How to Fit Source to Screen in OBS Studio
When streaming or recording with OBS Studio, adding a high-resolution image, video, or window capture can often result in a graphic that is too large for your preview canvas. This guide provides a quick, step-by-step walkthrough on how to use the “Fit to screen” keyboard shortcut in OBS Studio to instantly resize any oversized source to perfectly match your canvas dimensions without losing its original aspect ratio.
The Keyboard Shortcut
To instantly resize any oversized or misaligned source to fit your OBS preview canvas, use the following keyboard shortcut:
- Windows and Linux:
Ctrl+F - macOS:
Cmd+F
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Open OBS Studio and ensure you are on the scene containing the oversized source.
- Select the source you want to resize. You can do this by clicking on the source name in the Sources dock at the bottom of the screen, or by clicking directly on the source in the preview window (a red bounding box will appear around it).
- Press the shortcut: Press
Ctrl + F(Windows) orCmd + F(Mac) on your keyboard.
The selected source will instantly scale down (or up) to fit the boundaries of your canvas while preserving its original aspect ratio.
Alternative Method: Using the Mouse
If you prefer using your mouse instead of keyboard shortcuts, you can achieve the same result through the context menu:
- Right-click on the oversized source in the preview window or the Sources dock.
- Hover your cursor over Transform in the drop-down menu.
- Click on Fit to screen.
“Fit to Screen” vs. “Stretch to Screen”
It is important to know the difference between the two main scaling options in the Transform menu:
- Fit to Screen (
Ctrl + F): Scales the source to be as large as possible within the canvas boundaries while keeping its original aspect ratio. If the source aspect ratio differs from your canvas, you may see black bars on the sides or top/bottom. - Stretch to Screen (
Ctrl + S): Forces the source to fill the entire canvas, ignoring the original aspect ratio. This will stretch or squish the graphic if it does not match your canvas dimensions.