What Does OBS Mean? What’s OBS Studio! [Full Guide]

OBS or Open Broadcaster Software is an open-source, free, cross-platform, screen-casting, and live streaming software.

OBS is suitable for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Now, let’s discuss about what does OBS mean and how to use it.

Also read: A Complete Guide To OBS Hotkeys

What Is OBS used for?

Table of Contents

So, what’s OBS? What are the functions of OBS? Let me explain.

OBS Studio has a number of useful capabilities, including live video production, live streaming, recording, screenshots, encoding, scene building, and more.

It allows you to use a digital camera to record footage from video conferencing or live streaming networks.

You may screen-cast your favorite videos to any social media network, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and any Real-Time Messaging Protocol destination, using OBS Studio.

OBS UI (User Interface)

The main interface is divided into 5 segments – sources, scenes, audio-mixer, scene transitions, and controls.

Scenes are a group of your audio and video layers, from where you can add your stock audio and video file.

The audio mixer panel helps you to adjust the volume using virtual faders or mute the audio. You can also apply effects by clicking on the cogwheel/gear shape button next to the mute option.

The controls has an option to start and stop a recording or live stream.

There are two preview modes in studio mode under Control. The left window is used to change and preview non-active scenes. The right panel is used to preview live screenings.

A slider button in the center can be used to switch between live and non-live scenes when needed.

A video preview will appear when you modify or manage a current scene. The user interface offers a wide range of customization choices and themes from which to pick.

How To Download And Install OBS Studio?

Follow the steps below to download and install the OBS studio on your PC.

Visit the official OBS website and select your platform to download the preferable OBS version – Windows, macOS, or Linux.

Wait till the download completes.

After download completes, launch the installation wizard by double-clicking on the downloaded file.

Now you have to just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Click on Finish to complete the process.

You can launch OBS studio directly from the installation window or by double-clicking on the desktop icon.

OBS Plugins

To extend the operational capacity of your OBS studio, plug-ins are used. There are various plug-ins available in the OBS. You can choose according to your purpose from the official OBS website.

Here in this article, we have discussed some of them:

Virtual Cam Filter is one of the plug-ins you can use in the OBS Studio software.

This plug-in is used to add virtual filter to an output source and scene.

Recording Start and Stop Beep Sound: By default, when you want to start or stop recording you hear no sound. But you can add sound by installing the Stream/Recording Start/Stop Beep (SRBeep) 2.1.0 plug-in.

OBS-MIDI is an OBS Plug-in uses to trigger events in OBS and vice versa, can enhance your OBS using experience.

To add the OBS plug-in to your application just go to their website and search for the plug in. Select the plug-in and click on the download button.

How To Add Recorded Video In OBS?

To add a Video file in OBS you have to follow the steps to do so:

Click on add(+) button on the sources section and go on the Media Source

From the Create and Select window, create a new one or add the existing file, name it and then select Ok.

From the next window, click on the Browse option and choose the folder destination for saving the recorded files.

How To Live Stream In OBS?

After the launch, click on the Start Streaming button from the bottom right corner.

You can configure the streaming server from the stream tab under the Settings option.

You can use OBS to stream directly from Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook. Also, use custom server by clicking the live streaming custom button.

After choosing the streaming location, OBS will start live streaming for that particular server when you click on the Start Streaming button.

You can also assign hotkeys to Start and Stop Streaming under the assign hotkeys section.

How To Start Recording Videos on OBS Studio?

Click on the Start Recording button on the bottom right corner under Controls section to start recording via OBS.

In the primary OBS window, you can easily watch the video, and the mixer may also be used to manage the audio.

In OBS, the video bit rate determines the video quality. You can even record 4K videos on OBS. You can also change the recording format from the Recording tab.