OBS Studio is among the best game recording software tools available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. The best part about it is that it’s completely free to use and has no hardware or software requirements like other game recording software. While OBS Studio is available for a wide range of operating systems and hardware configurations, it does have its limitations.
These limitations will depend on how powerful your gaming PC is and the settings you use while you stream/record your favorite games. So here are a few settings changes you can make to ensure your gameplay is as smooth as possible if you are using a budget gaming PC.
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x264 vs. H.264 encoding
While OBS Studio doesn’t require you to use any particular operating system or hardware brands (e.g. Nvidia, AMD, Intel). The software does use a lot of system resources which can cause lag in-game though, when you are streaming/recording on a low or mid-level gaming PC. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when recording gameplay using OBS Studio is using the wrong video encoder settings.
When you are recording your gameplay, you will have to choose if you want your CPU or your GPU resources to be allocated to the OBS Studio encoding process. It may seem like it is a smart move to use your CPU for video encoding, since you are using your GPU to play the game. But you would be wrong. You should actually almost always use your GPU as the encoder for the smoothest recordings, unless you are running OBS through a second PC.
This is because most modern GPUs (made in the last 8+ years) have a separate chip built specifically for encoding, which doesn’t negatively impact your GPU performance. This allows your GPU to run both the game and recording software without impacting each other. However, the same cannot be said for your CPU, which has to run your OS, game, and recording software at the same time, all on one chip, which dramatically reduces your performance.
If you have an Nvidia graphics card, you’ll have to select the Nvidia NVENC H.264 option, and for AMD users, you will be able to use the AMD AMF H.264 for the video encoder setting.
How to change your Video Encoder setting in OBS Studio
If you haven’t already, you will need to download and install OBS Studio on your PC.
- Search for and open OBS Studio.
- Click on File in the top left corner of the application.
- Open the Settings menu.
- Click on the Output tab.
- Click on the Output Mode drop-down menu and select the Advanced option.
- Look for the Video Encoder setting and change it to Nvidia NVENC H.264 or AMD AMF H.264.
You will need to change this separately in the Streaming and Recording tab depending on which function you use.
Best OBS Studio encoder settings for a low or mid-level gaming PC
After you have changed the Video Encoder setting, you can expect a much smoother streaming/recording experience. But if you’re still getting lag in-game or if you’re just looking to get a few extra frames out of the footage, then there are a few other settings you can change to optimize your setup.
If you are streaming:
- Scroll down in the Streaming tab until you see the Encoder Settings section.
- For Rate Control, you’ll want to change it to CBR.
- The Bitrate you use is highly dependent on your PC and your internet connection. But if you are looking to stream at 1080p, you’ll want this value to be between 4000 and 6000 Kbps for smooth gameplay (make it even higher if possible). This is especially important for fast-paced action games.
- Now you can change your Keyframe Interval to 2s. This gives your PC more time to process the recording before it appears on stream for your viewers.
- For Presetuse P4: Medium (Medium quality). There is very little performance difference between P4 and P7, so feel free to increase this if the recording/streams are stable.
- In the Tuning setting, you can change it to Low Latency or Ultra Low Latency.
- For the Multipass Modeyou can use Single Pass or Two Passes (Quarter Resolution).
- Your Profile setting should be set to main.
- For the Max B-frames setting, you can increase it to 2.
- Once you have made all the changes, you can click Apply and start streaming your gameplay.
If you are recording:
- In the Recording tab, you should change your Recording Format to Matroska Video (.mkv). This is because if your PC crashes or if a recording error occurs, your video will be saved. If you use another format, your videos will be corrupted if the recording is interrupted. You can always remux or convert the video to mp4 later.
- Under Rate Controlyou can also use CBR. You can change this to VBR if CBR is causing lag on your PC.
- You can set your Bitrate for recordings higher than streaming, so set it between 6000 and 8000 Kbpsthen raise or lower it from there depending on your performance.
- For the rest of the settings, you can follow steps 4 to 10 in the previous section, using the same settings that we used for streaming, then you can hit Apply when you’re ready.
These settings are meant for mid-level gaming PCs. However, every PC is built differently, so don’t be afraid to tweak the settings to match your setup.
Now you can stream/record your favorite games without lag
That’s all there is to it! It can be very annoying to have to lower game settings or recording/streaming settings for everything to run smoothly, but that doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be done. Using these settings on a low or mid-level gaming PC should give you smooth recordings at 1080p on your current game settings.
If your gameplay is still not as smooth as you’d like it to be, then you may need to change a few UI settings on OBS, like disabling the preview window so that your PC doesn’t have to render two applications and two displays at the same time. If you are currently using an HDD as your main drive, then the easiest way to improve your recordings would be to upgrade to an SSD.