OBS Glossary

This contains definitions for common terms used to describe functions in OBS, as well as streaming and other video production terms.

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• OBS: Open Broadcaster Software
• OBS Classic: The first, now deprecated, windows only version of OBS.
• OBS Studio: The multi-platform rewrite of OBS Classic that is under current development.
• Source: An input into the composited scene in OBS. They can be, but are not limited to, webcams/capture cards with Video Capture Device, images with Image Source, video and music files with Media/VLC Sources, or web pages with Browser Source. For a full list of sources and their individual descriptions, please see our sources guide.
• Scene: A scene may contain one or more sources. They are used to group various sources together to form a coherent composited output for a specific use. Example: A scene could contain a Game Capture source for gameplay, a Video Capture Device source for a webcam, and an Image Source for an overlay.
• Scene Collection: A collection of scenes and their respective sources. These are primarily used for organizational purposes. Example: One Scene Collection could have scenes and sources related to a video podcast, whereas another may contain scenes and sources focused on showing gameplay.
• Visible: This refers to a source that is being currently rendered. That means if you can see the source being displayed anywhere in OBS (such as the preview or a settings dialog) it is considered visible.
• Active: Active refers to a source that is being rendered for the output of OBS. In normal operation, this is the Preview in normal mode, and the Program view (right side by default) in Studio mode.
• Track: Not to be confused with channels. A recorded file can have multiple tracks, each with its own audio collection of sources. Audio in each of these tracks is independent of each other. Example: Record all audio to Track 1 for streaming, desktop audio to track 2 and microphone to track 3 to be able to modify volumes independently when editing a video for upload to YouTube.
• Channel: Each "channel" is usually associated with a speaker. Left and Right, etc. Configurations of channels are usually known as Mono, Stereo, or Surround. Not to be confused with tracks. Each channel for a source shows as a separate bar in the OBS Studio mixer.