OBS on Linux¶
Install¶
| Source | When |
|---|---|
Flathub (com.obsproject.Studio) |
Recommended: follows OBS releases, includes the browser source, plugins available as Flatpak extensions |
| Distribution package | Fine if recent (OBS 30 or later). Ubuntu users can use the official PPA ppa:obsproject/obs-studio |
Avoid having both: scenes and settings are not shared, and you will edit the wrong one.
tuxcast doctor warns when both are installed.
Encoder¶
Encode on your GPU; x264 on the CPU costs frames in demanding games.
| GPU | Encoder in OBS | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | NVENC H.264 (or HEVC/AV1 for YouTube) | Needs the proprietary driver. Preset P5, tuning High Quality |
| AMD | FFmpeg VAAPI H.264 / Hardware (VA-API) | Needs mesa-va-drivers (Debian/Ubuntu) or mesa-va-drivers-freeworld (Fedora) |
| Intel | QuickSync H.264 or VA-API | Needs intel-media-va-driver-non-free (Debian/Ubuntu) |
| none | x264, preset veryfast |
Check that VA-API can encode with vainfo: the list must contain VAEntrypointEncSlice.
Settings for Twitch¶
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Rate control | CBR |
| Bitrate | 6000 kbps for 1080p60, 4500 kbps for 720p60 |
| Keyframe interval | 2 s |
| Resolution | 1920×1080 at 60 fps, or 1280×720 if your upload is under 8 Mb/s |
YouTube accepts higher bitrates and other codecs (HEVC, AV1); Twitch remains the constraint when you multistream.
Capture¶
| Source | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Screen Capture (PipeWire) | A whole screen, on Wayland or X11 |
| Window Capture (PipeWire) | One window, on Wayland |
| Game Capture (obs-vkcapture) | Vulkan and OpenGL games, with lower overhead and no portal prompt. Launch games with obs-gamecapture %command% in Steam |
| Audio Output Capture | A PipeWire sink: your desktop, or a tuxcast sink |
| Application Audio Capture (obs-pipewire-audio-capture) | One app's sound, without virtual sinks |
Multistream¶
The obs-multi-rtmp plugin adds a dock with one output per platform (Twitch, YouTube, TikTok…), each with its own encoder settings if needed. Share the encoder when platforms accept the same settings, to save GPU time.
obs-websocket¶
Stream Deck apps and automation control OBS through obs-websocket, built into OBS since 28.
Tools → WebSocket Server Settings: enable the server and keep authentication on. Without
a password, any program on your network can start your stream. tuxcast doctor checks both.