Streamlabs OBS 1.21.9 (Streamlabs Desktop) for Windows

Streamlabs OBS 1.21.9 is a free live streaming and recording app for Windows, now published under the name Streamlabs Desktop by Streamlabs, a company owned by Logitech. Download Streamlabs OBS if you stream to Twitch, YouTube or other platforms and want scenes, alerts, overlays and chat in a single program.

Specifications

What it is and how it differs from OBS Studio

Streamlabs built its app on top of the open-source OBS Studio engine and wrapped it in an interface aimed at streamers rather than video engineers. The capture, encoding and scene system work in a similar way, so a webcam, a game window, a microphone and a browser source can be combined into scenes and switched live. What Streamlabs adds is everything around the broadcast: a library of overlay themes, follower and donation alerts, a chat window, stream widgets and a dashboard that sets the stream title and category without opening the platform's website. For a beginner, that means a working stream with alerts in an evening instead of stitching together plugins and browser sources by hand. The trade-off is weight: the app uses more memory than OBS Studio, and some themes, apps and cloud features are part of the paid Ultra subscription.

System requirements

Streamlabs publishes its system requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 10 or later (macOS 12 and higher for the Mac version).
• Memory: 8GB as a starting point; 16GB+ for comfortable streaming with games.
• Storage: a 512GB SSD or more is recommended if you record locally.
• A dedicated graphics card helps with hardware encoding.

How to set it up

1. Download the installer from the official site and run it.
2. Log in with your Twitch, YouTube or other streaming account, or skip and set it up manually.
3. Let the auto-optimiser test your connection and pick bitrate and resolution.
4. Add sources to a scene: display or game capture, webcam, microphone.
5. Pick an overlay theme, add alert widgets and press Go Live.

Changes in each release are listed in the patch notes.

Safety and price

Install the app only from streamlabs.com. The core program is free; the Ultra subscription adds premium themes, multistreaming to several platforms and cloud storage. You can stream without paying anything.

Pros and cons

• Pro: alerts, overlays and chat built in.
• Pro: quick start for new streamers.
• Pro: based on the proven OBS engine.
• Con: heavier on memory than OBS Studio.
• Con: many attractive features sit behind Ultra.
• Con: fewer advanced plugins than OBS Studio.

Alternatives

OBS Studio is the lighter original with a large plugin ecosystem. For turning a phone into a webcam, DroidCam and iVCam are options, and for editing recorded streams afterwards you can use Shotcut or DaVinci Resolve.