How to Take Screenshots in OBS (and the Best Settings to Use)

OBS isn't just for video. It can grab clean, high-resolution screenshots of your game with a single keypress, and they often look better than your operating system's built-in capture. Here's how to use the feature and the settings that keep your images crisp.

Two ways to screenshot in OBS

OBS gives you two screenshot commands, and the difference matters:

• Screenshot (Output) captures your entire OBS canvas, exactly what would be recorded, including any overlays or webcam you've added.
• Screenshot (Selected Source) captures only the source you have highlighted in the Sources panel, for example just your Game Capture, with no overlays.

For a clean game grab with no clutter, select your game source and use Screenshot (Selected Source). For the full composed scene, use Screenshot (Output).

You'll also find a Screenshot option in the right-click menu of any source, which is the same as the selected-source command.

Set the screenshot format to PNG

This is the key quality setting. Go to Settings > Advanced and find the Screenshots section. Set the Screenshot Format to PNG.

• PNG is lossless. Every pixel is exact, with no compression artifacts. Use it for sharp UI text, crisp edges, and anything you might crop or edit.
• JPEG is smaller but lossy. It can introduce blocky artifacts around high-contrast areas like text. Only choose it if file size matters more than quality.

For gaming screenshots, PNG is almost always the right call.

Assign a hotkey

Open Settings > Hotkeys and bind keys for Screenshot Output and/or Screenshot Selected Source. There is no default screenshot hotkey, you set your own. Pick something easy to reach mid-game, like an unused F-key or a mouse side button, so you can capture without alt-tabbing.

Where screenshots are saved

OBS saves screenshots to the same folder as your recordings, set in Settings > Output > Recording Path. The fastest way to open it is File > Show Recordings inside OBS. Each screenshot is named with a timestamp so they're easy to sort.

Screenshot vs grabbing a frame from a recording

You might wonder whether to just record video and pull a frame later. Both work, but they're not equal:

Method	Quality	Convenience
OBS screenshot (PNG)	Full quality, lossless	One keypress, instant file
Frame from a recording	Limited by video compression	Requires editing software to export

A direct PNG screenshot is a clean, full-quality image. A frame pulled from a recording is only as good as that video's bitrate and codec, so fast-moving or detailed scenes can look soft or blocky. Frame-grabbing is handy when you forgot to screenshot in the moment, but for the best image quality, capture the screenshot directly.

Quick tips for better shots

• Match your base canvas resolution to your monitor for full-resolution captures.
• Use the Selected Source command to exclude overlays from clean shots.
• Take a couple in a row during action so you can pick the best frame.

Screenshots are perfect for showing off rare drops, funny moments, character builds, or a great scenic vista. Once you've captured one, share it on FragClips from the upload page, browse what others are posting on the Explore feed, and find your title on the game pages.

Set your format to PNG, bind a hotkey, and start capturing. Got a screenshot worth sharing? Take it to the upload page.