OBS Studio 29.1 Beta available with AV1 and HEVC streaming over RTMP

OBS Studio 29.1 Beta has been released with several improvements, notably, it now includes support for streaming the growingly popular AV1 and HEVC codecs over RTMP. For those who don’t know what OBS Studio is, it’s a program available on Windows, macOS, and Linux that allows you to record video and live stream.

Aside from adding AV1 and HEVC over RTMP support, the update also includes update channels for macOS, improved String Transition performance, fMP4 support, and multi-track audio options in simple output mode. There are also bug fixes, performance improvements, and usability tweaks.

The release notes are as follows:

• 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block problematic DLLs from attaching to OBS and causing freezing or crashes, for example 3rd party overlay hooks and outdated video capture devices.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]
• 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 streaming AV1/HEVC over RTMP [YouTube/yuriy-chunak]
  • Currently only supported by/enabled for YouTube. Please see the pull request for context and known issues. This feature is also in beta at YouTube. Please help test with different encoders and settings, and report any issues found here, along with a log file from OBS.
• Added support for multiple audio tracks in Simple output recording [pkv]

Windows users that want to install this latest beta can grab the download here (it’s hosted by GitHub) please be aware that this is not production-ready software so you should download a stable version if you need to get work done.