OBS Studio Setup Guide
Last updated: September 1, 2026
A careful ten-minute setup prevents most of the problems people spend hours troubleshooting later. Work through these steps once and the configuration carries over to every future session.
1. Install
Download the Windows installer from the download page, run it, and keep the default component selection. If your antivirus asks about the installer, verify that you started from the OBS Project's own server before allowing it.
2. Run the auto-configuration wizard
On first launch the wizard asks whether you plan to stream or record, then benchmarks your hardware and proposes a resolution, frame rate and encoder. Accept its suggestion as a baseline; you can refine every value afterwards.
3. Set the canvas and output resolution
In Settings → Video, set the base canvas to your monitor resolution. For recordings keep the output identical; for streaming, scale down to 1080p or 720p depending on the bitrate you can afford. Use the Lanczos downscale filter for the sharpest result.
4. Configure audio devices
Assign Desktop Audio and Mic/Auxiliary Audio explicitly in Settings → Audio, rather than leaving them on Default. Add filters to the microphone: noise suppression first, then a noise gate, then a compressor.
5. Create your first scenes
Build one scene per situation you expect: a desktop capture for tutorials, a game capture with webcam for gameplay, a camera-only layout for talking to the audience. Duplicating an existing scene is faster than starting over.
6. Bind hotkeys and test
In Settings → Hotkeys assign keys for start and stop recording, start and stop streaming, mute the microphone and switch scenes. Then record a two-minute test and watch it back before anything important depends on the setup.