OBS Studio crashes on launch or during a session

Read the log first

Open Help → Log Files → Show Log Files and read the most recent crash log. The last lines before the crash normally name the module involved. If you ask for help, upload the log rather than describing the crash; the log names the plugin, driver and capture method.

Plugins are the most common cause

A plugin built for an older OBS major version can crash the process at startup. Move the contents of the plugin directory somewhere else, start OBS clean, and add plugins back one at a time. After every OBS major upgrade, check that each plugin has published a build for the new version before reinstalling it.

Graphics drivers and overlays

• Update the GPU driver. If the crash started immediately after a driver update, install the previous version to confirm.
• Disable third-party overlays: game launchers, chat overlays, hardware monitors and recording utilities all hook the same graphics APIs OBS uses.
• Disable "game mode" style optimisers that suspend background processes.

Start from a clean configuration

Export your scene collection first, then create a new profile and a new scene collection and start OBS with them. If a clean configuration is stable, the fault is in the old profile: a specific source, filter or browser source. Add pieces back until the crash returns.

Safe launch options

OBS can be started with safe mode, which loads without third-party plugins, scripts and browser sources. It is the fastest way to answer the only question that matters at the start: is this OBS itself, or something OBS loaded?

Report it usefully

If OBS itself is at fault, report it to the OBS Project with the crash log, your OBS version, operating system version, GPU and driver version. A report without a log cannot be acted on.