The OBS Project has unleashed OBS Studio 32.0, a feature-packed update that significantly modernizes the popular open-source streaming and recording software. This release isn't just incremental—it addresses long-standing community requests and leverages modern hardware capabilities, signaling a major leap for content creators and developers.

Core Advancements Reshape Workflows

  • 🎯 Native Apple Silicon Acceleration (Experimental): An experimental Metal renderer replaces OpenGL for Apple Silicon Macs, promising substantial performance gains and smoother rendering for streamers on M-series chips. This foundational shift paves the way for future optimization.
  • 🔊 NVIDIA RTX Audio Gets Smarter: Voice Activity Detection (VAD) now intelligently activates NVIDIA's noise suppression only during speech, reducing background noise more effectively. The groundbreaking "chair removal" option in RTX Background Removal uses AI to eliminate chairs from webcam feeds—a niche but technically impressive feat.
  • 🎬 ProRes & Hybrid MOV/MP4 Go Mainstream: macOS users gain native ProRes recording support, while Hybrid MOV/MP4 (combining HEVC/H.264 video with PCM audio) becomes the default output format. This resolves long-standing compatibility issues and offers professional-grade editing flexibility.
  • 📈 Bitrate Baseline Doubled: Reflecting modern bandwidth realities, the default streaming bitrate jumps from 2500 Kbps to 6000 Kbps, ensuring higher quality out-of-the-box for platforms that support it.

Architectural Shifts & Critical Fixes

  • 🧩 Plugin Manager Debuts: A new built-in plugin manager simplifies installing and maintaining third-party extensions—crucial for OBS's extensible ecosystem. Crucially, OBS now blocks plugins built for newer versions to prevent instability.
  • 🛠️ Under-the-Hood Upgrades: Audio deduplication logic is significantly improved, preventing echo nightmares in complex scene setups. The crash reporting system on Windows/macOS now offers opt-in automated log uploads.
  • 🔧 Notable Fixes: Resolved crashes with SRT streaming, Media Source playback, and macOS screen capture above 60fps. Critical color range issues (AMD AV1) and Hybrid file splitting bugs were also addressed.

Why This Matters for Developers & Creators

This update demonstrates OBS's commitment to leveraging modern APIs (Metal, NVIDIA RTX Voice SDK) while tightening core architecture. The plugin manager and stricter version compatibility enforce ecosystem health—a vital lesson for open-source projects. For streamers and video professionals, ProRes support and the Metal renderer reduce reliance on third-party tools, while NVIDIA's AI enhancements showcase real-time computational photography becoming accessible. The bitrate increase acknowledges evolving streaming standards, pushing higher fidelity as the new baseline.

OBS Studio 32.0 isn't just a feature drop—it's a foundational upgrade aligning the tool with next-generation hardware and creator demands. The move to smarter AI features, platform-native rendering, and professional codecs signals where real-time content creation is headed.

Source: OBS Studio 32.0 Release Notes