Best OBS Settings for Recording 2025 – NO LAG

In this video I show you the best OBS Settings for recording 2025. This tutorial covers all of the output and video settings you need for recording. Additionally, some alternative settings that you can use if your PC doesn’t support out recommendations.

When it comes to recording with OBS the most important settings are the output settings. These control the quality and file size of your recordings. Additionally, the output settings also controls what is used for encoding the video. Ideally, you will want to use an NVIDIA or AMD video encoder if you have one. These use your GPU to create your video, which is better for performance.

The best video encoder for recording with OBS is either the NVIDIA NVENC H.264 option, or AMD HW H.264 option. Both of these are essentially the same, just differ depending on the graphics card in your computer. Although the NVIDIA NVENC HEVC and AMD HW H.265 options give better compression, the recordings may perform worse when editing. Due to this, the H.264 encoding options are preferred.

For rate control you will want to use the CQP option. This provides great constant quality for your OBS recordings. With CQP you control most of the quality using the CQ level, with the lower the level the better the video quality. However, the better the quality, the larger the video file size will be. Because of this, the best CQ level is 16, as it gives great image quality with a decent file size.

To get the best 1080p recording settings you will want to set the CQ level to 16. Doing so you will notice that the video is high quality even when recording 60 FPS. However, if you are recording higher resolutions, such as 4K, then you may want to increase the CQ level slightly. Doing so allows the video quality to still be good, while reducing the file size. This is important as high resolution videos take up a lot of storage space. Because of this you may want to set the CQ level to 17 or 18.

For anyone with a low end PC you can try lowering the bitrate or increasing the CQ level to prevent lag. When using CQP on a low end PC you will typically want to use 19 or 20. However, if you’re using CBR then a bitrate of about 25000 will work fine.

Additionally, this tutorial also shows you how to setup hotkeys for recording. Hotkeys are particularly useful if you’re recording your screen and only have one display. With hotkeys setup you can press a keyboard shortcut to start and stop your recordings. Doing this allows you to start recording without having to bring up OBS studio.

Another important factor to consider is recording gameplay. As gaming can be intensive on your hardware, its likely that recording with the wrong settings can impact your performance. Additionally, the wrong settings may cause your recordings to lag. For the best OBS recording settings for gameplay you will again want to use the CQP rate control.

If you incur any lag, then you will need to make some adjustments to your settings. One option is to lower the quality that you are recording with. If you are using the CQP rate control method then you will need to increase your CQ level. Doing so will reduce the video quality but may fix lag when recording. Alternatively, if you are using the CBR rate control option then you can try decreasing the bitrate.

Another solution to fix laggy recordings is to lower the preset setting. Typically, this issue occurs when recording on a low end PC, or if you’re recoding a high resolution. Fortunately, setting the preset to P4: Medium (Medium Quality) stop your recordings from lagging. However, you can try lowering it even more if needed.

Additionally, the best format for recording with OBS is MP4. This is due to it being highly compatible with editing software, and websites you might be trying to upload your videos to. However, another good option is MKV. With MKV recordings you are less likely to lose your videos, as the files won’t become corrupt as often. In cases where you don’t want to lose your videos it is best to use MKV. Fortunately, MKV videos can be converted to MP4 using the OBS remux. Additionally, you can automatically remux MKV recordings with OBS.

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Disclaimer: The advice provided in our tutorials and guides are based on our personal knowledge and experience. No advice given should be considered that of a professional and comes with no guarantee. We strongly recommend that you do your own research to ensure what you're doing is safe, and will accomplish the results that you're looking for.

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