How to Record Course Videos Using OBS Studio (Free)

Go to obsproject.com/download and grab the installer for your operating system. OBS runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The installation is straightforward — accept the defaults and let it finish. On macOS, you'll be prompted to grant screen recording and camera permissions. Say yes to both. Without these permissions, OBS can't capture your screen or webcam.

When you first launch OBS, it offers to run an auto-configuration wizard. Accept it. Choose "Optimize just for recording" when it asks — you're making course videos, not livestreaming. The wizard will test your system and pick reasonable defaults for resolution, frame rate, and encoding. You can fine-tune these later, but the wizard gets you to a working setup immediately instead of staring at a blank canvas.

OBS uses a concept called Scenes. A Scene is a saved layout — a specific arrangement of video sources, overlays, and audio inputs. Think of it like a camera preset. In the "Scenes" panel at the bottom left, click the + button and name your first scene something descriptive, like "Screen + Webcam" or "Slides with Camera." You'll add the actual video sources in the next step.

Sources are the individual elements that make up your scene. Click + in the "Sources" panel and add what you need:

• Display Capture — records your entire screen. Choose this for slide presentations, software demos, or any lesson where you're showing your screen.
• Video Capture Device — your webcam. This adds a live camera feed you can resize and position anywhere on the canvas.
• Image — a static graphic like your logo or a branded frame. Optional, but it adds a professional touch. Use a PNG with a transparent background.

For most course lessons, you'll use Display Capture as your main source with Video Capture layered on top as a smaller picture-in-picture window. Select the webcam source and drag its corner handles to resize it to roughly 20–25% of the canvas. Position it in the bottom-right corner where it won't cover important content on your screen.

With your sources added, drag them around the preview canvas to find a layout that works. Sources higher in the list appear on top of sources below them — so your webcam source should be above your Display Capture source in the list. Right-click any source and use "Transform" options to snap it to corners or edges if you want precise alignment. Spend a few minutes getting this right. Every lesson you record with this scene will use the same layout, so the upfront effort pays off across your entire course.

Go to Settings > Output. Set the Output Mode to "Simple" for now. Under the Recording section, choose these settings:

• Recording Quality: "High Quality, Medium File Size"
• Recording Format: MKV (more crash-resistant than MP4 — if OBS closes unexpectedly, MKV files are still recoverable while MP4 files may be corrupted)
• Encoder: use the default (usually your hardware encoder)

Then go to Settings > Video. Set both Base and Output Resolution to 1920x1080 and the frame rate to 30 FPS. This gives you full HD video at a frame rate that looks smooth for slides and screen content. You don't need 60fps for course videos — that's for gaming.

Before recording an actual lesson, do a two-minute test. Click "Start Recording" in the bottom-right controls, talk through a slide or two, move your mouse around your screen, and then stop the recording. Find the file (check Settings > Output > Recording Path) and play it back. Check three things: Is the audio clear? Is the video sharp? Is your webcam positioned where you want it?

Fix any issues now rather than discovering them after recording a full lesson. Common problems at this stage include the microphone picking up a different input than expected (check Settings > Audio) or the webcam appearing mirrored (right-click the source, Transform > Flip Horizontal).

Open your slides or the application you're demonstrating. Switch back to OBS and confirm the preview looks right. Click "Start Recording." Teach your lesson as if you're talking to one student sitting across from you. When you make a mistake, pause for a beat, then restart the sentence — you can cut the pause in editing later. When you're finished, click "Stop Recording."

Your recording is saved in the location shown under Settings > Output > Recording Path (usually your Videos folder). If you recorded in MKV format, convert to MP4 for easier uploading: go to File > Remux Recordings, select your MKV file, and OBS will create an MP4 copy in seconds. This is a lossless conversion — no quality is lost. The resulting MP4 file is ready to upload to your course.

Most courses have at least two or three types of lessons: lecture-style presentations, screen demos, and face-to-camera introductions. Build a separate scene for each. "Slides + Webcam" for lectures, "Full Screen Demo" for walkthroughs, "Camera Only" for module introductions. Switching between scenes takes a single click, and it keeps every lesson of the same type visually consistent.

Click "Studio Mode" in the bottom-right controls. This splits your OBS view into two panels: a preview (what you're setting up) and a live output (what's actually being recorded). You can switch scenes, adjust source positions, or check your camera angle in the preview panel without disrupting the active recording. This is especially useful if you need to transition from a slides layout to a full webcam shot mid-lesson.

Go to Settings > Hotkeys and assign a keyboard shortcut for "Start Recording" and "Stop Recording." Something like Ctrl+Shift+R (or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac) works well. With a hotkey set, you don't need to click back into OBS to start or stop — you can begin recording while your slides or demo app is in the foreground. It's a small convenience that becomes significant when you're recording multiple lessons in a single session.

The interface is dense, the terminology isn't intuitive ("scenes," "sources," "encoders"), and the settings panels have dozens of options that most course creators will never need. If you find yourself spending more time configuring OBS than recording lessons, a simpler tool might be a better fit for your workflow.

OBS records video, but it doesn't edit it. There's no trimming, no cutting, no way to add titles or transitions after the fact. You'll need a separate editing tool — DaVinci Resolve, Shotcut, and iMovie are all free options. If you want recording and editing in a single application, a tool like Descript combines both.

Tools like Descript let you edit video by editing a text transcript, which is significantly faster for removing filler words and tightening pacing. OBS doesn't attempt this — it's purely a capture tool.

If your lessons are straightforward screen recordings with voiceover and you don't need webcam overlays, scene switching, or custom layouts, a lighter tool like Loom will get you recording in under a minute with far less configuration.