Best OBS Settings for Recording

OBS is one of the best options for recording your screen or gameplay. The settings allow you to completely customize how your video is recorded and make adjustments to suit your hardware.

Best 1080p OBS Recording Settings

Resolution: 1920×1080
Framerate: 60
Type: Simple
Recording Format: MP4
Encoder: NVIDIA NVENC H.264
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 16000
Keyframe Interval: 2
Preset: Max Quality
Profile: High
Look-ahead: Unchecked
Psycho Visual Tuning: Checked
GPU: 0
Max B-Frames: 2

Best 4K OBS Recording Settings

Resolution: 3840×2160
Framerate: 60
Type: Simple
Recording Format: MP4
Encoder: NVIDIA NVENC H.264
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 64000
Keyframe Interval: 2
Preset: Max Quality
Profile: High
Look-ahead: Unchecked
Psycho Visual Tuning: Checked
GPU: 0
Max B-Frames: 2

Resolution and Bitrate Guide

Your bitrate will vary depending on the resolution and the framerate you are recording in. We recommend using a bitrate of about .0077 per pixel when recording at 60fps. When recording in 30fps we recommend a bitrate of .0039 or higher.

Choosing Resolution and Framerate

OBS allows you to choose your own custom resolution and framerate through the video settings. The video settings are used for recording and streaming.

Base (Canvas) Resolution

The canvas resolution is the resolution used for the preview in OBS. This is the base for the scene that all of the sources are added. Typically you would want to use a canvas resolution that matches your monitor or screen. The most common canvas size is 1920×1080.

Output (Scaled) Resolution

The resolution of your video recording can be set by the output resolution. You can use the output to rescale to a lower resolution if needed.

Downscale Filter

When you are using a smaller output resolution your recording will need to be downscaled to size. This is where the downscale filter comes in. The best downscale filter to use is Lanczos. The downscale option doesn’t put too much strain on your hardware, however, the Bicubic option can also be used on an older system.

Common FPS Values

The FPS value is the frames per second that your video recording will have. OBS has a drop menu that features all of the common framerates used for recording video. We recommended either 30fps or 60fps. Recording in 60fps is particularly useful when it comes to editing, as it allows for smoother slow motion. Whenever you are recording gameplay 60fps is always the best option.

Output Settings

The output settings in OBS allow you to customize the format and encoding options for your video recordings and live streams. With the simple output mode selected you will have limited control over your recording settings. When you’re recording with OBS it is best to set your output mode to advanced to ensure you have the best settings.

Recording Format

OBS allows you to record videos using a few different formats. We recommend using mp4 as the recording format as it is well supported across different platforms and editing software. The downside of using mp4is that if your computer were to crash during a recording the data will become corrupt. As an alternative, you can use flv or mkv if you are worried about a computer crash or recording issue.

Encoder

When a video is created it requires the information to be encoded into a video format. The encoder selects what is used for creating the video.

Users with a newer NVIDIA graphics card will have the option to use NVENC H.264 for encoding. NVENC is a dedicated encoding chip in the graphics card. When recording gameplay the NVENC encoder should always be used as it won’t impact your game performance.

While the x264 encoder does create higher-quality videos, it’s not recommended for most use cases. The x264 encoder uses CPU processing power, which puts more stress on your computer, and will lower performance when gaming.

Rate Control

Rate control affects how the allocated bitrate is used. Because you want the best quality possible throughout the entire video it is best to use a rate control that provides consistent quality.

CBR is a great choice for constant bitrate. CBR will ensure that your bitrate is being used steadily, and every frame is receiving an equal amount of effort into creating the image. When recording with OBS CBR is the best option as it gives you complete control over bitrate, and won’t put too much stress on your PC.

When using NVENC you also have the ability to use CQP. CQP is the better choice if you want the highest quality video possible, however, this comes with the caveat of larger video files. We would only recommend using CQP if you’re recording 1440p or 4k videos, and have extensive storage for the video files.

OBS also allows you to record with lossless rate control. Lossless will provide you with practically perfect image quality, however is subject to crashes. The video footage when recording with lossless is incredibly large, and can often cause issues when attempting to edit the footage. We recommended using either CBR or CQP when recording with OBS.

Bitrate

A custom bitrate can be set in OBS to ensure you’re receiving the quality you want. OBS uses kbps, or kilobytes per second, as its bitrate input, The higher the bitrate the better quality your final recording will be. A higher bitrate also results in larger video files as more information is being used for creating each second of video.

The bitrate that you should use will depend on the resolution and framerate that you are using for your recording. Generally, a bitrate of 16000 should be used for 1080p recordings.

Max B-frames

Max B-frames are available with the NVIDIA NVENC H264 encoder. B-frames will input extra frames for encoding whenever necessary. To ensure that your recording is meeting your selected framerate we recommend setting max b-frames to 2 and having the “Look-ahead” option unchecked.

OBS Audio Recording Setup

Setting up audio for your OBS recordings can be reasonably confusing. The best place to start is the general audio settings.

OBS allows you to add global audio devices, which will be present in every scene you create. There are two desktop audio options, and four mic/auxiliary options.

The sound coming from your PC can be added using the desktop options. The mic/auxiliary devices allow you to add external audio sources, such as your microphone or mixer.

Recording Audio Tracks

OBS features six audio tracks that can be used for recording. Each audio device can be set to which audio track you want them to be heard on. This allows you to separate each device into different tracks.

Captured tracks can be selected from the advanced output recording settings. Each track will need to be enabled individually.

Selecting Audio Tracks

Audio tracks for each device can be selected from the advanced audio properties menu. Advanced audio properties can be opened from the edit menu at the top of OBS.

Each audio device can be set to different or multiple audio tracks. When recording with OBS it is recommended to have each audio device on a separate audio track. Each track can be controlled separately when editing, giving you the ability to fine-tune your video as you’d like.

All of your devices will be listed on the left, and the audio tracks for those devices are on the right. The device’s audio will be on each checked track and absent on all unchecked tracks.

Choosing Audio Bitrate

The bitrate for each track can be set via the audio output settings. With audio bitrate the higher the better the audio quality will be. A bitrate from 160 to 320 is recommended for recording.

Record Highlights with OBS Replay Buffer

Replay buffer allows you to record moments that have already happened. This feature is particularly useful for recording gameplay highlights. Replay buffer can be enabled by checking the box in the output settings. Your output mode will need to be set to “Advanced” to see all of the replay buffer options.

With replay enabled you will need to set the amount of time the replay recordings will be. The longer time you have set the more stress it will put on your PC.

Recordings made with replay buffer will use the same video settings set in the recording tab.

Change Where OBS Recordings Save

Videos recorded with OBS will save to the recording path set in the OBS output settings. The recording path can be changed by pressing the “Browse” button and selecting a different location.

Final Thoughts

OBS is one of the best free options for recording your screen and gameplay. With such a wide range of options, you can tailor your settings to best suit your needs, and provide the best video quality possible. Settings can be adjusted to suit your hardware and solve any recording issues, like dropped frames, that may occur. With other recording software, you typically don’t receive such a wide range of settings, limiting how much stress you can take off your PC. The ability to encode recordings with NVIDIA NVENC is particularly useful for recording gameplay.