Screen recording and streaming app
OBS Studio
(also
Open Broadcaster Software
or
OBS
, for short)
[8]
is a
free and open-source
,
cross-platform
screencasting and streaming app
. It is available for
Windows
,
macOS
,
Linux distributions
, and
BSD
. The OBS Project raises funds on
Open Collective
and
Patreon
.
[9]
[10]
Overview
[
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]
OBS Studio is a
free and open-source
app for
screencasting
and
live streaming
. Written in
C
/
C++
and built with
Qt
, OBS Studio provides real-time capture, scene composition, recording, encoding, and broadcasting via
Real-Time Messaging Protocol
(RTMP),
HLS
, SRT,
RIST
or
WebRTC
. It can stream videos to any RTMP-supporting destination, including
YouTube
,
Twitch
,
Instagram
and
Facebook
.
[11]
For video encoding, OBS Studio can use the
x264
transcoder,
[12]
Intel Quick Sync Video
,
Nvidia NVENC
and the
AMD Video Coding Engine
to encode video streams into the
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
or
H.265/HEVC
formats.
[13]
It can encode multiple tracks of audio in the
AAC
format. More experienced users can choose any codecs and containers available in
libavcodec
and
libavformat
, or output the stream to a custom
FFmpeg
URL.
[14]
OBS Studio also supports plug-ins to extend its functionality.
[15]
User interface
[
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]
The main user interface is organized into five sections: scenes, sources, audio mixer, transitions, and controls. Scenes are groups of sources like live and recorded video, text and audio. The mixer panel lets the user mute the audio, and adjust the volume through virtual
faders
, and apply effects by pressing the cogwheel next to the mute button. The control panel has options for starting/stopping a stream or recording, a button to transform OBS to a more professional Studio Mode (see below), a button for opening the settings menu and a button to exit the program. The upper section has a live video preview, used to monitor and edit the current scene. The user interface can be switched to a variety of themes, including both dark and light themes, depending on what the user prefers. The layout of the interface can further be customized by undocking or adjusting the size and location of each panel.
When in Studio Mode, there are two canvas preview windows, the left one for modifying and preview of non-active scenes, while the right window is for preview of the live scene ("Preview" and "Program" respectively). In the middle there is a secondary transition button, allowing for transitioning to the non-active scene in the left window using user-defined "quick transitions".
History
[
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]
OBS Studio started out as a small project created by Lain Bailey, but quickly grew with the help of many online collaborators working both to improve OBS and to share knowledge about the program. The first version was released in August 2012.
[16]
In 2013, development started on a rewritten version known as OBS Multiplatform (later renamed OBS Studio) for multi-platform support, a more thorough feature set, and a more powerful API.
[17]
In 2016, OBS "Classic" lost support and OBS Studio became the primary version.
[18]
In March 2022, OBS was released on Steam for both Windows and Mac.
[19]
On 16 December 2021, an OBS Studio developer drew attention to an invitation-only release of
TikTok
Live Studio, which appeared to be based on OBS Studio, without acknowledgement and in violation of OBS Studio's license.
[20]
[21]
See also
[
edit
]
Free and open-source software portal
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Open Broadcaster Software ? Changelog"
. The OBS Project. Archived from
the original
on 17 May 2013
. Retrieved
13 October
2020
.
- ^
"Release 30.1.2"
. 5 April 2024
. Retrieved
23 April
2024
.
- ^
"OBS"
. The OBS Project
. Retrieved
15 January
2022
.
- ^
"Open Broadcaster Software | OBS"
. The OBS Project
. Retrieved
13 October
2020
.
- ^
"Obs-studio Download (APK, DEB, EOPKG, RPM, TGZ, TXZ, ZST)"
.
pkgs.org
. Retrieved
10 August
2021
.
- ^
"Locales"
. The OBS Project
. Retrieved
13 October
2020
.
- ^
"COPYING"
.
obsproject/obs-studio
. Retrieved
13 October
2020
– via GitHub.
- ^
"OBS Classic is no longer supported ? Here's how to easily switch to OBS Studio"
. The OBS Project. 11 October 2016
. Retrieved
26 March
2020
.
- ^
"Open Broadcaster Software ? Open Collective"
.
opencollective.com
. Retrieved
23 March
2021
.
- ^
"Hugh Bailey ("Jim") is creating the OBS Project"
.
Patreon
. Retrieved
23 March
2021
.
- ^
Wilde, Tyler (4 December 2012).
"How to stream games with Open Broadcaster: a fast, free livestreaming application ? News ? PC Gamer"
.
PC Gamer
. Future Publishing Limited
. Retrieved
2 June
2013
.
- ^
"x264 Home Page"
. VideoLan Organization
. Retrieved
11 March
2011
.
In addition to being free to use under the GNU GPL, x264 is also available under a commercial license from x264 LLC and CoreCodec.
- ^
"General Performance And Encoding Issues"
.
obsproject.com
.
- ^
"Surround Sound Streaming And Recording | OBS"
.
obsproject.com
.
- ^
"Plugins ? OBS Studio 24.0.0 documentation"
.
obsproject.com
.
- ^
Bailey, Hugh (31 August 2012).
"I made a streaming application so I could stream startcraft. Now it's open source and free for everyone"
.
Reddit
. Retrieved
10 May
2021
.
- ^
"obs-studio/README (first commit)"
.
GitHub
. Retrieved
19 November
2021
.
- ^
"OBS Classic is no longer supported ? Here's how to easily switch to OBS Studio"
. The OBS Project. 11 October 2016
. Retrieved
30 April
2017
.
- ^
"OBS Studio ? Steam News Hub"
.
store.steampowered.com
. Retrieved
20 September
2022
.
- ^
Roth, Emma (20 December 2021).
"TikTok's new Live Studio app allegedly violates OBS' licensing policy"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
14 March
2022
.
- ^
Roettgers, Janko (20 December 2021).
"TikTok is accused of violating GPL with new livestreaming software"
.
Protocol
. Retrieved
14 March
2022
.
External links
[
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]