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OBS beta launches; free open source streaming software for all

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If you’ve been seeing all those young go-getters hitting the Youtube with videos of their gaming habits with them talking over the footage with their pop-culture references and you thought to yourself “What they’re lacking is a dedicated Minesweeper stream” but as soon as you tried to act on this thought discovered there are few free, competent streaming software out there and, being a whim, you were unwilling to drop dollar on a professional option, then, have I got the news for you. Also, if you have a less long-winded reason for being interested in open source streaming software then you may be interested also.

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), a free and open source streaming package, has just launched its public beta build.

It’s ridiculously simple to set up a stream, I had a quick fiddle just a moment ago and I got from download to stream in about two minutes. You’ll need a copy of OBS (downloadable from here), a game, and a server/subscription to a streaming service.

1) Boot up the game.
2) Alt-tab back to the desktop and boot OBS.
3) Right-click on OBS’ ‘Sources’ panel and add a Game Capture object.
4) Select the open game from the drop down menu that appears.
5) Back on the OBS front-end click settings and there fill in your server details or streaming service server details.
6) Click start streaming and you’re off.

Quick, simple, and no fuss.

Being an open source piece of kit, the hope is that OBS will continue to develop and release new features as a community forms about it and improves on the software.

You can find out more about OBS and the beta over yonder.