OBS Studio recording software v29.0 is out now

OBS Studio, the very useful and popular recording and livestream software has a new release available with version 29.0 out now. As usual there's plenty of features that only currently work on Windows, some that will hopefully come to Linux eventually when OBS have people to work on them.

Some of the new features include:

• Added support for the AMD AV1 Encoder for the RX7000 series GPUs on Windows.
• Added support for the Intel AV1 Encoder for Arc GPUs on Windows.
  • Note: CQP is available but not fully supported.
• Added support for the Intel HEVC Encoder on Windows.
• Added an upward compressor filter.
• Added a 3-band equalizer filter.
• Added support for native HEVC and ProRes encoders on macOS, including P010 and HDR.
• Added support for macOS Desk View.
• Added update channels for opting into receiving beta/release-candidate builds to Windows.
  • Work is still underway to get everything ready on the server side, updating via the built-in updater may not be available until later in the OBS 30.0 beta-testing period.
• Websockets updated to 5.1.0, which has a number of bug fixes, UI improvements, and new stream reconnect events.

OBS Studio v29.0 capturing a Steam Deck

Some other improvements include:

• The Replay Buffer's memory limit is now set to 75% of installed system RAM rather than fixed to 8GB.
• Added media key support in Linux.
• Various improvements to NVIDIA Video and Audio filters, including a Mask Refresh slider and support for temporal processing, which provides better quality masking.
• Improved Display Capture screen naming & saving on Windows; indexes should now match regardless of Mode, and reconnected displays should show the correct monitor.
  • Note: This does mean existing Display Capture sources will be blank until manually configured, to avoid showing the wrong display.
• Added support for encryption and authentication for SRT and RIST outputs.
• Disabled ScreenCaptureKit Display & App capture on macOS 12 due to various issues; users should either update to macOS 13 or use the existing Screen Capture source.
• Removed the automatic numbering on Multiview labels.
• Added the ability to mute individual browser docks.
• Added the ability to right click and 'Inspect' individual browser docks.
• Changed the default Simple Output NVENC preset to P5 for better compatibility & performance.
• Added support for higher refresh rates in the Video Capture Device source on Windows.
• Added the Apple VT Hardware encoder to the Auto Configuration Wizard.
• Improved FFmpeg VA-API enablement by directly using Libva to check device capabilities.
• Various minor UX/accessibility tweaks in the UI.
• Raised the speed at which dynamic bitrate recovers after a drop.
• Audio should now be automatically captured for most capture card brands using the Video Capture Device source on Windows.
• Added a slide counter to the Source Toolbar when an Image Slide Show is selected.

On a personal note, I'm hoping this release will fix an audio bug I've been hitting recently where everything is fine for me with game captures looking great and for me sounding good, but the recording has audio that just constantly stutters. It's been a problem for a while, and has made quite a few of my recordings unusable. If you've encountered it and know a fix, do let me know in the comments.

I also seem to have to do a weird little dance with my capture card recently. A first load of OBS never seems to have it working. Sometimes I have to unplug the capture card and plug it back in for OBS to see it properly — it's been getting quite annoying but it could also be Fedora-specific issues with V4L2.