OBS Studio 29.1 Beta 1 brings AV1 / HEVC over RTMP

The team working on the free and open source video recording and livestreaming software OBS Studio, have released the first Beta for version 29.1 with a big new feature.

With this being the first that supports the AV1 and HEVC over RTMP, currently just for streaming to YouTube. This is a big step, because there's a huge amount of interest in the likes of AV1 as it can provide better quality with a lower bandwidth cost.

Here's what else is new:

• Added a DLL blocking feature for Windows. This allows OBS to block problematic DLLs from attaching to OBS and causing freezing or crashes, for example 3rd party overlay hooks and outdated video capture devices. [notr1ch]
  • This blocks old versions of popular VTubing software virtual cameras that are known to cause freezes when accessing video capture device properties. If you are affected, please update to the latest version of your VTubing software.
• Added Update Channels on macOS and updated Sparkle for smaller and faster updates going forward [derrod]
• Added settings to select the audio encoder for streaming and recording [tytan652]
• Added an option to preload media sources used in Stingers to memory, to avoid frame skips during transitions [Jim]
• Added compatibility notices in the Window and Game Capture sources for Windows [derrod]
• Added the ability to zoom browser docks with Ctrl - and + and the right click menu [WizardCM]
• Added a setting to record in fragmented MP4 and MOV formats [derrod]
  • These offer greater compatibility than MKV while providing similar resilience against data loss due to crashes, running out of space, etc.
  • Fragmented MP4 and MOV files can be remuxed to regular MP4/MOV in cases where the former may not be read correctly (e.g. in older editing software)
  • The default recording format has been tentatively changed to fragmented MP4/MOV, please submit your feedback on Discord or the Forums if you run into any issues!
• Added support for surround sound for AJA capture cards [paulh-aja]
• Added ProRes 4444 (XQ) support for VideoToolbox encoder on macOS [jpark37]
• Added lossless audio recording options (FLAC/ALAC/PCM including 32-bit float) [derrod]
• Added indicator if an audio source is unmuted, but not assigned to any audio tracks [derrod]
• Added support for multiple audio tracks in Simple output recording [pkv]

There's various other general improvements and fixes, like these for Linux specifically:

• Significantly improve screen capture performance on Intel dedicated GPUs on Linux [kkartaltepe]
• JACK inputs on Linux will now display "OBS Studio" in their name to clarify their origin. This may cause existing configured devices to stop working until updated by the user [univrsal]
• Fixed a crash on shutdown with virtual camera on Linux [kkartaltepe/norihiro]
• Fixed an issue in the V4L2 source on Linux where a capture device's frame rate could be invalid, resulting in incredibly large log files [9p4]

See it all on the GitHub page.