Support us on Patreon to keep GamingOnLinux alive. This ensures all of our main content remains free for everyone. Just good, fresh content! Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal. You can also buy games using our partner links for GOG and Humble Store.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

OBS Studio, the free and open source one-stop solution for video capture and livestreaming has a new release coming with the first Release Candidate for OBS Studio 26.1 out now.

What's the major new features? Here's the highlights:

  • Added Virtual Camera output on macOS and Linux (needs v4l2loopback-dkms)
  • Added the ability to use a separate audio track for the VOD when using Twitch
    • If using Simple output mode, enable "Enable Advanced Encoder Settings", and enable "Twitch VOD Track (Uses Track 2)". Twitch VOD output will then be on audio track 2
    • If using Advanced output mode in the Streaming tab, enable "Twitch VOD Track" and select the track you'd like to use for it
  • Added OpenBSD support
  • Added the ability to ingest captions coming from Decklink devices via "Decklink Captions" from the Tools menu 
  • Added hardware decoding options for stinger transitions
  • Added an option to duplicate filters in the right-click context menu of filters
  • Added ability to copy and paste a single filter between sources
  • (API) Added a replay buffer save event to the frontend API

Virtual Camera support sounds useful, enabling you to use OBS Studio output as a camera for other apps. That could have quite a lot of uses I'm sure.

Along with the usual bug fixes, they also improved OBS Studio in a few other areas. For Linux specifically, it will now warn you if it detects other instances of it running which may cause problems. When setting up a new OBS Studio profile, it will now give you the option to run the auto-config wizard and it will also now show the maximum limits for streaming services in the settings.

OBS Studio has come so far it's an incredible piece of software, especially with the new noise suppression included with the last release that works wonders.

You can grab OBS Studio from the official site.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
13 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
7 comments

beko Nov 27, 2020
Hehe, yeah, the problems caused by running multiple instances is especially important with the virtual camera plugin because all instances will start to dump frames to that sink (if this plugin is auto started) :D
elmapul Nov 27, 2020
Added Virtual Camera output on macOS and Linux(needs v4l2loopback-dkms)

this this was an PITA the last time i tried to setup, hopefully this time will be easier and the tutorials wont be outdated...
Pendragon Nov 27, 2020
Added Virtual Camera output on macOS and Linux(needs v4l2loopback-dkms)

this this was an PITA the last time i tried to setup, hopefully this time will be easier and the tutorials wont be outdated...

Agreed -- if this works it'll be huge.. I;ve been having to recompile v4l2loopback from source each time i do a kernel update
KuJo Nov 29, 2020
That could have quite a lot of uses I'm sure.
... like watching Netflix together with friends in Jitsi (with the Virtual Cam as output) So something like cinema light. In Corona times ...
emptythevoid Nov 29, 2020
I've been using OBS as a virtual camera for the billion Zooms I've had to do since "the event" (much to the amusement of my co-workers). Getting the OBS plugin v4l2sink to work was a pain, and then an update to v4l2loopback broke the ability for the virtual camera to identify itself to Zoom (and practically everything else), which required rolling back to a previous release of the driver and locking it. If this all gets integrated and works seamlessly, this feature alone is worth the update. Glad to hear it.
tuubi Nov 29, 2020
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
I had to install the newer v4l2loopback packages from Ubuntu 20.10 to fix the dkms build on 5.9 kernels on Mint, but otherwise the driver seems to work without issue. Didn't try OBS though. Just wanted to see if this works.
scaine Nov 29, 2020
View PC info
  • Contributing Editor
  • Mega Supporter
I had the same problem as tuubi, since I also use a 5.9 mainline kernel. But I've been using the unofficial obs-webcam with it for a while. Great to see it being integrated into the base product.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.