The last post in our OBS screen recording series gave a high-level overview of how the software works . Now we’re ready to dig into some more detail! Let’s start with how to configure the best OBS recording settings.
Open Broadcaster Software Studio is a video streaming and recording program . You may also know it as OBS Studio or simply OBS. It’s free, open source, and fully cross-platform.
Combined with audio, video, and graphics editing software, using OBS to record a screen can be a powerful solution.
Are you also starting off with live video? Learn how to get the right equipment, set it up, and create a professional live stream in our guide below:
In my experience, once you find the best OBS recording settings, the software is top-notch. That said, it can be a little temperamental getting to that point. I found certain combinations of settings were more likely to cause stability issues, while others were rock solid.
The video has to look good: there has to be a balance between video image quality and file size. The best recording settings for OBS will help you do that.
The video and output settings I’ve arrived at are for stable, good-quality, low-file-size video creation. Feel free to adjust them to your tastes, but don’t spend all day pulling your hair out to get the settings just-so!
To get started, open the settings panel by clicking the Settings button. You’ll find it at the bottom right of the interface:
Head to the Video portion of the OBS recorder settings. Here, you’ll set your Capture Size, Output Size, Downscaling and Frame Rate (FPS).
The Base (Canvas) Resolution setting determines the area, in pixels, you wish to capture from your screen. It can be full size or a smaller portion.
Don’t see the desired dimensions in the dropdown list? Type them manually with the format
The Output (Scaled) Resolution setting determines the resolution of your recorded video. It can either be the same as the base resolution setting, or smaller. If you set it to be smaller, the OBS recorder will downscale your capture on the fly. This will allow you to capture a "full HD" 1080p (1920 pixels by 1080 pixels) screen and output it to 720p (1280x720).
If you do choose to downscale, you’ll need to be careful of which downscale filter you use. For recorded video production it’s best to choose Lanzos, as this will give you the best quality. The other options are more suited to live streaming.
Finally, you’ll need to set your FPS, or frames-per-second. Make sure it fits the framerate you want to edit and output your final video at. I typically use 30fps (30 frames per second is usually enough for most needs).
The output settings are where you determine what kind of video file you end up with. By default, your output settings will be in Simple mode and look like this:
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We want to use some settings not available in simple mode. Instead, use the Output Mode dropdown list at the top to select Advanced. This will switch the settings to a three-tabbed interface with more options.
Start by heading to the Recording tab. Find the field labeled Recording Path and browse to the location you’d like your videos to save. Next, change the Recording Format from FLV to MP4.
Make sure Encoder is set to (Use stream encoder). Then, all other options in this tab can be left at their default settings.
When using the MP4 recording format, you may see a warning about recordings being unrecoverable in case of power interruption. I typically use MP4 and haven’t had any issues. However, you’ll need to decide if this is an issue for you and if you’d prefer another video format like MOV or MKV.
You can switch the Recording Format to Custom and set all your video properties in the Recording tab. But I’ve found this way is prone to errors.
Instead, even though we’re not live streaming, we set Encoder to (Use stream encoder). Then, we set our video output properties in the Streaming tab. I’ve found this is the most reliable method.
Now switch into the Streaming tab and make three changes:
Everything else can be left at default. In my experience, these are the best OBS recording settings. Not only do they give a good recording quality, but also stability.
We now have all the best OBS settings for recording in place. The OBS Studio screen recorder will remember these. So, if your next projects have other requirements, you may need to adjust them.
In the next short tutorial we’ll start looking at the core of how OBS works, and that is its system of Scenes and Sources. I’ll see you there!
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Now you know which are the best OBS settings for recording. There are also more great tutorials you can follow to master the OBS Studio screen recorder:
