How to Record the Full Screen in OBS Studio

OBS Studio can record your whole desktop instead of a single window. You add a capture source for the monitor, make it fill the canvas, choose recording settings and start recording. This guide covers that one task on Windows, macOS and Linux, and notes where OBS versions and operating systems differ.

Before you start

• Install OBS Studio on the computer whose screen you want to record. Recording runs locally and saves files to your own drive. No account or online service is needed unless you also stream.
• Know which monitor you want to capture if more than one is connected, and note its resolution in your system display settings.
• Check that you have enough free disk space. Full screen video at high quality can grow quickly.
• On macOS, be ready to grant OBS screen recording permission in System Settings under Privacy & Security. Microphone permission is separate. Restart OBS after you grant access.
• On Linux with a Wayland session, screen capture goes through PipeWire and a system portal that asks which screen to share. On X11, the classic screen capture source is used instead.
• Close or hide anything private first. A full screen recording captures every notification, message preview and open document that appears on that display.

Step-by-step instructions

Names below follow recent OBS releases. If your version labels an item slightly differently, look for the closest equivalent rather than a different feature.

• 1. Open OBS Studio. In the Scenes dock, use the existing scene or click the plus button to create a new one, for example Full Screen. A separate scene keeps this setup apart from your other layouts.
• 2. In the Sources dock, click the plus button and pick the screen capture source for your system. On Windows it is Display Capture. On macOS it is macOS Screen Capture in newer versions, or Display Capture in older ones. On Linux it is Screen Capture (PipeWire) on Wayland, or Screen Capture (XSHM) on X11.
• 3. Name the source and confirm. In the properties window, select the monitor you want. On Linux Wayland, choose the screen in the portal dialog. Keep Capture Cursor enabled if viewers should see the mouse pointer, then click OK.
• 4. If the capture does not fill the preview, right-click the source and choose Transform, then Fit to Screen. This scales the capture to the canvas without changing your monitor.
• 5. Open Settings, then Video. Set the Base (Canvas) Resolution to your monitor's resolution so nothing is cropped or letterboxed. Set the Output (Scaled) Resolution to the size you want in the final file. Use the same value for full detail, or a lower one for smaller files and less load. Choose a frame rate under Common FPS Values. 30 is usually enough for tutorials, and 60 suits fast motion such as games or scrolling.
• 6. Go to Settings, then Output. In Simple output mode, set the Recording Path, the Recording Quality preset, the Recording Format and the Encoder. Advanced mode exposes the same choices on its Recording tab, plus direct control over bitrate and rate control.
• 7. Choose a recording format with crash safety in mind. MKV keeps the footage up to the point of failure if OBS or the computer stops unexpectedly. A standard MP4 file may be unreadable after an interruption. Some newer OBS versions offer Hybrid MP4, which is meant to be more resilient. Check whether your version includes it. You can convert MKV to MP4 later with File, then Remux Recordings.
• 8. For encoding, a hardware encoder such as NVIDIA NVENC, AMD, Intel Quick Sync or Apple VideoToolbox, when listed, puts less load on the processor than the software x264 encoder. Choose x264 if no hardware option appears or if a hardware encoder misbehaves.
• 9. Open Settings, then Audio, and confirm which devices are assigned to Desktop Audio and Mic/Auxiliary Audio. Watch the meters in the Audio Mixer while sound plays. Mute any source you do not want recorded. On macOS, system audio capture depends on your OS and OBS version, so confirm that the desktop meter actually moves.
• 10. Click Start Recording in the Controls dock. Click Stop Recording when you are done. To return to your previous setup, switch scenes or delete the screen capture source. Settings changes can be reverted the same way you made them.

Check the output

• Open the folder with File, then Show Recordings, and play the newest file in a media player you trust.
• Confirm the whole screen is visible, with no black bars, cropped edges or a second monitor you did not intend to capture.
• Use your player's media information view to check the resolution and frame rate against what you set. If you scaled the output, expect slightly softer text than on your monitor.
• Listen for desktop sound and microphone audio, and check that they stay in sync with the picture over the full length.
• If you recorded in MKV and your editor or player does not accept it, remux the file to MP4 rather than recording again.
• Watch for blocky or smeared detail in fast motion. That means the bitrate or quality setting is too low for the content. Large files mean the opposite.

Common problems and next steps

Black screen in the preview: on macOS, check screen recording permission and restart OBS. On Windows laptops with two graphics processors, Display Capture can show black when OBS runs on a different GPU than the one driving the display. Assign OBS to the matching GPU in Windows graphics settings, then restart it. On Linux Wayland, make sure you picked the PipeWire source and approved the portal prompt.

Only part of the screen is recorded, or there are borders: the canvas resolution does not match the monitor. Set Base (Canvas) Resolution to the display resolution and apply Fit to Screen to the source again. If your system uses display scaling, check the source's properties for the monitor's real pixel size.

Choppy video or dropped frames: open the Stats panel, available from the View or Docks menu depending on version, while recording. If encoding is overloaded, switch to a hardware encoder, lower the output resolution or frame rate, or use a faster encoder preset. Keep the recording path on a drive with enough free space and write speed.

No sound in the file: confirm the correct devices in Settings, then Audio, and check that the mixer channels are not muted. In Advanced output mode, check which audio tracks are enabled for recording, because a track that is off will be silent in the file.

Recording a single app instead of the full screen: if you only need one program, Window Capture or Game Capture on Windows avoids recording notifications and other windows. These sources follow different rules, so set them up as a separate scene.