OBS Studio virtual camera on Windows

What the virtual camera does

OBS Studio can present your composed scene as a camera device other Windows apps understand. Meeting tools, browsers, and some recorders then see that feed instead of a raw webcam. You keep scenes, sources, filters, and audio routing inside OBS Studio. The other app only selects a camera named for OBS after Virtual Camera is running.

This matters when you want lower thirds, a clean display crop, or a fixed layout during a call. It also matters when you already trust a scene for local recording and want the same look in a meeting without rebuilding it elsewhere. Related: first scene, record locally.

Before you start

Install OBS Studio on Windows x64 with the catalog command or the GitHub installer:

winget install -e --id OBSProject.OBSStudio

Or run OBS-Studio-*-Windows-x64-Installer.exe from the current GitHub release for obsproject/obs-studio. Default install path is %ProgramFiles%\obs-studio. App Installer supplies winget on Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11. Longer install notes: Windows install, winget.

Build one simple scene first. Add a Display Capture or Video Capture Device, confirm the preview looks right, and set levels in the mixer. A broken scene sent through virtual camera is still a broken feed. Safe fetch rules: download safely.

Start Virtual Camera

Open OBS Studio from the Start menu. Select the scene you want to send. Click Start Virtual Camera in the controls (wording follows the current release UI). Leave OBS Studio running while the other app needs the feed. Stopping Virtual Camera ends the device for those apps until you start it again.

In Zoom, Teams, Meet, or a browser site, open the camera settings and choose the OBS virtual camera device. If the list is stale, close the camera menu, confirm Virtual Camera is still running in OBS Studio, then open the list again. Windows may ask for camera permission for that app the first time.

Sources that work well

A Video Capture Device source brings a physical webcam into the scene so you can crop, filter, and place it. Display Capture or Window Capture shows a screen region. Image and text sources add static overlays. Media sources can play a looped bumper. Keep the canvas resolution matched to what the meeting app expects so the feed is not unexpectedly letterboxed.

Audio still mixes in OBS Studio. Virtual camera is a video device path. If the meeting app needs your mic, either let that app take the mic directly or route carefully so you do not double-capture. For recording the same layout to disk, see record with OBS Studio.

Common failures

Virtual Camera was never started, so the meeting app only lists the laptop webcam. The meeting app was opened before Virtual Camera started and cached devices. Windows Privacy blocked camera access for that app. OBS Studio was minimized and closed by accident, which stopped the device. A second portable copy of OBS Studio is running beside the winget install and owns a conflicting device name. Uninstall extras and keep one install door.

GPU or encode load can make the preview stutter. Lower canvas resolution or turn off heavy filters while testing the call. NVENC notes for recording live on a separate path: NVENC guide.

Privacy and trust

Local virtual camera output stays on the PC unless the meeting app sends it to a remote service. There is no OBS Project account required to start Virtual Camera. Licence is GPL-2.0. Install only from GitHub, winget id OBSProject.OBSStudio, or obsproject.com. Product bugs: obs-studio issues. Help: obsproject.com/help.

Next steps

Hub: guides. First scene: first scene. Record to disk: record. Move off Game Bar: off Game Bar. Home: OBS Studio.