OBS, Screen Recording & Streaming

OBS Studio is the most popular open-source screen recording and live streaming software. This article explains how to install and configure OBS on Ubuntu 26.04.

Installing OBS Studio

Method 1: Via apt

sudo apt install obs-studio -y

Method 2: Via Flatpak (Recommended, more up-to-date)

flatpak install flathub com.obsproject.Studio -y

Method 3: Via PPA for the Latest Version

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install obs-studio -y

First Launch Configuration

Launch OBS:

obs
# Or for the Flatpak version
flatpak run com.obsproject.Studio

On first launch, OBS will run the auto-configuration wizard:

1. Choose your purpose: Optimize for recording or Optimize for streaming
2. Set video parameters: resolution and frame rate
3. Automatic system performance test

Wayland Support

Ubuntu 26.04 uses the Wayland desktop by default. OBS under Wayland needs PipeWire to capture the screen:

# Ensure PipeWire-related packages are installed
sudo apt install pipewire pipewire-pulse xdg-desktop-portal-gnome -y

When adding a screen capture source in OBS, select Screen Capture (PipeWire).

Recording Settings

Adding Sources

Click the + button in the Sources area to add:

• Screen Capture (PipeWire) — Capture the entire screen
• Window Capture (PipeWire) — Capture a single window
• Audio Output Capture (PulseAudio) — Capture system audio
• Audio Input Capture (PulseAudio) — Capture microphone
• Image — Add a watermark or background
• Text (FreeType 2) — Add text overlay

Recommended Recording Settings

Go to Settings > Output > Recording:

Video settings (Settings > Video):

Using GPU-Accelerated Encoding

NVIDIA users:

# The NVENC encoding library ships with the NVIDIA driver; its version must match the driver.
# Installing nvidia-driver-XXX automatically pulls in the matching libnvidia-encode-XXX.
# If it is missing, install the one matching your installed driver, e.g. for driver 580:
sudo apt install libnvidia-encode-$(nvidia-smi --query-gpu=driver_version --format=csv,noheader | cut -d. -f1) -y

Select NVIDIA NVENC H.264 as the encoder in OBS to significantly reduce CPU usage.

AMD users: Select FFMPEG VAAPI H.264 as the encoder in OBS.

Live Streaming

Streaming to Twitch

1. Get your Stream Key from your Twitch dashboard
2. In OBS, go to Settings > Stream
3. Select Twitch as the service and paste your stream key

Streaming to YouTube

1. Get the stream key from YouTube Studio > Go Live
2. In OBS, go to Settings > Stream
3. Select YouTube - RTMPS and enter the stream key

Recommended Streaming Settings

Custom RTMP Streaming

Server: rtmp://your-streaming-server/live/
Stream Key: your-stream-key

Scene and Source Management

Creating Multiple Scenes

OBS supports creating multiple scenes for quick switching:

• Gaming scene: Game capture + webcam + chat overlay
• Chat scene: Webcam + background image
• BRB scene: Away screen + background music

OBS Hotkeys

Configure in Settings > Hotkeys:

Other Screen Recording Tools

SimpleScreenRecorder

A lightweight screen recording tool suitable for simple needs:

sudo apt install simplescreenrecorder -y

GNOME Built-in Screen Recording

The GNOME desktop can record the screen directly with a keyboard shortcut:

• Ctrl + Shift + Alt + R to start/stop recording
• Recordings are saved to the ~/Videos/Screencasts/ directory

wf-recorder Command-Line Recording

The Ubuntu 26.04 desktop is a Wayland-only session. FFmpeg’s x11grab does not work under Wayland, and FFmpeg has no pipewire input device, so you cannot use ffmpeg to grab the screen directly. For command-line recording, use the Wayland-capable wf-recorder:

sudo apt install wf-recorder -y
 
# Record the whole screen (with audio)
wf-recorder -a -f output.mp4
 
# Record a selected region with slurp
sudo apt install slurp -y
wf-recorder -g "$(slurp)" -f output.mp4

For a graphical workflow, just use the GNOME built-in screen recorder above or OBS Studio; both work through the PipeWire screen-sharing portal and natively support Wayland.

GPU-Accelerated Transcoding

# NVIDIA NVENC
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p4 -b:v 10M output.mp4
 
# AMD VAAPI
ffmpeg -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i input.mkv -c:v h264_vaapi -b:v 10M output.mp4

MKV to MP4 Conversion

OBS recording is recommended in MKV format (won’t corrupt on power loss). After recording, convert to MP4:

# In OBS: File > Remux Recordings (lossless, fast conversion)
 
# Or use FFmpeg
ffmpeg -i recording.mkv -codec copy recording.mp4

With proper OBS configuration, Ubuntu 26.04 can handle all kinds of screen recording and live streaming needs.