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OBS Studio 29.1 is out now with AV1 / HEVC for YouTube

By - | Views: 21,561

One for content creators here, as the excellent OBS Studio just released version 29.1.0. This brings initial support for AV1 / HEVC on YouTube.

There's various improvements elsewhere too of course but this is quite a big one, as it's potentially the future of streaming video and it's currently limited to YouTube for now as a Beta feature. This release also now supports Enhanced RTMP V1, which extends the RTMP protocol to support newer video codecs and HDR. Lots of future-proofing work going on in OBS Studio right now.

Here's everything that's new:

  • Added support for streaming AV1/HEVC over Enhanced RTMP [YouTube/yuriy-chunak/derrod]
    • Enhanced RTMP V1 extends the RTMP protocol to support newer video codecs and HDR. More info at: https://github.com/veovera/enhanced-rtmp
    • Currently only supported by/enabled for YouTube as a beta feature
    • HDR is not yet implemented
  • Added support for multiple audio tracks in Simple output recording [pkv]
  • Added a DLL blocking feature for Windows. This allows OBS to block problematic DLLs from attaching to OBS and causing freezing or crashes, for example 3rd party overlay hooks and outdated video capture devices. [notr1ch]
    • This blocks old versions of popular VTubing software virtual cameras that are known to cause freezes when accessing video capture device properties. If you are affected, please update to the latest version of your VTubing software.
  • Added settings to select the audio encoder for streaming and recording [tytan652]
  • Added an option to preload media sources used in Stingers to memory, to avoid frame skips during transitions [Jim]
  • Added Update Channels on macOS and updated Sparkle for smaller and faster updates going forward [derrod]
  • Added compatibility notices in the Window and Game Capture sources for Windows [derrod]
  • Added the ability to zoom browser docks with Ctrl - and + and the right click menu [WizardCM]
  • Added a setting to record in fragmented MP4 and MOV formats [derrod]
    • These offer greater compatibility than MKV while providing similar resilience against data loss due to crashes, running out of space, etc.
    • Fragmented MP4 and MOV files can be remuxed to regular MP4/MOV in cases where the former may not be read correctly (e.g. in older editing software)
  • Added support for surround sound for AJA capture cards [paulh-aja]
  • Added ProRes 4444 (XQ) support for VideoToolbox encoder on macOS [jpark37]
  • Added lossless audio recording options (FLAC/ALAC/PCM including 32-bit float) [derrod]
  • Added indicator if an audio source is unmuted, but not assigned to any audio tracks [derrod]
  • Added AMD AV1 encoder to simple output mode [notr1ch]

Just for Linux, there were a couple of improvements like these:

  • Significantly improve screen capture performance on Intel dedicated GPUs on Linux [kkartaltepe]
  • JACK inputs on Linux will now display "OBS Studio" in their name to clarify their origin. This may cause existing configured devices to stop working until updated by the user [univrsal]
  • Fixed a crash on shutdown with virtual camera on Linux [kkartaltepe/norihiro]
  • Fixed an issue in the V4L2 source on Linux where a capture device's frame rate could be invalid, resulting in incredibly large log files [9p4]
  • Fixed an issue where Push to Talk on Linux wouldn't work when assigned to secondary mouse buttons [KasinSparks]
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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5 comments

ripper81358 May 3, 2023
I did some screenrecording today with the new release. I used the new VAAPI h.265 encoder with my AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT and it worked really well. However i am still missing support for global shortcuts on my KDE Plasma Wayland session.
pete910 May 3, 2023
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Well just tried AV1 via GPU encode on my 6800xt seems to work fine. No option to use AV1 when streaming though.

Having said that do YT/twitch support streaming AV1 ?
ripper81358 May 3, 2023
Quoting: pete910Well just tried AV1 via GPU encode on my 6800xt seems to work fine. No option to use AV1 when streaming though.

Having said that do YT/twitch support streaming AV1 ?

How did you do that? RX 6000 series GPU'S do not support AV1 encoding. RDNA 2 is limited to AV1 decoding only as far as i know. Also AV1 encoding is not supported by MESA VAAPI as of now.
fenglengshun May 4, 2023
Quoting: ripper81358
Quoting: pete910Well just tried AV1 via GPU encode on my 6800xt seems to work fine. No option to use AV1 when streaming though.

Having said that do YT/twitch support streaming AV1 ?

How did you do that? RX 6000 series GPU'S do not support AV1 encoding. RDNA 2 is limited to AV1 decoding only as far as i know. Also AV1 encoding is not supported by MESA VAAPI as of now.
Yeah, AFAIK only RDNA3 (RX 7*000s) supports hardware encoding for AV1. RDNA2 / RX 6*000s is decode only. There's been some major support for AV1 recently, though I can't remember if it was for Mesa, vaapi, or ffmpeg. But all those three probably need to be sorted out first before we can use AV1 hardware encoding.

Legitimately, this is why I'm just patiently waiting for any upgrading. By the time that a decent RX 7600 board is cheap enough for me to buy here, most of these stuff should be sorted out enough for public testing.
pete910 May 4, 2023
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Lol....

Read AOM-AV1 as AMD-AV1


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