Insight: Tutorial To Install OBS In Linux Operating System 2023

In this tutorial post, we are going to show you the methods to install OBS in Linux based operating system. OBS or Open Broadcaster Software is a free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming. It is a cross-platform software and is available for multiple platforms.

Install OBS In Linux Operating System 2023

Basic Requirements For OBS

• OpenGL 3.2 compatible GPU
• X window system

How To Install OBS in Ubuntu

• xserver-xorg version 1.18.4 or newer is recommended to avoid potential performance issues with certain features in OBS, such as the fullscreen projector.
• FFmpeg is required. If you do not have FFmpeg installed (if you’re not sure, then you probably don’t have it), you can get it with the following commands:

  sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

• Then you can install OBS with the following commands, make sure you enabled the multiverse repo in Ubuntu’s software center (NOTE: On newer versions of Ubuntu adding a repository automatically apt updates.):

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install obs-studio

How to install OBS In Arch Linux Installation (Unofficial)

• The “Release” version is available on the community repository:

  sudo pacman -S obs-studio

• “Git” version is available on AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/obs-studio-git

Manjaro Installation (Unofficial)

• Graphical: search “obs-studio” on Pamac Manager or Octopi
• Command-line: install it via Pacman with the following command:

  sudo pacman -S obs-studio

Fedora Installation (Unofficial)

• OBS Studio is included in RPM Fusion. If you do not have it configured (if you’re not sure, then you probably don’t have it), you can do so with the following command:

  sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

• Then you can install OBS with the following command (this pulls all dependencies, including NVENC-enabled ffmpeg):

  sudo dnf install obs-studio

• For NVIDIA Hardware accelerated encoding make sure you have CUDA installed (in case of an older card, install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx-cuda instead):

  sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda

OpenMandriva Installation (Unofficial)

• OBS Studio is included in OpenMandriva Lx3 non-free repository and in restricted repository for upcoming Lx4 release – available now as Cooker.For OpenMandriva Lx3:
• Graphical: search and install “obs-studio” on “OpenMandriva Install and Remove Software” (Rpmdrake)
• Command-line: install it as root (su or sudo) via terminal/konsole with the following command:

  urpmi obs-studio

  For OpenMandriva Lx4:
• Graphical: search and install “obs-studio” on “OpenMandriva Software Management” (dnfdragora)
• Command-line: install it as root (su or sudo) via terminal/konsole with the following command:

  dnf install obs-studio

openSUSE Installation (Unofficial)

• The Packman repository contains the obs-studio package since it requires
  the fuller version of FFmpeg which is in Packman for legal reasons. If you
  do not already have the Packman repository add it as shown below.For openSUSE Tumbleweed:

  sudo zypper ar --refresh --priority 90 http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed packman

  For openSUSE Leap 15.0:

  sudo zypper ar --refresh --priority 90 http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_Leap_15.0 packman

  For openSUSE Leap 42.3:

  sudo zypper ar --refresh http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_Leap_42.3 packman

  It is recommended to set the priority for Packman lower so it takes
  precedence over base repositories (skip on Tumbleweed as included in initial command).

  sudo zypper mr --priority 90 packman

• The Packman version of FFmpeg should be used for full codec support. To
  ensure any existing FFmpeg packages are switched to Packman versions
  execute the following before installing obs-studio.

  sudo zypper dup --repo packman

• Install the obs-studio package.

  sudo zypper in obs-studio

• Links:
  • 1 click install, direct rpm links, and download counts:
    http://packman.links2linux.org/package/obs-studio
  • Build information:
    https://pmbs.links2linux.de/package/show/Multimedia/obs-studio

Gentoo Installation (Unofficial)

• Command-line: can be installed using portage by the following command:

  sudo emerge media-video/obs-studio

See https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/media-video/obs-studio for available versions and more information

NixOS Installation (Unofficial)

nix-env -i obs-studio

See https://nixos.org/wiki/OBS for further instructions

Deepin Installation (Unofficial)

Deepin 15.4 or newer is required.

• First make sure you have everything up-to-date.

  sudo apt-get update

• FFmpeg is required. If you do not have the FFmpeg installed (if you’re not sure, then you probably don’t have it), you can get it with the following command (or compile it yourself):

  sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

• Finally, install OBS Studio.

  sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Debian Installation (Unofficial)

Debian 9.0 or newer is required.

• First, make sure you have everything up-to-date.

  sudo apt update

• FFmpeg is required. If you do not have the FFmpeg installed (if you’re not sure, then you probably don’t have it), you can get it with the following command (or compile it yourself):

  sudo apt install ffmpeg

• Finally, install OBS Studio.

  sudo apt install obs-studio

Void Installation (Unofficial)

• First make sure your repositories are up-to-date. OBS is available on the multilib repos if you need the 32-bit build.

  sudo xbps-install -S

• Then just install OBS Studio. Any missing dependencies will be installed automatically.
  • If it refuses to install, try running sudo xbps-install -Su to update everything first.sudo xbps-install obs

Though unofficial, the package is actively maintained and functional!

snappy Installation (Unofficial)

• If you haven’t already, install snapd (ignore the Support Overview which is outdated).
• Install OBS Studio.

  sudo snap install obs-studio

Linux Build Directions

Note: as of May 1, 2019, Facebook live now mandates the use of RTMPS. That functionality requires your distro’s mbed TLS package, which obs-studio/cmake/Modules/FindMbedTLS.cmake script searches for at compile time.

Red Hat/Fedora-based Build Directions

• Get RPM fusion at http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration/ (Nux Desktop is an alternative that may include better packages for RHEL/CentOS 7)
• Get the required packages:

  sudo yum install \
           make \
           gcc \
           gcc-c++ \
           gcc-objc \
           cmake \
           git \
           libX11-devel \
           mesa-libGL-devel \
           libv4l-devel \
           pulseaudio-libs-devel \
           libspeexdsp-devel \
           x264-devel \
           freetype-devel \
           fontconfig-devel \
           libXcomposite-devel \
           libXinerama-devel \
           qt5-qtbase-devel \
           qt5-qtx11extras-devel \
           qt5-qtsvg-devel \
           libcurl-devel \
           systemd-devel \
           ffmpeg \
           ffmpeg-devel \
           luajit-devel \
           python3-devel \
           mbedtls \
           mbedtls-devel \
           swig

If libspeexdsp-devel is not available, it can be built from source (https://git.xiph.org/?p=speexdsp.git;a=summary)

• Building and installing OBS:

  git clone --recursive https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio.git
  cd obs-studio
  mkdir build && cd build
  cmake -DUNIX_STRUCTURE=1 ..
  make -j4
  sudo make install

• By default obs installs libraries in /usr/local/lib. To make sure that the loader can find them there, create a file /etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf with the single line

  /usr/local/lib  

  and then run

  sudo ldconfig

Debian-based Build Directions

• Get the required packages:

  sudo apt-get install \
          build-essential \
          checkinstall \
          cmake \
          git \
          libmbedtls-dev \
          libasound2-dev \
          libavcodec-dev \
          libavdevice-dev \
          libavfilter-dev \
          libavformat-dev \
          libavutil-dev \
          libcurl4-openssl-dev \
          libfdk-aac-dev \
          libfontconfig-dev \
          libfreetype6-dev \
          libgl1-mesa-dev \
          libjack-jackd2-dev \
          libjansson-dev \
          libluajit-5.1-dev \
          libpulse-dev \
          libqt5x11extras5-dev \
          libspeexdsp-dev \
          libswresample-dev \
          libswscale-dev \
          libudev-dev \
          libv4l-dev \
          libvlc-dev \
          libx11-dev \
          libx264-dev \
          libxcb-shm0-dev \
          libxcb-xinerama0-dev \
          libxcomposite-dev \
          libxinerama-dev \
          pkg-config \
          python3-dev \
          qtbase5-dev \
          libqt5svg5-dev \
          swig

• Building and installing OBS:

  git clone --recursive https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio.git
  cd obs-studio
  mkdir build && cd build
  cmake -DUNIX_STRUCTURE=1 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ..
  make -j4
  sudo checkinstall --default --pkgname=obs-studio --fstrans=no --backup=no \
         --pkgversion="$(date +%Y%m%d)-git" --deldoc=yes

openSUSE Build Directions

• See openSUSE installation instructions (above) for details on adding Packman repository.
• Install build dependencies:

  sudo zypper in cmake \
          fontconfig-devel \
          freetype2-devel \
          gcc \
          gcc-c++ \
          libcurl-devel \
          ffmpeg2-devel \
          libjansson-devel \
          libpulse-devel \
          libspeexdsp-devel \
          libqt5-qtbase-devel \
          libqt5-qtx11extras-devel \
          libudev-devel \
          libv4l-devel \
          libXcomposite-devel \
          libXinerama-devel \
          libXrandr-devel \
          luajit-devel \
          mbedtls \
          swig \
          python3-devel

• Building and installing OBS:

  git clone --recursive https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio.git
  cd obs-studio
  mkdir build && cd build
  cmake -DUNIX_STRUCTURE=1 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ..
  make -j4
  sudo make install

Linux portable mode (all distros)

• You can build in portable mode on Linux, which installs all the files to an isolated directory:

  mkdir build && cd build
  cmake -DUNIX_STRUCTURE=0 \
          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${HOME}/obs-studio-portable" ..
  make -j4 && make install

  After that you should have a portable install in ~/obs-studio-portable. Change to bin/64bit or bin/32bit and then simply run: ./obs

FreeBSD

FreeBSD Installation (Unofficial)

• Install OBS Studio:pkg install obs-studio

FreeBSD Build Directions

• The easiest way to build OBS Studio from source is to use the FreeBSD Ports and modify the multimedia/obs-studio port to suite your needs.
• First you have to set up the ports infrastructure on your system. See the related chapter in the FreeBSD Handbook.
• Once you’ve got your ports tree at /usr/ports you may edit the multimedia/obs-studio port to your liking. Then, you may build and install the port with:cd /usr/ports/multimedia/obs-studio
  make install clean