Best OBS Settings For Recording | The Ultimate Guide | 2024 Edition

This is the ultimate guide to full crystal clear HD recording in OBS. In this video we go over the best settings for recording in OBS Studio in 2024. This tutorial was created using the updated and newest version of OBS. This includes audio settings, video settings, encoder settings, key binds, sources, and much more.
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#obs #recording #hammerdance
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[@M1thicalGD]

Video quality improved an insane amount and I don't have frame loss anymore. Thanks so much for your help

[@ernovanchannel]

thanks for sharing the result.

[@katiescape]

I recorded an entire video thinking obs would be set up correctly by default, complete waste of a 40 min recording. I watched this video so it doesn't happen again, thank you so much

[@RandomDuckyGuy]

same :(

[@PerfectSuperSaiyan]

same here

[@DeadMuffin46]

thanks so much! Very happy that ive found this bc i am going to record a game for my friends and i was happy to see a nice easy tutorial to follow!

[@adirectconflict]

FINALLY !! A channel where the person actually knows not only what they are talking about, are clear and concise in their delivery but also exhibits a caring and nurturing attitude towards others throughout the presentation. This is a TEN STAR channel.

[@velox.mortis]

Always looking forward to these videos! Awesome job

[@hammerdance]

Glad you like them!

[@Foxbosun]

ive been messing with my setting blind for so long fumbling around trying to make things better and only making them worse every time. this video was probably the best jumping point to where i can start doing real fine tuning. big thanks man you're a gods sent.

[@Spacebyter]

I wanted to add a (possible) quick fix for anyone experiencing an "Encoding overloaded" message and OBS flipping out when recording resource-heavy games. Make sure the scene you are recording in is a Game Capture, NOT a Display capture. I found that out the hard way ;) Great vid as always!

[@Mandolindo]

Oh man you're a lifesaver, THANK YOU for actually explaining everything so well and concise. I couldn't figure this crap out until now.

[@mnemonth]

Excellent video -- clear and concise. Most importantly, the quality of my recordings improved dramatically with your recommended settings. Much appreciated.

[@jewlyienboyd8776]

Hey man, I cant tell you how many times this video has helped. Between me accidently deleting my drive to resetting my PC, as of today I was sitting at a whopping 50% usage on my gpu after using your video once again as a guide I gained 20% of my usage back that can be used for gaming! Again thank you for the video that has helped me numerus times!

[@Keegan-T]

my new gpu messed up my obs settings, changing the encoder to CQP got it back to good quality. thanks!

[@Vxertzu]

Thank you brother! Been having trouble with OBS for weeks now, maybe months. Now My video quality is crisp. Thanks again!

[@iceheart_115]

Videos were already fairly smooth, but I'm always looking to make them look even better. Audience may be small, but quality is still important to me, looking forward to trying these settings out soon. ^-^

[@TG.Shields]

I think like everyone else im watching this after messing up a recording session. Cheers mate great help left a like :)

[@snowyfolfskyroo2739]

I appreciated the brief explanations of things instead of just telling us the best settings, that helped a ton

[@KeratosTherion]

Great review. I have been manually remuxing each recording for years. Such a simple and useful setting with just a checkbox!

[@TawneyS24]

Thank you! If I ever get back into streaming, I'll be sure to check out that vid of yours! I loved how simple you made this one for me to fix my settings in OBS for my game recording!

[@Exausht]

hey amazing video any reason why im missing encoder settings such as all the P6 P7 options and tuning also not there

[@tangledrootsmedia]

been using CBR forEVER! thank you so much. Smaller file sizes w/ solid quality FTW!

[@helltioeverygames]

But he said CQP...

[@VEINSLIT]

Can you do a Steam Deck version of this video?

[@Xtimus]

This made my recording look FLAWLESS!!!! Thank you so much dude. Only negative thing is I feel bad all my old recording look terrible compared to this god tier quality lol

[@SteaknEllie]

What camera do you use? The cam looks perfect. I use the Sony A6000 currently.

[@keepalowprofile]

Thank you for explaining process priority. That tip really helped me

[@iDexn]

Fantastic video mate very helpful and easy to understand! Keep up the great content!

[@BOBDIYVE]

This video looks great! My laptop says it can do 2K, but I just want my recordings to look as good as this video so back to 1080p 60fps 🙂

[@yaadmadegaming]

Great video but damn the file sizes are huge with the CQP rate control

[@Cozzy44]

Thank you for this I just got a pc and am learning to make vids from PlayStation to this is helps so much thank you!

[@Tamoshikiari2]

It all looked good during recording but after recording the quality was really low, what should i do?

[@mpatanasov]

Thank you alot,saved my videos in future.

[@577zkerr]

Fantastic advice. Thank you so much!

[@bossssphil]

Does this affect the performance if you start streaming and recording at the same time?

[@PolygonPerspective]

Thanks for your OBS recorder videos. I think it is time for another new video.

[@xxxxRAVENxxxx]

your video deff helped me. thank you soo much. would these settings be good for streaming live as well?

[@UnkemptBush343]

Thanks, I used this to resetup my streamlabs OBS. I am pretty familiar with this after years but it really helps to just have someone tell you as you go through to confirm settings. I noticed I was getting lag in SLOBS and sure enough I had a couple settings that seem to be why. Time to get back to recording and see how it goes. Thank You!

[@MrBrokenPancreas]

What should my BITRATE be for recording. I know I can be higher than the streaming bitrate. How much of a difference does it make if I’m recording while I’m streaming? Will the bitrate values be different and affect each other?

[@footballtalk4857]

So if you are recording you should use cqp I would try 20 at first with this obs will handle the bitrate be more efficient

[@arqx-ij6gx]

thank you because i want to record some fun times with my friends and overall have fun and share it with people

[@matyu0933]

thank you very much bro for making this video, greetings from Indonesia

[@Calibre901]

Does ''CQP'' also stand for constant QP because I dont have the same option and thats the closest one there?

[@gamingfromjohnwayne]

Im still having problems with file size takes forever to upload and on davinci resolve. Its mp4 i followed ur steps.

[@Theagames10]

Problem: I don't have the Encoder Settings you have tho since I use AMD, it's just Quality/Speed/Balanced. I have no clue which one to use for AMD settings.

[@lotus647-official]

Hi, I can help you with that. I just tweaked my settings, and it seems to work well for me. I use: - AMD h.265 - Disabled rescale - CQP - CQ Level 19 - Keyframe 2s - Preset Quality

[@DevilMan2009]

thankyou very much for this very easy tutorial

[@animelover-2529]

So what should i choose MKV or FLV for recording?

[@mrslapside]

Ill try it for cod black ops 6 thanks!

[@AliYassinToma]

can u explain more why u select certain option? its annoying me a bit that im not understanding why u chose for example cqb and why 16 is near lossless.. why not h265 nvenc or heck even av1 on rtx 4000 series gpus..

[@viruschris3160]

Thank you dude! Thank you so much, this video guide helped getting my recording to look like my game as close as can be. My recording was weirdly darken and washed out colors and I didn’t understand why. But I set colors to Full instead of Limited in the Advanced Tab. Switching it fixed my problem. Filesize might get a little bit bigger so I’ll experiment if flv files or mp4 files are better for uploading to YT and other video hosting sites. Thank you for this awesome guide!

[@Eros_Official_Universe]

Idk how I don't have that preset tab and also profile and even multipass so weird

[@AndreyMakarov-i7h]

Me too, maybe special nvidia settings?

[@DeputyFish]

you arent in advanced if you dont have it, or havent chosen an encoder

[@Theagames10]

@@DeputyFish Nope, it's because it's nvidia's settings, AMD doesn't have those settings, so idk what to choose.

[@DeputyFish]

@@Theagames10 its literally the same thing amd has its own. that ends the same way.

[@DeputyFish]

@@Theagames10 H264. really just experiment and see which one works

[@mweibleii]

I just wanted to add this (somewhere), if you're using Elgato then you also need to (+) and add this to OBS. If you (+) and are running Elgato software, it will capture the 4K Elgato Software, but will/might be blurry (mine was blurry and it took me all day to notice I had added Game Capture and not Video Capture... uggg).

[@KINGSLEY-TV]

Thanks for,your help mate and merry Christmas to you, your family and friends and of course all subscribers

[@lilmonstergames5499]

I'm using OBS version 30.1.2 and under rate control, there's no CQP choice, the choices are CBR, ABR, VBR, and CRF. which one should i use? i want to record movies at 1080p

[@lilmonstergames5499]

oh i figured it out, that setting is available with the Nvidia card. which i don't have.

[@TheGonzzo9]

I was having the same problem

[@shikharchoudhary3159]

CBR is better If recording 4k : 30000-80000kbps If recording 1080 : 5000-8000kbps

[@C0untlessS]

I think I read that CRF is best one, even better then CQP. Go read about it on some forums.

[@eddiesr113]

great videos thank you but what encoder do I use because my gpu is an intel arc A770. thank you.

[@TheTonyMiki]

not sure how you figured out what all of those settings actually do but thank you!!

[@jefffairchild1854]

earlier you said to use FLV, but later in the video you said we could use MKV and then autochange it to mp4. So did you recommend that or FLV then?

[@jefffairchild1854]

Here's chatgpt's answer: FLV (Flash Video) Pros: Resilience to Crashes: FLV files are robust against crashes. If OBS crashes or your computer shuts down unexpectedly, the FLV file will still be recoverable up to the point of the crash. Low Overhead: FLV files have a relatively small file size overhead, making them efficient for recording. Cons: Less Compatible: FLV is not as widely supported as other formats. You might need to convert it to another format (like MP4) for editing or uploading to certain platforms. MKV (Matroska Video) Pros: Resilience to Crashes: Like FLV, MKV files are resilient to crashes. You won't lose the entire recording if OBS or your computer crashes. Flexible Container: MKV is a versatile container that supports a variety of video and audio codecs. It can handle multiple audio tracks and subtitles. Automatic Conversion: OBS has an option to automatically remux (convert) the recorded MKV file to MP4 after recording. This combines the robustness of MKV with the widespread compatibility of MP4. Cons: Conversion Step: The automatic remuxing process takes additional time after the recording is finished. However, this is usually quick and straightforward within OBS. Recommendation: I recommend using MKV with the automatic remux to MP4 option enabled. This approach combines the best of both worlds: Robustness: MKV ensures that your recording is not lost if OBS or your computer crashes. Compatibility: The automatic remux to MP4 gives you a widely supported format without manual conversion steps.

[@jefffairchild1854]

Don't forget to Check the box for Automatically remux to MP4 in settings: Advanced > Recording

[@nilesj2072]

@@jefffairchild1854thank you!

[@DanW712]

I honestly think he meant to say MKV instead of FLV. It might have been a slip of the tongue because I have *never heard anybody* recommend FLV before, regardless of the pros and cons. I could be wrong though.

[@Watch_ROD720TV]

Yoooo it's hammer 🔨 time. Cya on twitch homie

[@NickStaxz]

you my friend deserve more subs, views and likes you always save me with any OBS problems! OBS SPONSOR BRO

[@JohnCurtinmadrid]

Thanks

[@hammerdance]

You’re welcome! Thank you!!

[@Thebibleauthority]

Thanks for the tips, I had a mac book pro 2015, and always had problem with my webcam delays response, I recently bought a mac mini m2, and I still get the same issues, I'm using iphone se to record, I just think that obs, because it was programmed with python, it just doesn't cut it, if I use my facetime or quicktime, the camera response is instant, but obs just lags, I just think I'm going to dump it.

[@thestageplan]

Good tempo I definitely learned what I needed

[@bluesucceed]

video quality ^^^^^^ thanks

[@Corvoattano13]

If you want your audio files to be a n different tracks record to MKV file and be sure to select what audio tracks you want, and be sure to go into your audio settings and choose what audio track you want each audio device to be recorded too.

[@ccmtrading9914]

Question: I am trying to record an app that has multiple windows. I want multiple windows recorded no matter what the screen is showing (in the background). I have figured out how to set up a scene and add elements to the scene and love how that works for background recording. But, I have to choose the windows each time I close and reopen the app or OBS( say, the next day). There are 15 windows to record... Is there a way to select all the windows at once, or for OBS to remember the windows to record when I pull up a scene? It is tedious setting up the recording each day. Thanks!

[@biotechusa4810]

YOURE AWSOME WE NEED MORE TYPES OF THESE VIDS KEEP IT UP BRO!!!

[@DaSmokeDaddy]

I'm new to OBS. I'm running Pop O/S. No problem with the installation. I'm trying to make a screen capture video of JUST my terminal screen. While in terminal, I am demonstrating running a Python program that has a graphical interface. I have accomplished this, but the recording shows BOTH terminal screen and the OBS program when playing the video recording. How do I only record what's happening in the terminal screen?

[@jimmybraley2689]

At the beginning you recommended to put the recording format to flv but at the end when you recommended to check the box to automatically remix to mp4 you were calling it an mkv file. Which format should I go with???

[@zedboiii]

just stick with mp4 and ignore that last setting. some editing software doesn't support mkv like adobe premiere

[@footballtalk4857]

Use mkv because in obs you can remix it to mp4 for editing if you are using DaVinci Resolve you can just edit using the mkv file without any problems

[@KaiLaCabra]

I have an AMD GPU but it doesnt give that option for video encoder

[@djoz_os]

what option should I use for gaming clips with replay buffer? psycho tuning or look ahead?

[@Brainbuster]

Some of these recommended settings (Output > Recording) are obsolete if you just select "Fragmented MP4" for the recording format. Fragmented MP4 came out 6 mos. before this video.

[@Meldiocre]

Thank you. I had been running into a problem recording DOTA2 replays where the replay itself would lose FPS even though the game was playing normally. I hope this fixes it!

[@rowinile]

thank you so much! this video deserves way more attention

[@HesHonse6]

I do not recommend changing your preset to slowest (best quality) because this personally destroyed my encoding and gave me 99% encoding lag on my frames. As soon as I turned this back to P5, smooth sailing. I also used CBR with 10,000 kbps bitrate and found the best quality and lowest amount of storage on the .mp4 format.

[@PABLOCRAXY]

BIG THANKS TO YOU BRO I WAS GOIN THROUGHT IT

[@ronkloiber]

great job explaining. Is there a way to have OBS stop recording when the video signal is lost? I'm trying to capture VHS tapes through a RCA to HDMI and then HDMI to USB adapter. I can set the record timer in tools, and then edit/split the capture, but it would be nice if it could just end it for me.

[@cnicktwo4]

Thank you!!! I needed this!!

[@syphexX]

great video thanks g

[@Burstix]

Switching from SLOBS to OBS again, somehow CQP wasn't there with advanced, come watch this video, now it's there, I didn't change anything lol. Thanks for the great video, I thought maybe they removed it but nope, somehow I missed it.

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

Wow. This was amazing! Thanks much. Any recommendations for colors, lighting...etc

[@ToxzenSL]

Thank you! Your information was clear straight forward and easy to understand 10/10 help

[@Flicky800]

Does this apply if I use hd60x on a dual pc setup?

[@downspiral]

Great tutorial!

[@gamingfromjohnwayne]

U the man 😊hope one day I get my videos good as u brother 😊

[@akhileshbharadwaj1675]

That OBS stream can we see in the QGS? If it is possible how we can da that

[@13lake]

Is there a way to keep the highest audio spike in the red zone saved on the bar? I wish I could walk away from a recording, and know if there was a pop in the audio without having to monitor the entire recording session. Transferring VHS to digital, for example. Sometimes, OBS will start popping. I don't think it's my VCR, Black Magic hardware, monitor, power supply, I think it's an OBS hiccup. I can stop, rewind, record again and it works, no pop.

[@mohamedbk3207]

thank you bro really appreciate it

[@Reza_Media]

Hello . May I know what camera you use to make it clear like your video?

[@pxrmoto]

Thank you so much! You have saved my sanity!

[@poisonousgaming9027]

my pc specs i7 13650hx rtx 4060 16 gb ddr5 4800mhz 1tb gen4 ssd storage can i apply your setting with out any lag ?? pls reply

[@aceskinghybrid]

Thank you so much, now my gameplays save way clearer. Now I have to get a new large hard drive to save my videos to😊

[@Icythot-m6i]

had my setting right, but video file set different, i used to use streamlabs and record all my shit in mp4 never had an issue up until i got locked out of streaming so now i plan on making content and uploading to youtube, uninstalled streamlabs and installed obs and had it set to mp4, like 1hr of footage i rerecorded three times was all corrupted didn't find out until the editing stage when i put everything into premier pro, gonna try the flv and seee how that goes, thanks for the settings!

[@wuxbyy]

helped insanely. subscribed!!

[@Lucas_Bazilio]

Hi, what about the audio encoder in the output section?

[@howtoSue]

I can't get clear texts when screen recording! Yours are perfect, how? I want to resize the shot for close up but the text is pixelated. Please help!

[@cerdobueno]

what encoder do you recommend with an amd rx6800?

[@ThePardeepG]

thank you brother so much deadass

[@whim_tv]

Would these settings be the same for 2k as well?

[@accordingtoseth7307]

Maybe someone has some advice here but once I did all of this my picture is great but now my audio is out of sync and doesn’t line up. My lips are moving but the audio doesn’t match it. Anyone have any recommendations

[@solomonsignet]

Thank you!! Recording is looking way better for me. Appreciate you!

[@yallahabib]

great video brother! love it

[@GenisysGames99]

well i followed all steps and my videos are going pixelated on KZbin, had this issue for over a year now and still can't fix it

[@virgiliorodriguez4648]

Quisiera quitar la parte de DATOS para ver pantalla a total. ¿Se puede? Gracias. (Modo en Grabación).

[@Vaxtin]

Still not seeing very many recent videos that aren't 2+ years old discussing the encoder NVENC HEVC (H.265) for recording. I'm trying to get more information about its performance. Supposedly it's supposed to be better now, but still isn't widely supported? I also have read that the Profile (P1-P7) do not effect quality very much when you are using CQP. Instead it supposedly has a small change on the file size? I don't know, my sources are just random google links I've clicked while trying to figure out what these things are actually doing. There are many videos that say to 'do this thing' but I'd also like to learn what these settings are adding/subtracting so I am more informed in using the program, instead of just doing what someone says because they said so.

[@svenwalter4293]

Yeah tough luck buddy this video doesnt really provide any insight unlike EposVox with his DaVinci resolve export settings type of vid

[@GhostezX226]

4:17 i tried to find the option CQP but it was'nt there, why?