- The OBS Project officially announced the release of OBS Studio 28.0, which comes with 10-bit color and HDR video encoding support.
- The release of the latest version marks the 10th year anniversary of the popular live streaming and video recording program.
- 10-bit HEVC encoding requires NVIDIA 10-series, AMD 5000 series, or a newer GPU, and HDR streaming is only supported via YouTube’s HLS service.
The OBS Project team announced the release of a new version of free and open-source live streaming and video recording software. The release of OBS Studio 28.0 also marks the 10th anniversary of OBS. The first version was released 10 years ago by Hugh “Jim” Bailey on 1 September 2012. The latest release is currently available on the project’s GitHub page for download.
What’s new?
OBS Studio 28.0 comes with multiple important features and enhancements. Most significantly, the latest version supports 10-bit HEVC and HDR video encoding. 10-bit HEVC encoding requires NVIDIA GeForce 1000 series, AMD Radeon 5000 series, or a newer GPU. Currently, HDR streaming is only supported via YouTube’s HLS service via an HEVC encoder. The OBS Project recommends Color Format P010 (4:2:0 / 10 bit) and Color Space Rec. 2100 PQ settings for HDR. Users who want to encode 10-bit SDR can use Color Format P010 with an SDR color space but AV1 or HEVC is still required.
Qt 5 interface toolkit is no longer being developed as of May 2020. In version 28.0, the team decided to update its user interface toolkit to the latest version. However, updating to Qt 6 can cause certain plugins that depend on Qt 5 to stop working. The team will work with third-party plugin developers to get those plugins updated. Also, Qt 6 doesn’t support Windows 7 & 8, macOS 10.13 & 10.14, Ubuntu 18.04, and all 32-bit operating systems, which means OBS won’t be supported on those platforms either.
OBS Studio 28.0 comes with native Apple Silicon support. Thus, it will run more optimally and won’t rely on x86 emulation. However, many third-party plugins may not be available for Apple Silicon builds yet. Users can still use x86 builds to benefit from a wider selection of third-party plugins. Some of the new features and additions are:
- Added a new, more optimal, and up-to-date implementation of the AMD encoder on Windows
- Added support for the ScreenCaptureKit Framework on macOS 12.5+, including support for direct audio capture without requiring third-party solutions on macOS 13+
- Added support for CBR, CRF, and Simple Mode to the Apple VT encoder on Apple Silicon (Note: CBR requires macOS 13+)
- Added application audio capture on Windows to allow capturing the audio output from a single process
- Added the ability to select a separate video mix for the virtual camera
- Added support for NVIDIA Background Removal on Windows (requires NVIDIA Video Effects SDK Runtime to be installed)
- Added “Room Echo Removal” to NVIDIA Noise Suppression filter on Windows (requires NVIDIA Audio Effects SDK runtime to be installed)
- Added obs-websocket 5.0 as a first-party plugin
- Added new default Theme “Yami”
- Added the ability to automatically split recordings based on file size or duration, or manually via hotkey
- Added Accessibility section to the settings window, providing the ability to change colors of certain UI elements (with presets or Custom)
- Added native SRT/RIST outputs
- Added support for sending chat messages to YouTube from within OBS
- Added file integrity check option on Windows to validate and repair the current OBS installation
- Added improved macOS permissions flow on startup
- The Video Capture Device source on Windows will now save/remember settings changed in the “Configure” dialog
- Added “What’s New” dialog on macOS and Linux