OBS Studio review

What OBS Studio is

OBS ("Open Broadcaster Software") Studio is a desktop app for recording and live streaming video. It is developed in the open by volunteers and contributors, licensed under the GPL v2.0, and funded by donations and sponsors. As of October 2026 the current stable release is 32.2.2 (August 2026), with version 33 in release-candidate testing, according to the project's GitHub releases.

You build scenes from sources: a display or window capture, a webcam, a capture card, images, text, browser sources and audio inputs. You switch between scenes live, mix the audio, and either record to a file, stream to platforms like YouTube and Twitch, or both at once.

Key features

• Real-time capture and mixing of screens, windows, webcams, capture cards and media.
• Unlimited scenes with custom transitions, plus Studio Mode to preview a scene before it goes live.
• Audio mixer with per-source filters such as noise suppression, noise gate and gain, and VST plugin support.
• Recording and streaming with hardware encoders on supported graphics cards and Apple Silicon, and a choice of formats.
• Multiview to monitor up to 8 scenes at once.
• Hotkeys for almost everything, including scene switching and push-to-talk.
• Dockable interface you can rearrange or pop out into windows.
• Plugins and scripting through a plugin API and Lua or Python scripts, with a large community ecosystem.
• Virtual camera, so your OBS scene can appear as a webcam in Zoom, Teams or Meet.

Pricing

Get it from obsproject.com or the official Microsoft Store, Steam and Flathub listings.

Strengths

• Free with no catch. No watermark, ads, account or upsell.
• Enormous flexibility. From a simple screen recording to a multi-camera live show, the same app scales.
• Cross-platform. Windows, Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux are all first-class.
• Local and private. Recordings go to your own disk; nothing is uploaded unless you choose to stream.
• Huge community. Tutorials, plugins, scene templates and forum help are easy to find.
• Actively maintained. Regular releases, with a public changelog and beta program.

Weaknesses

• Learning curve. Scenes, sources, encoders, bitrates and audio routing confuse newcomers; it's the most common complaint in user feedback.
• Troubleshooting is on you. Black screens on window capture, dropped frames and audio sync issues are frequent forum topics, and fixes often depend on your hardware and settings.
• No editor. You'll need a separate video editor to trim or polish recordings.
• No sharing. There is no instant share link like Loom's; you upload files yourself.
• No transcription or captions built in.
• Mac permissions. macOS asks for screen and audio recording permissions, which adds setup steps.

Privacy and security

OBS runs entirely on your computer. Recordings are saved to the folder you choose, and the app doesn't need an account. Its source code is public on GitHub, so anyone can inspect it. When you stream, video goes to the service you configure (YouTube, Twitch and so on), under that service's terms. Download only from the official sources above to avoid repackaged copies.

Platforms

• Windows 10 and 11 (installer, zip, Microsoft Store or Steam).
• macOS 13 or newer, with Apple Silicon and Intel builds.
• Linux: Flatpak on Flathub and an official PPA for Ubuntu 24.04 and newer.

Getting started

On first launch OBS offers an auto-configuration wizard that asks whether you want to stream or record and then picks resolution, frame rate and encoder settings for your hardware. That gets most people a working setup. From there, a typical screen recording needs three things: a Display Capture (or Window Capture) source, your microphone, and desktop audio. Recordings go to the folder set under Settings, Output.

A few settings make the biggest difference. Use a hardware encoder if your computer has one, which takes load off the processor. Record to a format that survives crashes (OBS can remux it to MP4 afterwards from the File menu). And put your microphone and desktop audio on separate audio tracks if you plan to edit, so you can fix levels later.

Who it suits, and who it doesn't

• Good fit: streamers and YouTubers who need scenes, overlays and live switching.
• Good fit: teachers and trainers recording lessons with screen and webcam together.
• Good fit: Linux users, who have fewer polished recording tools to choose from.
• Poor fit: people who want to record and share a quick clip in seconds.
• Poor fit: anyone who wants editing, captions or transcripts in the same app.

Using OBS to record meetings

Plenty of people use OBS to record Zoom, Teams or Google Meet calls: add a window or display capture plus your microphone and desktop audio, and press Start Recording. It works well when you want a video of the call. What you get is a video file, though, with no transcript, no speaker labels and no notes. If what you actually need from a meeting is the words, a dedicated recorder is less work. Our guides to recording computer audio and recording a Zoom meeting cover the options. Whatever you use, some places require everyone's consent to record a call.

Hark (made by us) is one such option: it records your microphone and computer audio on Windows and Linux (microphone only on a Mac), transcribes on your computer, and labels who spoke. It records audio and screenshots, not video, so for a video recording of your screen OBS is still the tool.

Alternatives

• OBS vs Streamlabs: Streamlabs Desktop is built on OBS with themes, alerts and a paid tier.
• Loom: quick screen recordings with instant share links, for work.
• Descript: record and edit video by editing the transcript.
• Built-in tools: Xbox Game Bar and Snipping Tool on Windows, the Screenshot toolbar (Shift-Command-5) on Mac, for simple captures.

Bottom line

OBS Studio is the best free recording and streaming software for people willing to spend an evening learning it. If you just want a quick clip to share, or a transcript of a meeting, simpler tools will get you there faster.