Step 1: Connect Your YouTube Account
- In OBS, go to Settings
- Click the Stream tab
- Service: Select YouTube - RTMPS
- Click the "Connect Account (recommended)" button
- Sign in to your YouTube account when prompted
- Click OK to save
If you don't have the "Connect Account" option, You can generate the Stream Key in YouTube Studio instead.
Step 2: Add What You Want to Share
In the Sources panel (bottom middle):
- For screen sharing: Click + → Display Capture → OK
- For games: Click + → Game Capture → OK
- For microphone: Click + → Audio Input Capture → OK
- For ONLY game audio (not system sounds): Click + → Application Audio Capture (BETA) → Select your game → OK
Audio Tip: To mute system sounds (Discord, browser, etc.), go to OBS Settings → Audio → disable "Desktop Audio". Then use Application Audio Capture to only capture your game's audio!
Step 3: Create Your Stream
If you don't have the "Create New Broadcast" button in OBS, You can configure the below in YouTube Studio itself, and even grab your Stream Key there.
- Click Start Streaming (bottom right)
- OBS will show a dialog to "Create New Broadcast"
- Give it a title (e.g., "Streaming with friends")
- IMPORTANT: Set Privacy to "Unlisted"
- IMPORTANT: Set Latency to "Ultra low latency" (reduces delay to ~2-5 seconds)
- Click Create & Go Live
(OPTIONAL) Step 3.5: Disable DVR for Lower Latency
- Open YouTube Studio
- Select Go live at the Top Right
- Scroll down to Stream settings
- Find Enable DVR and toggle it OFF
- Click Save
Why disable DVR? Disabling DVR (Digital Video Recorder) prevents viewers from rewinding your stream, which reduces latency by another 1-2 seconds. Combined with Ultra Low Latency mode, this gives you the absolute lowest delay possible (~2-3 seconds total).
Step 4: Get Your Stream URL
- Open YouTube Studio Live Dashboard
- Click the Share button and copy the URL
- Paste it into Stream Share.
Step 1: Connect Your YouTube Account
- In OBS, go to Settings
- Click the Stream tab
- Service: Select YouTube - RTMPS
- Click the "Connect Account (recommended)" button
- Sign in to your YouTube account when prompted
- Click OK to save
If you don't have the "Connect Account" option, You can generate the Stream Key in YouTube Studio instead.
Step 2: Add What You Want to Share
In the Sources panel (bottom middle):
- For screen sharing: Click Add Source → Screen Capture (PipeWire) → OK
- For games: Click + → Game Capture → OK
Capturing Individual App Audio: By default, OBS on Linux only captures ALL desktop audio. To capture just one app (like a game), install the PipeWire plugin:
Installation:
- Flatpak OBS: Download the latest release labelled flatpak from GitHub Releases → Extract and copy the plugin folder to
~/.var/app/com.obsproject.Studio/config/obs-studio/plugins/ (create the plugins folder if it doesn't exist) → IF ISSUES OCCUR: Run flatpak override --filesystem=xdg-run/pipewire-0 com.obsproject.Studio in terminal to grant PipeWire access
- Regular OBS: Download the latest release from GitHub Releases → Extract and copy the plugin folder to
~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/ (create the plugins folder if it doesn't exist)
After installing, restart OBS and you'll see
"Application Audio Capture (PipeWire)" in your sources! Add the source and exclude the applications you don't want everyone to hear!
Step 3: Create Your Stream
If you don't have the "Create New Broadcast" button in OBS, You can configure the below in YouTube Studio itself, and even grab your Stream Key there.
- Click Start Streaming (bottom right)
- OBS will show a dialog to "Create New Broadcast"
- Give it a title (e.g., "Streaming with friends")
- IMPORTANT: Set Privacy to "Unlisted"
- IMPORTANT: Set Latency to "Ultra low latency" (reduces delay to ~2-5 seconds)
- Click Create & Go Live
(OPTIONAL) Step 3.5: Disable DVR for Lower Latency
- Open YouTube Studio
- Select Go live at the Top Right
- Scroll down to Stream settings
- Find Enable DVR and toggle it OFF
- Click Save
Why disable DVR? Disabling DVR (Digital Video Recorder) prevents viewers from rewinding your stream, which reduces latency by another 1-2 seconds. Combined with Ultra Low Latency mode, this gives you the absolute lowest delay possible (~2-3 seconds total).
Step 4: Get Your Stream URL
- Open YouTube Studio Live Dashboard
- Click the Share button and copy the URL
- Paste it into Stream Share.