How to install OBS Screen Recording Software on Debian 10

OBS stands for “Open Broadcast Software which is a screen recording and streaming tool”. It is an open and free-source software providing the following features:

• Multiple Themes
• Multiple video sources filters
• Intuitive audio mixer
• Real-time audio/video capturing and mixing
• Streamlined settings panel
• Powerful configuration option

The software is easy to use and stands among the top 50 video editing software products.

For this particular article, I am using Debian 10, a Linux operating system distribution. Complete the following steps for installing OBS. This tutorial shows two alternative ways of installing OBS Studio, one using Debian packages and another one using snap.

Prerequisites

• The machine running Debian 10 0S.
• The user must be familiar with the Sudo command and be a sudo user.

Installing OBS in Debian 10 using Debian packages

This chapter shows how to install OBS from Debian package repository. if you like to install it as SNAP package instead, go to the next chapter.

Step 01: Open Debian 10 Terminal

Go to the bottom left of the Desktop and click on the Menu icon.

Go to the search bar on the top left.

Type “Terminal” there and click on the “Multilingual Terminal”.

Click on the “Multilingual Terminal” and it will show the following display.

Step 02: Update the repository cache

• Before installing OBS, update the software package version's information or dependencies by the following command:

 $ sudo apt-get update

Running this command downloads the package information from the internet or all configured sources.

Step 03: Install Open Broadcast Software

Run the following command to install the OBS:

$ sudo apt install obs-studio

After running the above command, it will ask you whether you want to continue or not? Type “Y” and press enter if you want to install the OBS or not. After the installation process will be done, it will show the following display:

Install OBS using snap

In this chapter, I'll show you how to install OBS using snap. If you installed OBS already using packages in the first chapter, then skip this chapter and go directly to the next chapter on using OBS.

Install snap Daemon

• OBS snap is a universal Linux Package that enables features for package management for all Linux distributions. It provides very satisfactory and persistent results and output.
• Before installing the snap package, the PC or a machine must have installed "snappy". “Snappy is a snap package manager for Linux”. You can install snappy by running the following command:

 $ sudo apt install snapd -y

After the installation process will be done, it will show the following display:

Step 01: Install the snap core

To Snap be fully runnable, it requires a snap core to be installed in a PC/machine or a system too. Run the following command to install the snap core.

$ sudo snap install core

Step 02: Restart the snap service

After getting done with all of the above steps, restart the snap service using the following command:

 $ sudo systemctl restart snapd

Next, you have to install snap packages from the SnapCraft store. Snappy is now able to do it. Go to SnapCraft store https://snapcraft.io/obs-studio and look for an OBS studio there. It is also shown in the below attached image.

• Run the following command to install the obs-studio:

 $ sudo snap install obs-studio

Using OBS for screen Recording on Debian

Once you have done with the above steps, open the OBS from the menu search bar. Follow the following steps:

• Go to the bottom left of the Desktop and click on the Menu icon.
• Go to the search bar on the top left.
• Type “obs” there and click on the “OBS”.

Clicking on the OBS will show the following display. OBS software should start.

Step 01: Setting up the OBS software

Opening the OBS software will display you the auto-configuration wizard. If you are a naive user, you should complete the auto-configuration steps, otherwise, you can skip it if you are already a frequent user.

The first step will be providing the usage information whether you want to set the optimization for both streaming and recording or it will be only recording. Select the option of your own choice. For this particular article, I am selecting option 01 as highlighted in the below-attached image. After selecting the option, click Next.

Next, you have to choose the “resolution” and “frame rate”. The user can select both of them according to their desire. It also depends on hardware requirements and internet status. After selecting, click Next.

OBS support many platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Twitch, and others. In this section, the user has to select the platform freely concerning his/her choice or work requirements. For this article, I am going with Twitch.

After entering the Stream key, a bandwidth test will start to fix the fine bitrate for streaming. It may take some period. After getting done, OBS will prompt you to Apply Settings that you have made. Click on the Apply Settings. Clicking on it will give you the following display:

Now, you are all ready to use OBS software.

Conclusion

This article shows how to install and set up OBS in a few easy steps. The article demonstrates as well as explains each step with detailed screenshots too, making it simple to understand for a user to follow it.