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Open Broadcaster Software

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Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is an open-source cross-platform video recording and live-streaming application. It provides an easy to pick up and extensible workflow with customizable scenes, volume mixers, transitions, filters and more.

Installation

Install one of the following packages:

Tip OBS Studio is also officially distributed as a Flatpak.

Configuration

For easy configuration, Tools > Auto-Configuration Wizard can quickly set up base settings for both recording and live-streaming. The wizard auto-selects bitrate, resolution and encoder based on your hardware (and network connection if streaming was set up).

Hardware video acceleration

Hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding is best for performance, CPU/GPU usage and quality. The encoder can be changed in Settings > Output > Streaming > Encoder (may have to first set Settings > Output > Output Mode to Advanced). See Hardware video acceleration if a hardware encoder is not detected.

Recording output

By default, OBS will output recordings in the user's home path with spaces in the video filename and the same encoder selected for streaming. The output path, filesize, file format, filename style and more can be changed in Settings > Output > Recording.

Hotkeys

By default, OBS assigns no hotkeys. All hotkey pairs highlighted in red upon selection can use the same keybind for toggling the pair's function.

Hotkeys may not work in Wayland by default; see #Wayland for troubleshooting.

Virtual camera output

Starting from version 26.1, OBS supports virtual camera output on Linux. To use it, install v4l2loopback, then the Start Virtual Camera button will appear in OBS. If the v4l2loopback kernel module is not loaded yet, OBS will automatically try to load it and ask for administrative privileges to do so (using pkexec(1)).

Tips and tricks

Capturing via Vulkan/OpenGL

The obs-vkcapture plugin adds the capability to capture Vulkan or OpenGL programs by hooking into those APIs directly, rather than using generic Xorg or Wayland window capture APIs. To use it, install obs-vkcaptureAUR, as well as lib32-obs-vkcaptureAUR if capturing 32-bit applications. Follow the instructions in the GitHub repository to setup a Game Capture using the plugin.

Encoding using GStreamer

obs-gstreamer is a project which provides:

  • An encoder plugin for using GStreamer for encoding.
  • Plugins for using a GStreamer pipeline as a source, video filter, or audio filter. This is an advanced capability intended for users familiar with GStreamer usage.
Note Historically, the GStreamer VAAPI plugins performed better than their FFmpeg counterparts on AMD cards; with the introduction of texture sharing support, FFmpeg encoders are now equally performant according to upstream.

To use obs-gstreamer for encoding, install obs-gstreamerAUR (or obs-vaapiAUR to get the standalone plugins) and change OBS' encoder to VAAPI H.26x/VPx/AV1 on <device name>. If OBS gives an error regarding encoders you might need to install the gst-plugin-va package.

Manual plugins installation

You can manually install plugins to the ~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/ directory. An example folder structure is: 

~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/plugin_name/bin/64bit/plugin_name.so
~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/plugin_name/data/locale/en-US.ini

Record rectangular area

On KDE Plasma, it is possible to select a rectangular area for the recording using the helper script obs-rectangle-area-selector.

Troubleshooting

Wayland

Since OBS is a Qt application, see Wayland#Qt to make it work under Wayland. OBS has upgraded from Qt 5 to Qt 6 since version 28, so installation of qt6-wayland is required for the newer versions. See PipeWire#WebRTC screen sharing to enable Wayland screen capture.

Global shortcuts

While Wayland applications can set up global shortcuts through the XDG desktop portal, OBS currently has no support for it[1], meaning that the global shortcuts set in OBS only work when OBS is in focus.

Shortcuts via XDG desktop portal

The obs-wayland-hotkeys plugin can be used to provide XDG desktop portal functionality. Install the obs-wayland-hotkeys-gitAUR package, and OBS should prompt to register global shortcuts the next time it is launched.

Shortcuts via OBS WebSocket

OBS can be controlled through its WebSocket interface, which can be enabled in OBS by going to Tools > WebSocket Server Settings and selecting Enable WebSocket server.

The WebSocket password and port can be found in WebSocket Server Settings > Show Connect Info.

WebSocket clients:

  • obs-cmd — OBS cli for obs-websocket v5
https://github.com/grigio/obs-cmd || obs-cmdAUR
  • obs-websocket-py — Python standalone script for OBS shortcuts
https://github.com/hirak99/obs-control || not packaged? search in AUR
  • obsws-python — Python SDK for OBS Studio WebSocket v5.0
https://github.com/aatikturk/obsws-python || python-obswsAUR

Then depending on your environment bind WebSocket client commands to keyboard shortcuts — e.g. in KDE Plasma go to System Settings > Shortcuts to set a custom shortcut.

QuickSync returns "Error creating a MFX session"

This error can occur if the right Intel QuickSync drivers are not installed. 

[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x6111a37c1040] Error creating a MFX session: -9.
Device creation failed: -1313558101.

To use QuickSync, install intel-media-sdk for Iron Lake (Gen5) to Ice Lake (Gen10) GPUs, or vpl-gpu-rt for Tiger Lake (Gen11) and newer GPUs.

For more information, refer to FFmpeg#Intel QuickSync (QSV).


Plugin load error: frontend-tools

If the following message appears when starting OBS: 

Plugin Load Error

 The following OBS plugins failed to load:
 
 frontend-tools
 
 Please update or remove these plugins.

Install the luajit optional dependency (preferably with the install reason as a dependency) and restart OBS.

See also