How to Record Gameplay With OBS: A Complete Beginner's Guide

OBS Studio is free, powerful, and the standard tool for recording gameplay. It can also be intimidating the first time you open it. This guide walks you through your first recording, start to finish, with no prior experience needed.

Step 1: Install OBS Studio

Download OBS from the official site (obsproject.com) for Windows, macOS, or Linux, and run the installer. On first launch, OBS offers an Auto-Configuration Wizard. Choose Optimize for recording and let it pick sensible defaults for your hardware. You can fine-tune later.

Step 2: Understand scenes and sources

OBS uses two key concepts:

• A Scene is a layout, like a slide. You can have several.
• A Source is something inside a scene: your game, your webcam, your mic, an image.

OBS starts with one empty scene. You just need to add a source that captures your game.

Step 3: Add a capture source

In the Sources panel, click the + button. You have two main options:

• Game Capture is the best choice for a single fullscreen or borderless game. It hooks directly into the game for efficient, high-quality capture. Add it, then in its properties set Mode to Capture specific window and pick your game (have the game running first).
• Display Capture records your entire monitor. Use it for games Game Capture can't grab, or for desktop apps. It captures everything on screen, including notifications, so it's less tidy.

Start with Game Capture. If you get a black screen, fall back to Display Capture.

Step 4: Set up your audio

OBS picks up your Desktop Audio (game sound) and Mic/Aux (your microphone) automatically in the Audio Mixer at the bottom. Speak and play a sound to confirm the meters move. Drag the sliders to balance game volume against your voice.

Step 5: Configure your output settings

Open Settings > Output. For a clean first recording:

• Recording Format: MKV is the safest (it survives crashes). You can convert to MP4 afterward with File > Remux Recordings.
• Encoder: Choose your GPU's hardware encoder if listed (NVENC for NVIDIA, AMF for AMD, QuickSync for Intel). It records with minimal impact on your game's frame rate. Otherwise x264 uses your CPU.
• Recording quality: "Indistinguishable Quality" is a great preset for sharp footage.

In Settings > Video, set both your base and output resolution to your monitor's resolution (commonly 1920x1080) and FPS to 60 for smooth motion, or 30 for smaller files.

Step 6: Record

Note your recording path in Settings > Output so you know where files land. Then click Start Recording in the Controls panel (bottom right). Play your game. When you're done, click Stop Recording.

Tip: You can set a recording hotkey in Settings > Hotkeys so you don't have to alt-tab. The hotkey is whatever you assign, there is no fixed default.

Step 7: Find your file

By default OBS saves recordings to your Videos folder, but the exact location is whatever you set in Settings > Output > Recording Path. The quickest way to find your latest clip is File > Show Recordings inside OBS, which opens the folder directly.

Step 8: Share it

If you recorded to MKV, remux to MP4 first (File > Remux Recordings) so it plays everywhere and imports into any editor. Trim out the dead air, and your clip is ready for the world.

That's the whole loop: capture, record, find, share. Once you've got a highlight you're proud of, post it to FragClips from the upload page, then browse the Explore feed and game pages to see what other players are capturing.

Your first recording is the hardest. After that it becomes second nature. Grab a clip, head to the upload page, and show off your best play.