Broadcast Video Streams on Linux with Open Broadcaster

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For the longest time streaming has been nearly impossible to do on Linux. Sure, you could use a hacky FFMPEG script to get it done, but nobody who’s not incredibly savvy with that kind of thing could ever accomplish this.

Look no further. Open Broadcaster, a professional grade streaming software, is finally available on Linux. With it you can broadcast to many different streaming services with many different types of video and audio effects.

Table of Contents

Installing Open Broadcaster

Before OBS can be used, it needs to be installed. If you’re a Ubuntu user, simply enter the following commands in a terminal window, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kirillshkrogalev/ffmpeg-next
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg obs-studio

If you’re using another Linux distribution, don’t worry! The OBS project has you covered. Just go here and follow the instructions on how to get the program working for your Linux-based operating system of choice.

Configuring Open Broadcaster

Setting up streaming on OBS is fairly easy to accomplish. Just open OBS and click the File drop-down menu. After that, click the Settings option in that menu, and you’ll be brought to the program’s settings area.

To stream, you’ll need to provide your credentials from the streaming service you’ll be using to broadcasting. OBS supports Twitch, YouTube, DailyMotion and many others.

With your credentials placed into the correct area, it’s now time to tell the program the exact video settings you wish OBS to apply to your video stream. Go back to the settings area, and click on the Output button.

Inside Output, you’ll see a drop-down menu with the option “Simple” selected. Leave it at this as the simple settings available will be all you will need. In most cases the streaming service you’re using won’t have much configuration necessary (and if they do, they’ll give you directions to follow).

Streaming with Open Broadcaster

Now that your streaming service has been logged in and configured, and your video output is set correctly, it’s time to stream some video. So how do you do it? It’s easy! Go to the main OBS window, and use the Sources tool to add items to your stream (cameras, video clips, pictures, etc.).

After the sources have been added, just click the “Start Streaming” button to go live. There will be a bit of a wait, but after a few seconds you’ll be streaming via OBS directly to the Internet.

Conclusion

Streaming easily on Linux has always been a challenge. Having Open Broadcaster on Linux is a huge step towards solving that issue and making it a legitimate platform. Cross another thing off the list that Linux can do just as well as Windows and Mac.

The best thing about OBS is how easy it is to use. There are professional tools out there, ones that cost a lot of money and are harder to get going than this program. It’s uncanny, to say the least.

Have you used Open Broadcaster on Linux? What are your thoughts? Let us know below!

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Derrik Diener