OBS Studio is a desktop application for recording video and broadcasting live streams.
It combines capture, compositing, encoding and streaming in one interface, letting users build a production from multiple visual and audio sources rather than simply recording a single window. Scenes provide reusable layouts, while sources can include displays, windows, cameras, capture devices, images, text and media. The program is suitable for everything from straightforward screen recording to multi-scene live productions.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Create any number of scenes and switch between them during recording or streaming.
- Combine display, window, camera, image, text, browser and media sources in a scene.
- Preview scene changes in Studio Mode before sending them to the live output.
- Apply video filters including chroma key, colour correction, masking, cropping and scaling.
- Apply audio filters such as noise suppression, noise gate, gain and compression.
- Use the integrated audio mixer to control individual sources independently.
- Configure transitions between scenes and assign transition behaviour to specific scene changes.
- Record locally while streaming, with separate controls for recording and broadcast output.
- Use hardware-supported video encoders where suitable drivers and hardware are available.
- Arrange and resize sources directly on the preview canvas.
- Create source groups and nested scenes for more complex production layouts.
- Assign hotkeys to scene switching, source visibility, recording, streaming and other actions.
- Extend functionality through plugins and scripts.
- Store different production setups as profiles and scene collections.
- Configure output resolution, frame rate, bitrate and recording format.
- Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows.
Website: github.com/obsproject/obs-studio
Support:
Developer: OBS Project and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

OBS is written in C and C++. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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