Record High Quality Camera While Streaming in OBS

This guide explains how to use the “Source Record” plugin for OBS Studio to record your camera feed in high quality while simultaneously streaming your overall broadcast at a lower bitrate. You will learn how to install the plugin, apply the filter to your camera source, and configure the independent encoding settings to capture pristine, isolated footage for post-production editing.

Step 1: Install the Source Record Plugin

To get started, you need to download and install the Source Record plugin, which is created by developer Exeldro. 1. Go to the official OBS Projects forum and search for the Source Record plugin. 2. Download the installer compatible with your operating system (Windows, Mac, or Linux). 3. Close OBS Studio, run the installer, and restart OBS Studio to load the plugin.

Step 2: Apply the Source Record Filter to Your Camera

Unlike standard OBS recording, which captures your entire canvas, Source Record runs as a filter applied directly to an individual source. 1. In OBS Studio, locate your camera source in the Sources dock. 2. Right-click on your camera source and select Filters. 3. In the Filters window, click the + (plus) icon under the Effect Filters section (usually the bottom list). 4. Select Source Record from the list and give it a name (e.g., “Camera High-Quality Record”).

Step 3: Configure the Recording Trigger and Destination

Once the filter is added, you will see a panel of settings to customize how and where the recording is saved. 1. Record Mode: Set this to Streaming. This ensures that the plugin automatically starts recording your camera feed the moment you click “Start Streaming” in OBS. 2. Path: Click Browse and select a fast storage drive (such as an SSD) to save your raw camera footage. 3. Filename Formatting: You can leave this as default or customize it to include the source name and date for easy organization. 4. Format: Choose a reliable video format. MKV or Fragmented MP4 is highly recommended because if OBS crashes, your recorded file will not be corrupted.

Step 4: Configure Independent High-Quality Video Settings

To ensure your camera records at a high bitrate while your stream remains at a low bitrate, you must manually define the encoder settings in the filter. 1. Encoder: Change this from Same as Stream to a dedicated hardware encoder, such as NVIDIA NVENC, AMD HW H.264, or Apple VT H.264. This offloads the rendering process from your CPU. 2. Rate Control: Set this to CQP (Constant Quantization Parameter) or CRF (Constant Rate Factor). This ensures variable bitrate based on visual quality rather than a fixed limit. 3. CQ Level / Quality: Set the CQ level between 18 and 23. Lower numbers yield higher quality but result in larger file sizes. A setting of 20 is ideal for clean, crisp camera footage. 4. Alternative Bitrate Method: If you prefer Constant Bitrate (CBR), set the rate control to CBR and set the Bitrate to 20,000 Kbps to 50,000 Kbps (depending on your camera resolution). This is far higher than a standard stream bitrate of 6,000 Kbps, resulting in vastly superior quality.

Step 5: Configure Audio Settings

If you want to capture your microphone audio directly with your camera feed: 1. Scroll down to the Audio section in the filter settings. 2. Select the specific audio track that contains your microphone or game audio. 3. Set the Audio Encoder to AAC and the bitrate to 192 Kbps or higher for clear sound.

Once configured, close the filter window. The next time you start your stream, OBS will broadcast your low-bitrate stream to your streaming platform while simultaneously saving a high-bitrate, isolated video file of your camera to your computer.