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Install OBS Studio on Windows, macOS and Linux

Download from the official source

OBS Studio is free and open source. Download it from obsproject.com/download or from the project's GitHub releases page. Installers offered through search ads, download portals or "OBS crack" pages are not published by the OBS Project and should not be trusted.

Windows

  1. Download the 64-bit Windows installer. OBS Studio requires a 64-bit version of Windows 10 or later.
  2. Close any game, capture card utility or overlay software before running the installer.
  3. Install to the default location unless you have a reason to change it. Some plugins assume the default plugin directory.
  4. Launch OBS Studio normally. Only run it as administrator if you specifically need to capture a game that itself runs elevated.

macOS

Download the build that matches your Mac: the Apple silicon disk image for M-series machines, or the Intel disk image for older hardware. Drag OBS to Applications, then launch it once and approve the Screen Recording, Camera and Microphone prompts in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Screen and window capture stay black until Screen Recording is granted and OBS is restarted.

OBS Studio 32.2 and later require macOS 13 or newer. If you are still on macOS 12, use the 32.1.2 release instead.

Linux

The project publishes official Ubuntu packages, and OBS is also distributed as a Flatpak on Flathub. Distribution repositories often lag several versions behind, so check the version you actually installed with Help → About. Flatpak builds are sandboxed, which affects where plugins are installed and which capture methods are available; Wayland sessions use PipeWire capture rather than X11 screen capture.

Confirm the install

  1. Open Help → About and note the version number. Every guide on this site states the version it was written against.
  2. Add a Display Capture source and confirm you see your desktop in the preview.
  3. Speak into your microphone and confirm the Mic/Aux meter moves in the Audio Mixer.

If any of those three checks fails, fix it before touching encoder or output settings. A capture problem at this stage is a permissions or graphics issue, not an encoding issue.