How to Record Your Screen With OBS Studio

Display Capture records a full monitor, including windows and notifications that appear on it. Window Capture limits the picture to one application window. Game Capture is meant for supported games. Choose the narrowest source that still shows every step the viewer needs, then inspect the canvas for black borders or cropped controls.

Create a separate scene for a different layout instead of moving sources during the take. Hide private tabs, desktop icons, password managers, customer records, and chat windows before recording. A source choice can reduce accidental exposure, but it does not replace a final playback review.

OBS's mixer should move for the desktop and microphone sources you intend to record. Speak, play expected system audio, and check that neither source clips into the red. If an unwanted device moves, mute or remove it. Record a short sample and play the saved file in another player because live meters do not prove the final track mix is right.

OBS recommends MKV when recording reliability matters because an interrupted session is less likely to lose the complete file. Its File menu includes Remux Recordings, and automatic remux can be enabled in Advanced settings. This keeps the resilient recording container for capture while producing an MP4 for tools that do not accept MKV.

Replay Buffer is optional. Enable it in Output settings, assign a Save Replay hotkey under Hotkeys, and start the buffer before the event. It keeps recent activity so you can save the past window after something happens. For a planned tutorial, normal Start Recording and Stop Recording are easier to reason about.

After either method writes a local file, trim it for the recipient. Keep the initial state, action, and visible result; remove setup, repeated takes, and long pauses. Save Replay can open a browser-compatible output, prepare the selected range, and create a watch link without replacing OBS as the recorder.