How to Capture Only Game Audio in OBS

The short answer

To capture only the game’s sound in OBS, turn off OBS’s global Desktop Audio and microphone devices, then add a source that targets the game’s process (on Windows, Application Audio Capture). If those global devices stay enabled, OBS will mix in every other app and your mic along with the game.

“Only game audio” can mean three different setups, and the steps change with each one. Most people mean isolate the PC game’s output so Discord, browsers, music players, system alerts, and the microphone never reach the stream or recording. It can also mean keep game sound on its own mixer fader so you can balance it against a mic you still want. A third case is a console or camera feed through a capture card, where the game’s audio arrives as HDMI or similar input rather than as a Windows app. This guide covers isolating a PC game’s sound first, then notes the capture-card case.

What to set up before you start

Use a current OBS Studio install on the same PC that is running the game. The game should be launched and making sound through the same output device Windows is using (headphones or speakers). Know whether you still want a microphone on the stream: isolation means the game source is separate; it does not require you to drop the mic unless you mute or disable that device too.

• Confirm the game is running and you can hear it outside OBS.
• In Windows sound settings, check that the game is not sending audio to a different device than your default playback device.
• Decide whether the mic should be off entirely or kept as its own OBS source.
• Close or pause other apps that might be playing sound while you test, then turn them back on to confirm they are excluded.

Turn off catch-all desktop and mic devices

OBS’s Desktop Audio input is a mix of almost everything Windows plays. Leaving it on is the usual reason game audio arrives with chat, music, and notifications. Mic/Auxiliary is a separate path; disable it only if you do not want voice on this scene or output.

• Open OBS Settings, then Audio.
• Set Desktop Audio to Disabled. If a Desktop Audio 2 device is listed, disable that too.
• Set Mic/Auxiliary Audio to Disabled unless you will add a dedicated microphone source later.
• Apply and confirm. In the OBS Audio Mixer, those global devices should disappear or sit unused.

Success check: with the game playing, the mixer should not show a Desktop Audio fader moving. If a Desktop Audio meter is still jumping, the global device is still active or a scene still includes a Desktop Audio source. This check only proves the catch-all mix is off; it does not yet prove the game itself is being captured.

Add a source that targets the game (Windows)

On Windows, add an Application Audio Capture source and point it at the game’s process. This is the direct way to take that app’s output without taking the rest of the desktop mix. The game usually must already be open before it appears in the process list. Launchers and the actual game are often different processes; pick the one that is producing sound, not the splash or store window.

• In the Sources panel, add Application Audio Capture (the label may include Beta).
• Create a new source, name it after the game, and confirm.
• In the source properties, choose the Window or Process that matches the running game.
• Leave the capture scoped to that application. Avoid any option that falls back to the full desktop mix.
• Click OK. Watch the new fader in the Audio Mixer.

Success check: start a loud, obvious moment in the game (menu music, a firing weapon, a cutscene). The Application Audio Capture meter should move in time with that sound. Then play audio in another app, such as a browser tab or a voice-chat client, while the game is quiet. That other app should not move the game’s fader. If the other app does move it, the source is not limited to the game process.

This check establishes that OBS is receiving the game’s playback as its own input and that a different app is not riding along on that same fader. It does not establish that viewers hear a balanced mix, that a microphone (if you add one later) is intelligible, or that a recording track layout is correct. No specific input-level target in decibels is verified here; use the mixer as a live meter and keep peaks out of sustained clip (the red region at the top of the bar). If the bar never moves, capture is not working, regardless of how the game sounds in your headphones.

If you still want a microphone

Add the mic as its own Audio Input Capture source after the game source is isolated. Do not re-enable the global Desktop Audio device to “get the mic back.” You should see two independent faders: one for the game, one for the mic. Speak while the game is silent to confirm only the mic meter moves; play the game while muted to confirm only the game meter moves.

Optional: separate tracks for editing

If you record, open Advanced Audio Properties from the mixer’s gear menu and assign the game source to its own track, with the mic on another. Streaming still uses the combined mix you hear on the tracks enabled for the stream. Track separation is for the recording file; it is not required for live isolation.

When the game is a console or capture card

A console’s audio is not a Windows application. Capture it with the same Video Capture Device (or similar) source that takes the HDMI picture, and enable that device’s audio in the source properties. Still disable Desktop Audio so PC sounds do not layer on top. Success is the capture-device audio meter moving when the console makes sound and staying still when only the PC plays other apps.

macOS and Linux limits

Per-application capture like the Windows Application Audio Capture source is not equally available on every operating system OBS runs on. On those systems, isolating a single game often means routing that game to a dedicated virtual playback device, then adding only that device as an OBS audio source, while the default device (used by chat and the browser) is left out of OBS. If you cannot select a single process in OBS, treat that as a platform limit, not a missing checkbox in Settings > Audio.

If the game meter never moves

• The wrong process is selected (launcher versus the game, or a 64-bit versus 32-bit helper). Close the properties, restart the game, and pick the process again.
• The game is outputting to a different Windows playback device than the one that source is reading. Match them in the Windows per-app volume view.
• The game is using exclusive-mode output or a special audio API that bypasses the capture path. Try windowed or borderless mode, or the game’s own audio-device setting.
• A filter, mute, or hidden mixer fader is silencing the source. Unmute it in the Audio Mixer and in Advanced Audio Properties.
• Desktop Audio was left enabled, so it sounds like “game audio works” in your headset while OBS is actually capturing the whole PC. Disable it and test again with a second app playing sound.

Hearing the game in your headphones only proves the game is playing locally. OBS capture is working only when the matching mixer meter moves and other apps do not move that same meter. Intelligible voice, camera picture, and call quality are separate from this audio-isolation setup and are not shown by these checks.