Download & install
Is OBS Studio free?
Yes. OBS Studio is completely free and open source (GPL). No watermarks, no recording limits and no paid tiers. Download from here or obsproject.com.
What is the latest OBS version for Windows?
OBS Studio 31.0.3 is the current stable release. Download OBS-Studio-31.0.3-Windows.exe from the download page.
OBS Studio official download site — where?
The official site is obsproject.com/download. The GitHub releases page is also official: github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/releases.
Settings & setup
Best encoder for OBS on Windows?
Use NVENC H.264 (NVIDIA), AMF H.264 (AMD) or QSV (Intel) hardware encoders. Only use x264 if no hardware encoder is available. See best settings guide.
How to install OBS plugins on Windows?
Download the plugin .zip or .exe from GitHub. Place .dll in C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit\. Restart OBS. See the plugins guide.
How to use OBS as a webcam in Zoom?
Start Virtual Camera in OBS Controls panel, then select OBS Virtual Camera in Zoom/Teams settings. See the virtual camera guide.
Fix issues
OBS black screen — quick fix?
Run OBS as administrator. Use Game Capture instead of Display Capture. See the black screen fix guide.
OBS encoding overloaded — fix?
Switch to NVENC/AMF hardware encoder. Lower bitrate or output resolution. See best settings.
OBS not recording — fix?
Check recording path has write permission. Switch to MKV format. See the not recording guide.