How to Fix OBS Audio Popping When Switching Scenes

Audio popping or clicking sounds in OBS Studio during scene transitions can ruin the professionalism of a stream or recording. This guide outlines the most effective methods to eliminate these audio artifacts, focusing on media source settings, audio monitoring, sample rate synchronization, and transition configurations.

Disable “Unload source when not showing”

When this option is enabled, OBS completely unloads the media file from memory when you switch away from the scene. When you switch back, the sudden loading of the file can cause an audio pop. 1. Right-click on the media source in your Sources list and select Properties. 2. Scroll down to find the option Unload source when not showing. 3. Uncheck this box. 4. Click OK.

Use Nested Scenes for Audio

If an audio or media source is only present in some scenes, switching to a scene without it causes OBS to instantly terminate the audio stream, resulting in a pop. Using a nested scene keeps the audio active. 1. Create a new scene and name it “Audio Source”. 2. Add your media source to this new scene. 3. Go to your main scenes, click the + icon in the Sources dock, select Scene, and choose the “Audio Source” scene to nest it. 4. This keeps the audio pipeline open across transitions, preventing sudden cuts.

Adjust Scene Transition Fade Duration

Sudden audio cuts during transitions are a primary cause of clicking sounds. Increasing the transition duration allows OBS to smoothly crossfade the audio. 1. Locate the Scene Transitions dock in OBS. 2. Ensure your transition is set to Fade (or another transition that supports audio crossfading). 3. Increase the Duration to at least 300ms or 500ms to soften the audio cutoff.

Match OS and OBS Sample Rates

A mismatch between the audio sample rates of your operating system and OBS Studio forces resampling, which causes periodic pops and clicks. 1. In OBS, go to Settings > Audio and note the Sample Rate (typically 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz). 2. On Windows, right-click the speaker icon in your system tray, select Sounds, and go to the Playback and Recording tabs. 3. Right-click your active devices, select Properties, go to the Advanced tab, and set the default format to match the OBS sample rate (e.g., 24-bit, 48000 Hz).