{"slug": "obs", "name": "OBS", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 8, "commenters": 20, "warners": 2, "score": 8.045, "rising": 0.04, "first": "2025-11-14", "latest": "2026-10-25", "why": "Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 8, "neutral": 11, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "obsproject.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://obsproject.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["OBS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 803769104, "item_id": 50235569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50235569", "by": "iugtmkbdfil834", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me.", "excerpt": "I am more curious than anything else, but why rewrite OBS? Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me. Was it written with something in mind that OBS doesn't cover?", "context": "", "use_case": "streaming/recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flint \u00b7 free browser streaming software for Twitch, an OBS alternative"}, {"id": 791719074, "item_id": 49482442, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482442", "by": "downloadram", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "obs audio filters with stacked vsts and routing filters can unironically do this programs job better", "excerpt": "i use EE on my parents tv (minipc connected to offline 4koled) to address the \"movie too quiet then way too loud\" for them but there is a cost, latency fortunately its not large enough to notice unless you already know (i.e. problem for me but not for thee) AND fortunately MPV .conf can set audio offset globally to sync everything nicely, so its not bothering them; but i disable it if im going to play games where i n", "context": "", "use_case": "audio filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "EasyEffects can improve laptop speaker sound quality"}, {"id": 769957360, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OBS to monitor my video capture.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "monitoring video capture", "switched_from": "Photo Booth", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}, {"id": 766309968, "item_id": 47894373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47894373", "by": "chancitag", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Love OBS and Blender.", "excerpt": "Love OBS and Blender. Recently started using Kdenlive and it is awesome. Big fan of OpenSCAD[1] and solvespace[2] for making functional 3D prints. I'm going to branch out a bit here and say GrapheneOS is my favorite thing going on right now. [1] https://openscad.org/ [2] https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are your top open source apps/software?"}, {"id": 759234672, "item_id": 47452167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452167", "by": "a2128", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I screen record with OBS on both KDE and GNOME on multiple machines with no issues", "excerpt": "OBS can't screen record (it segfaults instead), I can't copy-paste, and I can't see window previews unless everything implements a specific extension to the core protocol. I can't take articles like this seriously when they so confidently make such statements that so directly conflict with reality. I use Wayland exclusively everyday and I screen record with OBS on both KDE and GNOME on multiple machines with no issue", "context": "Wayland user", "use_case": "screen recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 802592867, "item_id": 50162054, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162054", "by": "greggman65", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OBS was recommended but OBS has a difficult UX.", "excerpt": "It's great to love programming. I started in the late 70s. That said, I'm also fully enjoying letting AI help me solve problems. Here's one: I study Japanese. I used jisho.org for years (A Japanese/English dictionary). I ran into a problem ~2 weeks ago where I needed to look up a word and used their handwriting recognition to sketch a kanji. I got a single stroke wrong and it gave no matches. I checked if it was open", "context": "", "use_case": "capturing system audio", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's still ok to enjoy programming"}, {"id": 735599008, "item_id": 45974938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45974938", "by": "Forgeties79", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OBS is missing many key features for professional operations", "excerpt": "I use OBS regularly but vMix is definitely the superior option in the professional livestreaming world. OBS is missing many key features for professional operations and vdo ninja only covers some of those gaps.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}], "who": [{"by": "aleda145", "context": "prefers FOSS stack", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815408", "date": "2026-04-18"}, {"by": "hparadiz", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47679549", "date": "2026-04-07"}, {"by": "SilentM68", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644674", "date": "2026-04-04"}, {"by": "a2128", "context": "Wayland user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452167", "date": "2026-03-20"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["screen recording", "streaming/recording", "capturing system audio", "video", "audio filtering", "recording screencasts"], "compared": [{"slug": "kdenlive", "name": "Kdenlive", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "jitsi", "name": "Jitsi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "deskflow", "name": "Deskflow", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ffmpeg", "name": "FFmpeg", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "matrix", "name": "Matrix", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234120", "title": "Flint \u00b7 free browser streaming software for Twitch, an OBS alternative", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234480", "title": "I made a virtual pet fruit fly that Twitch chat can interact with", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50179828", "title": "Dutch National Cyber Security Center is Offline because it uses PHP", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50134472", "title": "It's still ok to enjoy programming", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946895", "title": "The work by Valve's Timur Krist\u00f3f on improving old AMD GPUs on Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479924", "title": "EasyEffects can improve laptop speaker sound quality", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 3, "warn": 1, "recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803769104, "item_id": 50235569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50235569", "by": "iugtmkbdfil834", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me.", "excerpt": "I am more curious than anything else, but why rewrite OBS? Each time I use it, there is very little in terms of use cases that don't fit me. Was it written with something in mind that OBS doesn't cover?", "context": "", "use_case": "streaming/recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flint \u00b7 free browser streaming software for Twitch, an OBS alternative"}, {"id": 803751697, "item_id": 50234481, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234481", "by": "imfinn", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "streams through OBS", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been building Pip, a virtual fruit fly living in a small 3D terrarium. Twitch viewers can leave treats, add dew, introduce toys, or sprinkle pollen that prompts Pip to groom itself. This started as an interest in fly brains and simulated behavior. The current version uses a rule-based behavioral model: hunger, thirst, energy, and irritation influence what Pip does. It isn\u2019t a brain emulation. The scene runs on m", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I made a virtual pet fruit fly that Twitch chat can interact with"}, {"id": 802889440, "item_id": 50180590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50180590", "by": "geerlingguy", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Only 'parts' of their website are down currently", "excerpt": "Only 'parts' of their website are down currently (e.g. download pages, linked from the home page: https://obsproject.com/welcome-redirect returns a 502).", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dutch National Cyber Security Center is Offline because it uses PHP"}, {"id": 802592867, "item_id": 50162054, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162054", "by": "greggman65", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OBS was recommended but OBS has a difficult UX.", "excerpt": "It's great to love programming. I started in the late 70s. That said, I'm also fully enjoying letting AI help me solve problems. Here's one: I study Japanese. I used jisho.org for years (A Japanese/English dictionary). I ran into a problem ~2 weeks ago where I needed to look up a word and used their handwriting recognition to sketch a kanji. I got a single stroke wrong and it gave no matches. I checked if it was open", "context": "", "use_case": "capturing system audio", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's still ok to enjoy programming"}, {"id": 799474261, "item_id": 49967141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49967141", "by": "nickserv", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "light video editing (OBS, Kdenlive)", "excerpt": "I use it for a bit of everything: dev work (InteliJ), basic 3D modeling/printing (freeCAD, Blender, Orca), light video editing (OBS, Kdenlive), gaming (wine) ... Could probably go with an Arch based distro, but the Ubuntu/Debian base is useful for the good compatibility.", "context": "", "use_case": "video", "switched_from": "", "story": "The work by Valve's Timur Krist\u00f3f on improving old AMD GPUs on Linux"}, {"id": 791719074, "item_id": 49482442, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482442", "by": "downloadram", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "obs audio filters with stacked vsts and routing filters can unironically do this programs job better", "excerpt": "i use EE on my parents tv (minipc connected to offline 4koled) to address the \"movie too quiet then way too loud\" for them but there is a cost, latency fortunately its not large enough to notice unless you already know (i.e. problem for me but not for thee) AND fortunately MPV .conf can set audio offset globally to sync everything nicely, so its not bothering them; but i disable it if im going to play games where i n", "context": "", "use_case": "audio filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "EasyEffects can improve laptop speaker sound quality"}, {"id": 780276929, "item_id": 48767308, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767308", "by": "dvngnt_", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "With adblocker enabled: error loading dynamically imported module: https://exquisite.tube/client/standalone/videos/assets/peertube-player-mvGGGjdL.js", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform"}, {"id": 770583314, "item_id": 48161457, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48161457", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "recording a video with OBS, sometimes my webcam's audio will get desync'd", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux from Windows 6 months ago. Here are some minor things that always went sour on Windows: Webcam's settings would always get reset semi-randomly The date from the clock would frequently disappear Mic's volume would often get lowered Other than that, with Windows 10 Pro it was super solid on 12 year old hardware. Never crashed, all games I could play were fine and I did heavy Docker based development, h", "context": "", "use_case": "recording screencasts", "switched_from": "", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}, {"id": 769957360, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OBS to monitor my video capture.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "monitoring video capture", "switched_from": "Photo Booth", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}, {"id": 766309968, "item_id": 47894373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47894373", "by": "chancitag", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Love OBS and Blender.", "excerpt": "Love OBS and Blender. Recently started using Kdenlive and it is awesome. Big fan of OpenSCAD[1] and solvespace[2] for making functional 3D prints. I'm going to branch out a bit here and say GrapheneOS is my favorite thing going on right now. [1] https://openscad.org/ [2] https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are your top open source apps/software?"}, {"id": 765046529, "item_id": 47815408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815408", "by": "aleda145", "date": "2026-04-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm using it together with OBS to post short demo videos of my side project.", "excerpt": "I recently switched from Shotcut to Kdenlive. Kdenlive's UX is much more intuitive. Lots of features, I still feel like a beginner, which is such a fun feeling! I'm using it together with OBS to post short demo videos of my side project. I could use Loom I guess, but I prefer to keep my tech stack FOSS when I can. Creating \"non standard\" video resolutions is a bit of a pain though. But I've solved that with an ffmpeg", "context": "prefers FOSS stack", "use_case": "screen recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of Kdenlive"}, {"id": 762872784, "item_id": 47679549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47679549", "by": "hparadiz", "date": "2026-04-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use v4l2 regularly with OBS.", "excerpt": "When you say +pipewire you mean just audio playback? If you are pushing video to a picture-in-picture overlay a user might expect that so yea you could write to the pipewire socket like any other program. It's usually fully open for you to do just that. I use v4l2 regularly with OBS. In order for Chrome/Chromium to see it you need to make the device before launching Chrome/Chromium. You can start v4l2 devices automat", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "virtual camera video output", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Pion/handoff \u2013 Move WebRTC out of browser and into Go"}, {"id": 762314785, "item_id": 47644674, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644674", "by": "SilentM68", "date": "2026-04-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OBS (what I used) seems to have stopped receiving updates", "excerpt": "Nifty app! Just tried the AppImage version on Linux, simple to use, and works Ok on my end. Suggest you add preferences dropdown to floating bar, and ability to highlight parts of an area for record, ability to set the default save location or change it at will. Will keep an eye on its progress since OBS (what I used) seems to have stopped receiving updates :)", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "screen recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenScreen is an open-source alternative to Screen Studio"}, {"id": 759234672, "item_id": 47452167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452167", "by": "a2128", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I screen record with OBS on both KDE and GNOME on multiple machines with no issues", "excerpt": "OBS can't screen record (it segfaults instead), I can't copy-paste, and I can't see window previews unless everything implements a specific extension to the core protocol. I can't take articles like this seriously when they so confidently make such statements that so directly conflict with reality. I use Wayland exclusively everyday and I screen record with OBS on both KDE and GNOME on multiple machines with no issue", "context": "Wayland user", "use_case": "screen recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 753119524, "item_id": 47069970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47069970", "by": "xethos", "date": "2026-02-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "You might be using old clients that are recommended against, as (AIUI) Jitsi stopped being the default with Matrix 2.0 (released ~late 2024 [0]). Is it totally fair to blame users? Not entirely, as some features are still being pushed into ElementX. But it's a known problem, with a known solution (finish ElementX and/or wait for other clients to catch up), and a weakness of an open ecosystem. Moxie wasn't wrong when ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Search of a Discord Replacement"}, {"id": 751684147, "item_id": 46980259, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980259", "by": "rezonant", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "free and open source NDI alternative built into OBS", "excerpt": "NDI is indeed quite good for prosumer cases. As a Newtek (now Vizrt) shop, our Tricasters speak it natively and that's a great reason we've made use of it. That being said, if you aren't already in the Newtek/Vizrt ecosystem, might I recommend exploring Teleport, which is a free and open source NDI alternative built into OBS which has also served us very well.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Exploring a Modern Smtpe 2110 Broadcast Truck"}, {"id": 751355318, "item_id": 46959707, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46959707", "by": "opan", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Some of us stream to Twitch with OBS", "excerpt": "This may be a good time to consider whether one program should really be handling all those things, or if it's putting too many eggs in one basket and asking too much of any one program. Discord seems comparable to a Chinese superapp, made to trap its users and become an irreplaceable part of their everyday lives. I think I understand it's hard to give up some of these features once you're used to them, but it seems ", "context": "", "use_case": "Livestreaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discord Alternatives, Ranked"}, {"id": 750575728, "item_id": 46910983, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46910983", "by": "prmoustache", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the most user friendly way is to use obs", "excerpt": "you can do it with ffmpeg but the most user friendly way is to use obs. https://obsproject.com/kb/virtual-camera-guide https://usercomp.com/news/1413136/ffmpeg-virtual-camera-guide I used that back in the days in 2019 / early 2020 when it was not yet possible to share your screen on msteams under wayland in chrome and firefox.", "context": "", "use_case": "virtual webcam", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 741999121, "item_id": 46374945, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46374945", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2025-12-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use OBS with a capture card", "excerpt": "Apple was a great option before they moved to ARM. Now they can't run much of anything (and it sucks). I still have my mid-2015 MBP running triple-boot between macOS, Windows and Arch Linux. That machine could run everything... I now have to keep around a physical PC desktop in order to run games like ARC Raiders. I use OBS with a capture card to use my MacBook's screen as a monitor for the PC, and an application cal", "context": "", "use_case": "Streaming desktop to PC", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Windows Utility"}, {"id": 735599008, "item_id": 45974938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45974938", "by": "Forgeties79", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OBS is missing many key features for professional operations", "excerpt": "I use OBS regularly but vMix is definitely the superior option in the professional livestreaming world. OBS is missing many key features for professional operations and vdo ninja only covers some of those gaps.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}, {"id": 734833344, "item_id": 45927084, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45927084", "by": "stop50", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For recording OBS is pretty much the standard.", "excerpt": "For recording OBS is pretty much the standard. Editing depends on the workflow", "context": "", "use_case": "screen recording", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's a good app for recording YouTube tech videos?"}]}