OBS guide: stream or record your live video

Set it up step by step

1. 1

   Prepare the page

   Open the live page in Chrome, pick a line in the left menu, then drag the tab out into its own window. Window Capture only shows the tab that's currently visible in that window.

   • Turn off Mirror view (Live 1 and Live 2). The note beside it, "the video sent out", means the camera video sent to our server. OBS captures what's on screen, so with Mirror view on your stream is flipped left to right. It turns back on when you reload the page. Live 3 doesn't have this switch.
   • Set Auto-end after (minutes) to how long you plan to stream. The default is 10 and the maximum is 120.
   • Make the video larger. Live 1 and Live 2: maximize the window and press Ctrl and + until the page is at 200%. Live 3: stay at 100% so the video and the text box both fit on screen.
   • While you're live, don't minimize this window or let another program cover it completely, or OBS shows nothing or a black video. The OBS window itself can sit on top of it. It's best to put Chrome and OBS side by side, or Chrome on a second monitor.
2. 2

   Add Window Capture in OBS

   The first time you open OBS, the Auto-Configuration Wizard pops up. You can cancel it. In the Sources panel, click +, choose Window Capture, create it, pick this Chrome window under Window and click OK.

   If the preview is black, first check that Chrome isn't minimized or completely covered by another program, and click it if so. If it's still black, double-click the source and check Capture Method. With BitBlt (Windows 7 and up), Chrome is completely black, so switch back to Automatic or Windows 10 (1903 and up).

   If you don't want the mouse pointer in your video, untick Capture Cursor in the same window.

3. 3

   Crop to the result video

   First scroll the page until the Result video is fully visible, right below the top bar. At 200%, only a sliver of it shows at first. In this position, the support chat button at the bottom right stays off the video. Then, in the OBS preview, hold Alt and drag the edges of the red box until only the Result video is left. Right-click the source and choose Transform, then Fit to screen. Before you start, that area is just black with a line of text, so crop against that frame.

   

   You (camera) shows your real camera, so keep it outside the box. Once cropped, don't change the window size or page zoom, and don't scroll the page again (scrolling the mouse wheel over the window scrolls it too), or the crop will drift. Don't crop out any watermark or AI label in the video.

4. 4

   Set up audio

   Live 1 and Live 2: let OBS capture your microphone directly. Speak and check whether Mic/Aux moves in the Audio Mixer. If it doesn't, add an Audio Input Capture source and choose your mic. Leave Send my audio too off on the page. The generated video runs slightly behind your voice, so open Advanced Audio Properties from the mixer's toolbar or right-click menu and add a Sync Offset to the mic. Start with a few hundred milliseconds and clap on camera to fine-tune it.

   Live 3: her voice comes from the page. Double-click the Window Capture source, tick Capture Audio (BETA), then mute Desktop Audio and Mic/Aux in the mixer. Desktop Audio picks up the same voice, so leaving it on doubles the sound. Don't click Mute on the page, or OBS won't capture anything either. If the activity log says the browser blocked the sound, click the page.

5. 5

   Label it AI-generated

   Anything you publish or stream must be labeled "AI-generated" under the Terms of Service. Add a Text (GDI+) source, type AI-generated and drag it to a corner of the video. Follow your platform's own AI-content rules too.

6. 6

   Go live

   To stream, go to Settings, then Stream. Under Service, choose your platform or Custom..., then fill in Server and Stream Key. Skip this if you're only recording.

   Back on the page, click Start (billed per second), then click again within 6 seconds to confirm. Billing starts when the server confirms the connection, and video usually appears 5–15 seconds later. When it does, scroll back to where you cropped and check the OBS preview. What you see there is what viewers get. Adjust the crop if needed.

   

   When everything looks right, click Start Streaming or Start Recording in OBS. Recordings go to your Videos folder as MP4 files by default. For your first run, record a short clip or stream to a private broadcast, because we haven't tested every platform.

7. 7

   Finish

   Click Stop Streaming or Stop Recording in OBS first, then End on the page. The other way round, viewers see the ended message and the session charge. Closing OBS doesn't stop billing, so go back to the page, end the session and check its settlement. While you're live, the top bar always has an End button.