OBS Studio is an open source software for screen recording. Applicable to Windows, MAC and Linux.

Installing OBS Studio on Linux

I am on Linux Fedora. These are the two commands to follow:

sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

Then install with:

sudo dnf install obs-studio

Output shows:

Installing:
  obs-studio
Installing dependencies:
  obs-studio-libs
  x264

Total download size: 4.1 M
Installed size: 11 M

OBS Studio Configuration

Once you open the program, it might have a popup window called “Auto-Configuration Wizard”.

If you tap on “Yes”.

Usage information:

  1. Optimize for streaming, recording is secondary.
  2. Optimize for recording, I will not be streaming.

I chose option 2.

Video settings:

  • Base (Canvas) Resolution: Use current 1366x768
  • FPS: Either 60 or 30, but prefer 60 when possible.

Those were the default values.

Final results:

  • The program is now executing a set of tests.

Nothing to do here. Just wait for the test to be completed. Then “Apply Settings”.

Adding Screen, Camera and Audio

Add the Screen:

  • Inside the Sources window.
  • Tap the plus sign.
  • Select Screen Capture
  • Create new.

A popup window shows:

  • Properties for “Screen Capture”
  • Capture Cursor: Selected by default
  • Tap on OK

Add the camera:

  • Sources window.
  • Plus sign.
  • Video capture device.
  • Pop window.
  • Review defaults.
  • OK
  • Reisize camera layer.

Add audio:

  • Desktop audio is already added. Mute or leave the default.
  • Mic is also already added.
  • For the Mic, go to the wheel to open settings.
  • Choose Filters.
  • Filters window. Plus sign to add a new filter.
  • Select compressor. Review defaults.
  • Add new filter. Noise supression.
  • You can play with these filter settings once you do some screen capture testing.

Controls settings:

  • Bottom right. Controls menu. Settings.
  • Output. Recording path. Leave default or modify. I like to change to my Videos folder.
  • Output. Recording format. Default is flv. I like mp4 instead. Choosing this will show a warning.
  • Hotkeys. Start Recording. I like to use Ctrl+Shift+R. Then set Stop Recording to the same.

Apply and OK

Record the screen

Test screen capture:

  • Bottom right menu
  • Start recording
  • Test what you want to capture
  • Test the mic
  • Stop recording
  • Review video
  • Modify Mic settings.