How to Blur Part of Your Screen in OBS Studio

This guide provides a straightforward, step-by-step walkthrough on how to blur or pixelate a specific area of your screen in OBS Studio. Whether you need to hide passwords, personal information, or sensitive content during a live stream or recording, you can easily achieve this using OBS Studio’s built-in filters and source duplicating techniques.

Method 1: The Native Pixelization Filter (No Plugins Required)

If you do not want to install third-party plugins, you can create a pixelated blur effect using native OBS filters. This is done by duplicating your source, cropping it to the sensitive area, and downscaling its resolution.

  1. Duplicate your source: In your Sources dock, right-click the screen, window, or game capture you want to blur. Select Copy, then right-click in an empty space in the Sources dock and select Paste (Duplicate). Ensure this new copy is positioned directly on top of the original source in the list.
  2. Crop to the sensitive area: Right-click the duplicated source and select Filters. Click the + icon under “Effect Filters” and select Crop/Pad. Adjust the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom values until only the specific area you want to hide is visible in the preview window.
  3. Apply the pixelation filter: In the same Filters window, click the + icon and select Scaling/Aspect Ratio.
  4. Reduce the resolution: Set the Scale Filtering to Point or Bicubic, and change the resolution to a much lower setting (e.g., 100x100 or lower). This will heavily pixelate the cropped area, successfully obscuring the details underneath. Click Close.

Method 2: Using the OBS Blur Filter Plugin (Smooth Gaussian Blur)

For a professional, smooth Gaussian blur, you will need to install a free, widely-used plugin such as the “OBS Blur Filter” (available on the official OBS Resources forum).

  1. Download and install the plugin: Download the “OBS Blur Filter” plugin and install it to your OBS Studio directory. Restart OBS Studio after installation.
  2. Duplicate your capture source: Right-click your main display or window capture source, select Copy, and then select Paste (Reference) or Paste (Duplicate) so the copy sits directly on top of the original.
  3. Crop the duplicate source: Right-click the top duplicated source, go to Filters, and add a Crop/Pad filter. Crop the borders until the source box only covers the specific region of the screen you wish to blur.
  4. Apply the Blur filter: In the same Filters menu, click the + icon and select Blur. Under the blur settings, you can adjust the type (such as Gaussian or Dual Filter) and increase the Size slider until the underlying text or image is completely unreadable. Click Close.

Once completed, the cropped, blurred source will act as a permanent overlay block on your canvas, keeping your private information safe while the rest of your screen captures normally.