about streaming, OBS is your home base

    Date: Jun 19 2021

    Summary: If one is or wants to become a streamer, one better gets familiar with OBS. If there is something you want to do while streaming online (like bringing a cellphone video conference call into a live stream), there is likely a way to do it. Through in that it is completely free, very capable and reliable - and you've got the arguably best video streaming tool.

    Positive: -the 'quasi-standard' tool for streamers
    -lots of flexibility and capability build into the base software
    -add-ons expand the capabilities even more
    -totally free ! yet professional level reliability and capabilities (for the serious streamer)

    Negative: -on the edge of too much capability
    -menu structure and where all the options are takes some getting used to
    -add-on management needs improvement

    Read More...
  • Name: Anonymous (Verified)
    Job Title: Software Developer
    Length of product use: 1-2 Years
    Used How Often?: Weekly
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 100 - 499
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    The Best Livestreaming Solution

    Date: Jul 02 2020

    Summary: OBS is an excellent video recording and screen capture tool but when it comes to livestreaming it is the best in the business. It provides great performance and provides lots of configurations to suit any needs. The best part is it is totally free.

    Positive: Free and open source
    Video recording
    Great performance
    Live streaming to multiple outlets
    Game Capture with good frame rates
    Highly configurable
    Available across operating systems - Windows , mac and Linux

    Negative: No Cons for OBS. It does everything it claims to be and is free. One suggestion would be to release a lite version for the less technical individuals.

    Read More...
  • Name: Nicolas L.
    Job Title: Assistant Professor
    Length of product use: Less than 6 months
    Used How Often?: Daily
    Role: User
    Organization Size: 1,000 - 4,999
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Great Video recording tool

    Date: Jun 18 2020

    Summary: I've started to use OBS Studio to record my lecture during the Covid-19 pandemic and it didn't take long to master its capability. You can do a lot of things with it from very basic recording to very advanced scene creation.
    Although, it something I haven't used much, but the process of installing and incorporating plugins could be improved in my opinion.
    OBS Studio is a great program. It can be configured to your needs as a recording program and even create a professional-level final product for sites such as YouTube. Personally, I recommend this tool.

    Positive: OBS is really easy to setup and use. I find its layout/GUI very intuitive and easy to navigate.
    It is very easy to add different sources for both video and audio and arrange them (there are multiple options for sources) . It is also very easy to convert/remix recorded files into a different format (although I personally use a different software for that).
    You can easily customize and optimize the bitrate and output size. This is great if your internet signal isn't great (streaming mode), or if you want to record a HD video for a presentation (recording mode). You can adjust accordingly

    Negative: One little thing that I find could be improved a little bit is the visibility of the "recording", "paused" status. As you pause a recording or resume a recording, you want it to be clearly visible. It happened to me a few times, that I hadn't click properly on the resume button or have clicked accidentally on the pause button without noticing it.

    Read More...
  • Name: Mohammed A.
    Job Title: Content Creator
    Length of product use: 2+ Years
    Used How Often?: Yearly
    Role: User, Administrator
    Organization Size: 1 - 25
    Features
    Design
    Ease
    Pricing
    Support
    Likelihood to Recommend to Others
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Fine for free software

    Edited: Dec 03 2022

    Summary: I used it on Twitch a couple of times and my PC was running like crazy. I am not sure why using it consume a lot of CPU and GPU comparing to other softwares.
    I wish they fix the user interface or adding a better overlay.

    Positive: Has many features like adding input and output.
    Free software with these features.
    Available on multiple OS Windows, Mac and Linux.

    Negative: Bad user interface.
    Hard to use.
    Very heavy on CPU and GPU.

    Read More...