How to Install OBS Studio on Raspberry Pi OS? (Video Capture)

I use OBS Studio on my PC for almost every RaspberryTips video, so I wanted to see if it could also run on a Raspberry Pi. I didn’t expect miracles, but with newer Pi models, basic screen recording and video capture are now possible. If you want to record your Raspberry Pi desktop or stream something, here’s how to install it and get started.

OBS Studio can now be installed directly on Raspberry Pi OS from the default repository by using the package manager. On older Raspberry Pi OS releases, using Pi-Apps is the easiest alternative.

I will guide you through the installation process, and show you how to use it once installed.
But before that, we will start with a quick overview of OBS Studio.

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Introduction to OBS Studio

Let me give you a quick primer on OBS Studio before we install it.

What is OBS Studio?

OBS Studio is one of those tools you can use to record a video on your computer. You can manage multiple sources (like a Camera module or a USB device), and include several of them in a recording.

The good news is that it’s a free and powerful tool to do this, and it’s a quick Raspberry Pi project you can do with no extra hardware.

OBS Studio is also often used for live-streaming, as you can manage everything in real time in a drag and drop preview. As I use OBS Studio on my computer to record my YouTube and community videos, I was curious to see how it works on Raspberry Pi OS.

OBS Studio on Raspberry Pi

OBS Studio is available for any operating system. You can find binaries for Windows and macOS on the home page, and it’s available in the default repositories in most Linux distributions.

If you’re using the latest Raspberry Pi OS (trixie), Raspberry Pi OS Legacy (bookworm), or one version older (bullseye), then OBS Studio is available in the default repository, and the installation is pretty straightforward.

But if you’re using an older OS release (buster or older), it’s a bit different. One solution was to compile the application from source, but the process was long, complicated, and the instructions became quickly obsolete when the source code changed. Therefore, if you’re using an old Raspberry Pi OS release, the easiest option is to use Pi-Apps to do everything for you.

I’ll be covering installation methods for both new and old releases in this article.

Hardware Prerequisites

OBS Studio is not really optimized for Raspberry Pi, so I strongly recommend a Raspberry Pi 5, Pi 4 with 4 GB memory, or Pi 4 with 8 GB memory to follow this tutorial.

If you want to try on Raspberry Pi 3B+, it could work if you create a swap file (I didn’t use swap in my tests on Pi 4).

Here’s how to create a swap file (in a terminal or via SSH):
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/swap2 bs=1024 count=1000000
sudo chmod 600 /var/swap2
sudo mkswap /var/swap2
sudo swapon /var/swap2
sudo swapon

Even with a Raspberry Pi 4, OBS Studio is pretty heavy and will easily use 100% of your CPU and a big chunk of memory. So be patient if you try it on an older device.

Related: Why is Swap Used In Linux? (Goal, Requirements, and Commands)

Install OBS Studio on Raspberry Pi OS (Recent Versions)

If you’re using a recent Raspberry Pi OS Desktop release within the last 5 years (codename trixie, bookworm, or bullseye), then OBS Studio is available directly in the package manager. You’ll need to install some dependencies first, followed by the main OBS package.

Install FFmpeg

The FDK AAC package is a prerequisite for OBS Studio. FDK AAC is the FFmpeg encoder for the AAC format. It’s the successor of MP3, often used in MP4 streams, and required for OBS Studio.

On more recent Raspberry Pi OS versions, you can install it simply with:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libfdk-aac2 libfdk-aac-dev

I gave you the terminal commands, but you can also search for the package names in the “Add / Remove Software” tool if you prefer to use the GUI.

Install OBS Studio From the Official Repository

You can then install the main package for OBS Studio with:
sudo apt install obs-studio

Or if you prefer, you can also use the Add / Remove Software tool to install OBS Studio:

All the other dependencies will be installed automatically. You’re done with installation, so you can skip the next section and go down to the usage tips, where I help you to get started with this application.

Tip: Command lines can be a pain to memorize. I put the essential Linux commands on a printable cheat sheet so you don't have to keep googling them. You can grab the PDF here if you want to save some time.

Install OBS Studio on Older Raspberry Pi OS Versions

If you’re still running a very old release of Raspberry Pi OS, such as Buster or older, installing OBS Studio is not as straightforward. But don’t worry, I have an easy solution for you.

You could try to download the sources and compile them manually, but frankly, it’s way easier to use Pi-Apps for this. At least it works all the time, and you only need one command to do this.

Install Pi-Apps

If you don’t know, Pi-Apps is a nice tool that allows you to install many applications in a few clicks, especially those that are not available in the package manager and are difficult to install manually.

To install Pi-Apps, open a terminal and paste this command:
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

I have a full video lesson inside the community about Pi-Apps, but I’ll give you the short version here, just to show you how to use it to install OBS.

Use Pi-Apps to Install OBS Studio

Once Pi-Apps is installed, you’ll have a shortcut on your Desktop (and in the main menu). Double-click to launch it, and go to the Multimedia category, where you’ll find OBS Studio:

Select OBS Studio and click “Install”—a terminal window will show up, but you don’t have to do anything. Pi-Apps will automatically install everything for you.

A few minutes later, OBS Studio will be ready to go, and you can read the next part to get started with it.

Getting Started with OBS Studio on Raspberry Pi

Now that you’ve got OBS Studio installed, it might take a little setup to get it working properly.

First Run

However you chose to install it, you can now start OBS Studio from the main menu:
Sound & Video > OBS Studio.

You’ll likely get an error when you start it for the first time. I had it on all versions I tested, so I think it’s the same for everyone :-).

On both Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5, I get this error:
"Failed to initialize video. Your GPU may not be supported, or your graphic drivers may need to be updated."

Let me know if you find another solution, but the only thing that worked for me is to set this variable before starting OBS:

• Open a terminal and run this command:
  MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.3 obs

This should start OBS as expected now.

Create Desktop Shortcut

Of course, we want the program to load correctly every time.
First, let’s make a launch script for it:

• Create a new script:
  nano /home/$USER/obs.sh
• Add only this line:
  MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.3 obs
• Save & exit (CTRL+X).
• Give your script execute permission:
  chmod +x /home/$USER/obs.sh

Next, let’s modify the menu shortcut to run our script:

• Open the Pi menu > Preferences > Control Centre.
• Go to the Main Menu tab, where you’ll see your existing menu shortcuts.
• Expand the Sound & Video category, select OBS Studio, and click Edit Item.
  
• In the Command box, modify the path to point to your script (e.g. /home/pat/obs.sh).
  
• Click OK to save.

Now, OBS Studio will load from the main menu properly:

On the first run, an auto-configuration wizard is available to set the default settings. If you don’t see it, you can start it by going to Tools > Auto-Configuration Wizard.

I recommend using the wizard so you don’t have to change anything else to get started. Answer the few questions (keep the default values if you have no idea) and OBS will run a test to configure everything. Click on “Apply settings to confirm”.

Screen Capture

Here’s how to capture your screen with OBS:

• By default, the Sources panel is available at the bottom of the screen.
  (If you don’t see it, go to the “Docks” menu, and click “Sources” to make it appear.)
  
• Click Add to bring in a new source.
• Choose Screen Capture.
  
• A window shows up asking for a source name.
  Keep it default or enter whatever you want.
  Then confirm with OK.
• On the next screen, you can confirm a few things like the monitor to capture or if you want to capture the mouse pointer.
• From here, your screen appears on the default scene:
  

It would be easier with two screens (one with OBS and the other with the things you want to record), but this way works in any case.

Camera Capture

If you have a camera (Pi module or other), you can add it to the sources almost the same way:

• Enable your camera on Raspberry Pi OS (click the link for more details)
• Click Add in the “Sources” panel
  
• Choose “Video Capture Device (V4L2)” as new source
  
• Again, choose a name and confirm
• In the next window, you can configure everything about your camera
  
  For example, mine needed a rotation to display the image in the correct orientation, so I just changed the “Rotation” value and let the other settings by default
• Confirm to add it in the source list

Once you have at least one source, you change the image size on the screen. For example, you can use OBS to stream your desktop and use your camera to show your face in a corner.

All these settings can be changed by clicking on the “Settings” button on the right (general, stream to Twitch, output quality and format, shortcuts, etc.). OBS also manages other sources the same way (such as audio, for example).

Record

Go to the Docks menu at the top, and click Controls.
To record your screen or camera, type “Start Recording” on the right:

The default output folder is to your home directory, with files in MKV format in 1080p quality.
You can change everything under File > Settings:

Shortcuts

By default, there’s no shortcut so you need to use a mouse to start/stop recording or anything else.
In the settings it’s possible to set a shortcut for each action.

Video

https://youtu.be/hcE61dMeo50

That’s it! You now know how to install and configure OBS on your Raspberry Pi.

I tested on my Raspberry Pi 4, and it works pretty well—no lag, no bugs, so all good news. I’ll probably try it in a future video for our YouTube channel and let you know if I have anything else to add.

Not getting the same result?

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