OBS Blind — Chapter 2. Overview of the Settings Menu
In the previous chapter of our guide, we thoroughly explored the main screen of OBS Studio and figured out the purpose of each element.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about the settings menu of the program — the one you can access either from the main screen or by pressing the Alt key.
General Settings and Appearance
First, we’re greeted by the General section.
We won’t linger here too long, because the settings you might actually need are pretty self-explanatory — like choosing a language, enabling auto-launch, or selecting an update channel.
Next is the Appearance section, and we won’t focus on that either, since it’s purely visual and doesn’t affect the readability of any elements when using a screen reader.
Now we come to the first truly important and interesting section — Stream Settings.
Stream Settings Section
This is where the “live” part begins — connecting to streaming services and selecting the platform you’ll broadcast on.
Tab 1: Select Streaming Platform
We land in a combo box where we select a streaming service. There are a lot of them here; honestly, I haven’t heard of most of them — likely niche platforms. For most users, the most relevant ones will be Twitch and YouTube.
In general, you can always look up a list of popular streaming services and choose based on your needs.
Let’s say we choose Twitch as our streaming service.
Tab 2: Select Server
It’s recommended to leave this option on Auto. That way, when you start streaming, the signal is routed through the nearest server to your location or the one with the lowest ping. (And yes, ping mostly depends on the distance to the server).
Tab 3: Account Linking
Some streaming services let you link your account directly to OBS. That’s very convenient because you don’t have to find and paste your stream key manually. For example, on YouTube and Twitch, it’s not hard to locate the key; both interfaces are mostly screen-reader friendly. YouTube handles this well since Google cares about accessibility, and Twitch has had its ups and downs, but lately things have improved.
Tab 4: Enable Bandwidth Test Mode
This option lets you test the stability of your stream before actually going live.
Tab 5: Twitch Chat Integration Add-ons
Here you’ll find a list of supported OBS extensions for Twitch chat.
I’ve never used them myself — I always relied on a great program called SheepChat, available on Steam. It lets you customize chat speech with various voices, since not every message comes as a donation with a funny voice clip attached.
Tab 6: Ignore Recommended Broadcast Settings
Uncheck this box only if you know exactly what parameters you need to set manually.
After this, there’s an unreadable section for screen readers.
Tab 7: Enable Multitrack Streaming
Useful if you’re broadcasting several audio sources.
Tab 8–10: OK / Cancel / Apply
After these, we return to the list of settings sections.
Output Settings Section
Tab 1: Mode Selection
A combo box lets you choose between Simple and Advanced output modes.
If you’re not into fine-tuning every detail of your audio and video streams, leave it on Simple — you’ll only adjust a few key parameters like bitrate, encoder, and preset.
But let’s look at the Advanced mode to understand its settings in detail.
Once you switch to Advanced, you’ll see several tabs you can navigate with the arrow keys (left and right).
Let’s focus on the Stream tab.
Tab 2: Unreadable area for screen readers — skip it.
Tab 3: Track Selection
There are six tracks in total. I recommend leaving it at Track 1 — it’s enough for most streams.
If you plan to stream movies or similar content, use more tracks so your voice and soundtrack don’t interfere when saving the archive.
You can switch tracks with the arrow keys.
Tab 4: Video Encoder
Here, you choose which encoder compresses and processes your video stream. I recommend x264, though you can experiment based on your hardware and GPU type.
Tab 5: Scaling Method
This controls how OBS resizes images before streaming or recording. Recommended option: Bicubic (Sharp Scaling, 16 Samples). It balances sharpness and blur nicely. Bilinear is lower quality, and Lanczos demands more CPU power.
Don’t disable scaling entirely — streaming servers will recompress your video anyway, so better to set a balanced quality up front.
Tab 6: Video Resolution
Sets the output and recording resolution.
If video quality isn’t your priority, you can set a minimal resolution, for example, 212×120. This field is editable, so you can type custom values manually.
Tab 7: Audio Encoder
Indicates that the FFmpeg library is used for AAC audio encoding.
Tab 8–10: OK / Cancel / Apply.
Tab 11: Twitch VOD Track
Let’s you choose different tracks for live and recorded streams — for instance, to exclude music from recordings.
Tab 12: Bitrate Control
Affects video quality, stream stability, and file size.
- Use CBR (Constant Bitrate) for streaming — more stable.
- Use VBR (Variable Bitrate) for recordings where consistent quality isn’t critical.
- Use CRF 18 if you want high-quality recordings.
Tab 13: Bitrate Value
Defines the amount of video data sent per second. Check your streaming service’s recommendations — I use 6000 Kbps.
Tab 14: Custom Buffer Size
If you enable this checkbox, you can set the buffer size manually. A larger buffer smooths out network drops, but adds latency between your actions and what viewers see.
Tab 15: Frame Buffer Tuning (0 C)
This parameter sets how many frames OBS buffers before sending them to the server (0 = minimal delay, 1C–2C = smoother but slower). Unlike the previous buffer option, this is frame-specific tuning. Recommended: keep the default.
Tab 16: CPU Usage Preset
Affects the balance between video quality, CPU load, and encoding latency.
Higher value (e.g., ultrafast):
– Lower CPU usage (suitable for weak PCs)
– Worse video quality (more blurring and artifacts)
Lower value (e.g,. slow):
– Better quality (sharper image, fewer artifacts)
– Higher CPU load (possible lags or dropped frames)
I personally use “very fast”, and viewers haven’t complained about quality.
Tab 17: Encoding Profile
These are predefined sets of rules for video encoding, determining compatibility and quality.
- Baseline — for viewers with low-end devices
- Main — standard streams (Twitch, YouTube)
- High — for recordings and modern hardware
If you don’t select a profile, x264 uses defaults, which might not be optimal.
The most universal choice is Main.
Tab 18: Visual Effect Presets
Optional filters that affect the look of your stream or recording without changing technical parameters.
Examples:
- Film: increases sharpness and contrast, enhances details
- Animation: improves motion smoothness in cartoons and animations
- Grain: adds a film-grain “vintage” effect
- Ssim: enhances subjective natural quality
Tab 19: x264 Custom Parameters
Here you can enter manual commands for fine-tuning the x264 encoder.
That’s advanced stuff — better left for later study.
After the Stream tab, move right to the Recording tab.
Recording Settings Section
Tab 1:
Choose between Standard Recording Mode and Custom (FFmpeg).
The second option offers a lot of flexibility — for example, you can record audio-only if you select an audio format.
We’ll discuss FFmpeg settings later; for now, stick to Standard.
Tab 2: Field to set the folder path for saved recordings.
Tab 3: Browse button to open the folder selection dialog.
Tab 4: Generate File Name without Spaces — if checked, OBS automatically removes spaces from filenames.
Tab 5: Recording format combo box.
Recommended: Matroska (.mkv).
Currently, MKV is the only container that safely preserves data if power is lost or OBS crashes.
Other formats like MP4 or MOV require proper session closure or become corrupted.
Losing a 10-minute clip is fine, but imagine a 2-hour lecture gone because the power went out at the end!
Tab 6–11: Select audio tracks for recording.
You can enable all six and later assign specific sources to each.
Tab 12: Video encoder selection — same as for streaming. Recommended: x264.
Tab 13: Scaling method — set to Bicubic (Sharp Scaling, 16 Samples).
Tab 14: Resolution setting.
If you’re planning an audio-only conversion later, you can lower the resolution to save disk space.
Tab 15: Field for custom recording commands — leave blank unless you know what you’re doing.
Tab 16: Automatically split recording into segments checkbox.
You can set intervals (e.g., every 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 GB).
That way, you won’t end up with one huge file to manage.
Tab 17: Unreadable area for screen readers — skip.
Tab 18: Audio format selection — recommended default: FFmpeg AAC.
Tab 19–22: Apply / Cancel buttons again.
That covers the most important recording parameters. Now let’s move on to Replay Buffer and Audio.
Replay Buffer
Replay Buffer
The Enable Replay Buffer option in OBS Studio is a handy feature that lets you record and temporarily store the last few seconds (or minutes) of video in the background.
How it works:
OBS continuously records to a looping buffer in RAM.
When you press the assigned hotkey, OBS saves the recent segment to a separate file.
Why use it:
- Capture unexpected moments — if something interesting happens before you start recording.
- Save disk space — the buffer stays in memory until saved.
- Alternative to constant recording — great for clips and highlights later on YouTube.
Simply enable the checkbox and set the duration (in seconds) for how long OBS should keep video in RAM before overwriting it.
On the Audio tab, you can set the bitrate for each of the six tracks individually.
I recommend 160 Kbps — for AAC, that’s roughly equivalent to MP3 at 320 Kbps.
You can also assign custom names to each track if needed.
Audio Settings Section
Tab 1: Unreadable area — skip.
Tab 2: Sampling Rate — default is 44.1 kHz. No need to change it.
Tab 3: Channel Count — Stereo by default, also fine as is.
Tab 4–9:
Here you can enable or disable specific audio devices you plan to use with OBS.
It’s better not to change anything unless necessary — you might accidentally disable your mic or game audio.
If you do have issues with missing sound, this is where to investigate and fix it.
Make sure you know which input and output devices are active in your system’s sound settings.
Tab 10: Peak Decay Rate — controls how fast visual meters fall after a sound peak.
Tab 11: Peak Meter Type — defines how sound levels are visually represented.
Tab 12: Monitoring Device — routes OBS audio to a specific output (headphones, speakers, virtual cable) without changing system output.
Tab 13: Disable Windows Audio Ducking — prevents Windows from lowering the volume of other programs when OBS or the mic becomes active.
Alternative way: Control Panel → Sound → Communications tab → “Do nothing.”
Tab 14: Low-Latency Audio Buffer Mode (for Decklink/NDI outputs).
Reduces latency when sending audio to external devices but increases CPU load.
Professional audio interfaces (RME, Focusrite, Motu, Creative) handle buffering themselves through ASIO drivers — no need to enable this.
If your card uses WASAPI, you can try it, but the difference is minimal unless you use Decklink/NDI.
Tab 15–17: OK / Apply / Cancel buttons.
Tab 18–25:
Here you can set the microphone delay in milliseconds — useful to capture speech that starts right before recording begins.
Also, you can assign hotkeys to quickly toggle your mic on/off without using the mixer — handy for stream decks or when you can’t reach physical controls.
Video Settings Section
Tab 1: Preview Resolution — determines how large the image appears on your screen locally.
Tab 2: Output (Scaled) Resolution — determines the video resolution for streaming or recording.
Tab 3: Frame Rate Method — combo box for choosing how OBS sets frame rate.
Tab 4: Frames Per Second — default is 30.
Tab 5–7: OK / Apply / Cancel buttons.
Hotkeys Section
The last major section is Hotkeys.
I won’t describe every option — the idea is simple: you can assign key combinations for starting, pausing, or stopping streams and recordings. Pretty straightforward and very convenient for quick control. Flexible action customization is always a good thing.
End of Chapter 2
In the following chapters, we’ll talk about the sources you can add to a scene and the basics of creating content overall.
See you soon on the waves of InviOcean.