How to easily install, setup and use OBS on Linux?

OBS stands for Open Broadcaster Studio and is the most widely used streaming software available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is mostly used by YouTube and Twitch streamers to stream their screen/games on streaming websites. The Application is completely open source, and it is considered a standard application for streaming-related work. Even Edward Snowden hailed it as good software and deemed its alternatives unacceptable.

In this tutorial, We will look at the Installation procedure of this application on all the major distributions, and we will optimize it for our use cases such as screen recording or streaming.

Installing OBS on Linux

Depending upon your Linux distribution, you can open and type the following commands :

# On Ubuntu, make sure you that you have enabled Multiverse repository, then type :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
sudo apt update
sudo apt install obs-studio

# On Debian :
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg obs-studio

# On Arch Linux based distributions
sudo pacman -S obs-studio

# On Fedora Workstation, Enable RPM fusion :
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
sudo dnf install obs-studio

# If you have NVIDIA card on Fedora, then also install CUDA
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda

Setting up Recording in OBS

When you first launch this application, It will ask you to optimize it for either streaming or recording. Here, we will discuss recording and in the next section, you can see how we can optimize OBS for streaming.

Optimize OBS For Streaming Or Scren Recording — Optimize OBS For Streaming Or Screen Recording

If you plan to change your mind later on, then don’t worry, you can always launch this wizard again from the Tools menu.

On the next screen, you can select the resolution and frame rate of the video and hit next. The autoconfiguration wizard will now automatically determine the best settings for your display and hardware.

Configuring Streaming in OBS

If you are going to be streaming to a Website such as Twitch or YouTube, select optimized software for streaming

Next, the software will determine the best settings for you to use depending on your screen and hardware.

On the next screen, select your streaming service such as Twitch or YouTube, in this example, I will try to stream my screen to a private Telegram channel using Custom settings.

Copy Your Server URL And Stream Key And Paste It In OBS

Select A Custom Service And Paste Your Details — Copy Your Server URL And Stream Key And Paste It In OBS

Adding Video and Audio Source to your Stream/Recording

Now, let’s try adding a source to the software so that it can begin recording/streaming. Click on ‘Docks’ and then ‘Sources’

Add A Capture Source For Your Recording/Streaming

You can select as many sources as you want, such as multiple cameras, a video source, mics, or your entire screen. Do not forget to add an audio source, otherwise, your viewers will not be able to listen to anything.

Add A Source To Your Stream Such As Your Camera Or Audio — Add A Source To Your Stream, Such As Your Camera Or Audio

Finally, click on the ‘Start Streaming’ or ‘Start Recording’ button and your video will start recording/streaming.

Once you are done, simply click on the ‘Stop Streaming’ or ‘Stop recording’ button.

Summary

There are various scripts available for OBS which you can add to your software to enhance your experience even more. You can add them by going to the ‘Tools’ menu and then selecting ‘Scripts’.

It is really great software and even a beginner can use it to stream to any website. Stream your entertaining gameplay on YouTube, or just talk to strangers on Twitch, the choice is entirely yours. Make sure to make good and regular content if you want to gain followers, and as always. Have fun!