What is OBS Studio anyway?
OBS Studio is free software for video recording and livestreaming. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
How much does OBS Studio cost?
OBS Studio is free and open source. It doesn’t cost anything at all.
Beware of websites and social media posts offering you a “cracked” version of the software. Only download the software from the official website.
Where can I download OBS Studio?
You can download OBS Studio from OBSProject.com.
How can I use multiple audio inputs in OBS Studio?
Aditya writes:
How do I add a second audio input as a source in addition to the default mic on my laptop?
This will depend a little bit on the type of audio inputs and hardware you’re working with.
If you have a device that supports ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output), like the Rodecaster Pro, you can use the OBS ASIO plugin which we have discussed previously.
If you want to use a default microphone (such as one built into a laptop) as well as an external USB microphone you should be able to add these as separate audio input sources.
To add an audio input:
- Go to the plus symbol in the Sources panel to add a new source
- Select Audio Input Capture
- Select “Create new” and give your source a meaningful name
- Select the Device from the list available
- Click OK
You can repeat this for multiple compatible audio input devices.
It’s important to check the Advanced Audio Settings. To do this you can go to the button with three stacked dots on it, and click Advanced Audio Properties.
Note if you have the Active Sources Only checkbox selected you will only see audio devices visible on your current scene. To see all audio sources in your scene collection you can uncheck this.
It’s a good idea to check the following:
- Audio monitoring:
- Monitor Off means it will reach the stream when enabled but you won’t hear it in your headphones;
- Monitor off (Mute output): You will hear it in your headphones but it won’t reach the stream;
- Monitor and Output: You will hear it in your headphones and it will reach the stream.
- Volume:
- You can adjust this within the Advanced Audio Settings by decibel (dB) or you can select the percentage (%) checkbox and enter a numeric value. [Outside of the Advanced Audio Properties you can adjust a slider in the Audio Mixer.]
- Tracks:
- Double check that the audio is going to a specific track that is being used when either streaming or recording. If none of these checkboxes are ticked, the audio won’t be recorded or streamed.
Toggling the visibility of an audio source will mute it in your scene.
Audio sources will only be available in scenes they are added to.
If you’re having an interview with another person, and they have to step away for a little while, it can be useful to move to another scene that doesn’t include their microphone and camera.
How can I capture my screen in OBS Studio for vertical video?
Aditya writes:
Can you explain the difference between setting up scenes and profiles for screengrabs on desktop vs shooting for mobile formats (9:16) – YT Shorts and TikTok?
How to change your video size
To change the dimensions of your video:
- Go to the File menu and select Settings
- Click on the Video category
- Adjust the Base (Canvas) Resolution
- Click OK
You can use these dimensions:
- Horizontal Video: 1920×1080 (Aspect ratio of 9:16)
- Vertical Video: 1080×1920 (Aspect ratio of 16:9)
- Square Video: 1080×1080 (Aspect ratio of 1:1)
It’s important to note that these settings are for all of OBS Studio and are not confined not a particular scene collection. You will need to manually go in and switch these settings each time you decide you want to work with a different orientation/size. (For this reason I do recommend running a portable version of OBS Studio for people who do a lot of video in different sizes and orientations.)
Working with different scene collections
Assuming you are happy to do everything within a single installation of OBS Studio, you can still better organise vertical video assets and horizontal video assets by having separate scene collections.
You can go to the Scene Collection menu and see options to:
- Create new a scene collection
- Duplicate an existing scene collection
- Rename a scene collection
- Remove a scene collection
- Import or Export a scene collection
I recommend including words like “Vertical” or “Horizontal” in the names of your scene collection so you can easily differentiate between them.
If you’ve built out a scene collection for a project in one orientation and would like to repurpose it for another, you can use the Duplicate option. You will still need to tweak many of your elements after you switch the Base (Canvas) Resolution, however this can be easier than starting completely from scratch.
Switching your monitor for better source capture
If your monitor (and monitor stand) can support vertical orientation, you can move the monitor into that position and adjust your Windows setting to capture your screen in vertical orientation.
I have two monitors on monitor arms. I recently discovered that I could turn the monitors on those arms to show the screen
If your monitor doesn’t allow you to reposition it in this fashion, there are a number of USB-C portable monitors that might work for you.
- Right-click on the Desktop to go to “Display Settings” (or find it from your Windows settings)
- Select the display that you wish to adjust. (If you’re not sure which is which, you can click on the Identify button and a number will be displayed on each monitor to describe which one it is.)
- Scroll down to Display orientation. From here you can select from:
- Landscape
- Portrait
- Landscape (Flipped)
- Portrait (Flipped)
- The orientation will change. You will be asked if you want to Keep Changes or Revert. (If you do not click Keep Changes within a number of seconds it will assume there is a problem and revert for you.)
For my personal setup, really just because of the positioning of the cabling, I use Portrait (Flipped).
Using Microsoft PowerToys FancyZones to create a specially sized screen region
Microsoft PowerToys are a series of utilities that allow you to do a whole bunch of different things.
The one part of the suite that I use constantly is called FancyZones.
FancyZones allows you to create snapable regions within your screen.
If you can’t physically adjust the orientation of your display, creating a snapable region is probably the next best option.
- Open PowerToys Settings
- Go to the FancyZones options
- Make sure the Enable FancyZones toggle is switched to On
- Go to Launch layout editor
- Make sure you have selected the right screen from the sources at the top of the dialog.
- Click Create new layout.
- Give your layout a name (perhaps “For Vertical Video”).
- Select the Canvas option.
- Click Create.
- Drag the sides of the first region so they are 1040 pixels tall and 585 pixels wide. You can reposition this wherever you like.
- You can then click the plus (+) sign to add additional regions as desired.
- Finally click Save & apply.
This new region will work really well for vertical video. Move Windows into this part of the screen, allow them to snap into position. Then use the Window Capture to bring them into OBS Studio.