How to Fix OBS Audio Cutting Out When Discord Is Open

When launching Discord, OBS Studio users often experience sudden audio drops or complete silence in their stream or recording. This conflict is typically caused by Windows giving Discord exclusive control over your audio hardware, sample rate mismatches between the two programs, or Discord’s voice attenuation settings. This guide provides direct, step-by-step solutions to resolve this conflict and restore seamless audio to both applications.

Disable Exclusive Mode in Windows

Windows has a feature that allows certain applications to take exclusive control of your audio device’s driver. When Discord opens, it can hijack the audio device, cutting off OBS.

  1. Press the Windows Key + R, type mmsys.cpl into the Run dialog, and press Enter to open the Sound Control Panel.
  2. In the Playback tab, right-click your active audio device (e.g., your headphones or speakers) and select Properties.
  3. Navigate to the Advanced tab.
  4. Under the Exclusive Mode section, uncheck “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” and “Give exclusive mode applications priority”.
  5. Click Apply, then click OK.
  6. Switch to the Recording tab and repeat these steps for your microphone.
  7. Restart both OBS Studio and Discord.

Match Sample Rates

If OBS Studio and Windows are configured to use different sample rates, opening a VoIP application like Discord can force a sample rate change that mutes your active stream audio.

  1. Open the Sound Control Panel again (mmsys.cpl).
  2. Right-click your playback device, select Properties, and go to the Advanced tab.
  3. Note the sample rate under Default Format (typically 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz). Do the same for your microphone under the Recording tab.
  4. Open OBS Studio and go to Settings > Audio.
  5. Under the General section, locate Sample Rate and change it to match the sample rate of your Windows hardware (48 kHz is highly recommended for modern streaming).
  6. Click Apply and restart OBS.

Turn Off Discord Attenuation

Discord has a built-in feature called Attenuation, which automatically lowers the volume of other applications when you or others are speaking. Sometimes, this system-level volume reduction causes OBS to lose its audio feed entirely.

  1. Open Discord and click the gear icon (User Settings) in the bottom-left corner.
  2. Select Voice & Video from the left sidebar.
  3. Scroll down to the Attenuation section.
  4. Move the Attenuation slider to 0%.
  5. Disable the options for “When I speak” and “When others speak”.

Run OBS Studio as an Administrator

Running OBS Studio with administrator privileges ensures it has priority access to system hardware, preventing other applications like Discord from seizing control of your audio channels.

  1. Right-click your OBS Studio desktop shortcut or executable file.
  2. Select Properties.
  3. Go to the Compatibility tab.
  4. Check the box next to “Run this program as an administrator”.
  5. Click Apply and then OK.