Obs windows 10 black screen

OBS Studio is an exceptional screen recorder and live broadcasting tool. While either new starters or old hands may come across its “Infamous Black Screen of Death”. Come and solve this OBS Studio black screen/not working error by following this post.

To begin with, in case some dear customers just arrive here for workarounds on “Streamlabs OBS black screen” problem, be aware that this post only offers black screen fixing ideas on the open source program – OBS (aka Open Broadcaster Software). However, if you’re a headless chicken on your Streamlabs black screen, you can still try these resolutions mentioned below because quite many black screen errors of software are caused by similar reasons.

No more words, let’s get to the key part on how to fix OBS Studio black screen issue.
Though investigating the inquiries and related posts on the official forum, reddit, as well as many other places, we found that the OBS showing black screen error often occurs when users start up the Game/Display/Browser/Window Capture, create screencast after a software or system upgrade (e.g Windows 10 1909 update), or conduct the capture on a portable laptop.

In spite of this, before we move on directly to the fixing tips and tricks, let’s firstly take a look at some main causes of OBS black screen.

Main Reasons of OBS Black Screen Error

● The PC’s error: If you haven’t used or shut down your computer for a long time, the PC may be in an abnormal state so that software like OBS runs abnormally too.
● The OBS Studio itself: Any outdated or invalid version of OBS may have this capture image not showing screen issue. Also, sometimes OBS may have bad compatibility with your system version, or happen to meet certain unknown performance bug.
● Permission to capture: If your system setting shuts out the door to OBS for capture, it won’t read the display content at all.
● Software conflict: The operation of some other (screen recorder) programs may influence the normal activity of OBS, including but not limited to screencast, displaying, overlocking software.
● Multi-GPU recording environment: This is the most common reason for game capture, laptop capture, browser capture and so on. When OBS and your target capture content are not on the same graphic card, OBS will have no way to recognize the image.
● The target content of recording is copy protected: Such encrypted streaming videos like movies from Netflix are all unable to record with common screen recorder like OBS. In most cases, you can only receive a black screen recording with audio.

Drawn from above, we can see the possible reasons for OBS black screen are diversified. Since we or even you don’t know exactly what’s the root cause, you’re suggested to ensure you’ve done the right screen recording procedure with OBS firstly, and then try the following troubleshooting methods one by one. Only when you are 100% sure the fix is unworkable could you jump over it and go ahead to the next. If you are a OBS beginner and prefer a quick way to fix the capture error, it is more recommended to use some best OBS Studio alternative like RecMaster for capturing anything on the screen without black screen, video game, online streaming, desktop behavior, just to name a few.

Solution 1 – Restart OBS & Computer or Even Reinstall the Software [The Most Basic]

As a general solution, restarting software or rebooting the machine can resolve many unusual behaviors. So don’t take it as a flippant one. Just do it with patience. Also, you can check and update OBS if there’s new software release, or try to reinstall it at the very beginning to eliminate the reason from software bug. Totally depends on yourself.

For Windows user, it’s suggested to check whether the bit version you installed is suitable for your Windows system. Don’t be silly to set up a 32-bit version OBS on your 64-bit PC or vice versa.

Solution 2 – Run OBS as Administrator or In Compatibility Mode

In case OBS Studio doesn’t have the right to do screen capture, run it as Administrator. If you’ve installed and placed it on the C:// drive, you’d better change its driver permission by right clicking and accessing Properties -> Security -> Edit, and enable Authenticated Users to have Full Control.

This operation grants users to have totally permission to utilize OBS. And as to black screen matter brought by software compatibility matter, it will disappear while you still right clicking OBS shortcut and click Properties -> Compatibility, and tick “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” other Windows version number say 8, 7 and such.

You may also interested in:
How to Record Screen on Windows | How to Record Mac Screen with Audio

Solution 3 – Switch Capture Mode or Capture Method

If you can’t see the capture image in certain capture mode like Window or Game capture, alter the resource option to see if it works. And for Game Capture, make sure you are running game firstly and then add Game Capture in OBS Studio. Also, running the game at full screen, but not windowed or borderless if the Mode is “Capture any fullscreen application” on Game Capture Properties. Another option on this Properties panel – “SLI/Crossfire Capture Mode” could also help to maintain a regular capture basically when your computer has two (NVIDIA/AMD) graphic cards built in. (More fixes on OBS black screen on multi-GPU computer will be detailed in Solution 4)

For Window Capture, there are three capture method options on its properties now: Automatic, BitB1t (Windows 7 and up), and Windows Graphics Capture (Windows 10 1903 and up). You should pick the one according to your system condition.

Solution 4 – Close Software Running in Background

In some few situations, it’s the application running in the background that affects OBS’s performance and this is the software conflict. Close the irrelevant programs completely with task bar, especially the one regarding screen recording or broadcasting.

Some OBS users still reported that the Game Mode, designed especially for optimized gaming or Game Bar capture performance on Windows 10, may cause black issue, so check and disable Game Mode if you have enabled it under Settings -> Gaming -> Game Mode.

Another Game-Mode-alike way that many computer geeks love to take advantage of for gaming speed-up is overlocking. Either CPU or GPU can be overlocked to get an increased clock rate of component if it doesn’t ship with locked multipliers. If you’ve allowed it on your computer, disable the overlocking to see if it works.

Solution 5 – Change Graphics Settings

Following solution 4 which concludes some GPU-related operation on software, this one is mainly for settings on system. If your computer is running two GPUs or you’re doing screencasts on laptop, black screen is a usual case. That’s because due to certain system update or the system settings by nature, OBS Studio and the on-screen content you plan to grab (e.g video game and display) are running at different graphic card. Consequently, OBS Studio is unable to initiate the capture. At this time, you can alter the Graphics specifications to fix this issue. The steps are super easy:

● For Windows 10 1909 or later: Go to system Settings -> System -> Display, and click to open “Graphics settings”, where you should select “Classic app”, browse to where you have installed OBS (e.g D:\Program Files\obs-studio\bin\64bit\obs64.exe) and add the app into the list. After that, click “Options” of OBS Studio and alter the graphics preference of OBS Studio app form System default to “Power saving” or “High performance” manually. Power saving is recommended for display capture while High performance is for game capture or using NVENC encoder.
● For older Windows computer with NVIDIA card: Desktop or laptop, you need to enter into the Nvidia Control Panel and then navigate to Manage 3D settings -> Program Settings to add and select OBS Studio to customize. What comes next is to select “Integrated Graphics” for common desktop display capture or “High-performance NVIDIA processor” for game capture.
● For browser capture with black display: Browser rendering often takes much sources, therefore in order to improve the efficiency, browsers like Chrome and Firefox supports and will use hardware acceleration by default. Give it a try to disable browser’s hardware acceleration to settle the OBS black screen on Browser capture.

Yep, in this way, you can keep the recording content and OBS Studio running on the same GPU so that there’ll be no black screen error any more. Actually for recording gameplay on high-end computers, there are also many decent game recording software you can rely on.

Solution 6 – Try Best OBS Studio Alternative

If none of the listed solutions help you get out of the OBS black screen trouble, or you are so new to the tech world and have already been lost in those hard-to-understand items, the easiest way out is to turn to a quality OBS Studio replacer. Here RecMaster is the top choice thanks to its concise interface, multiple recording modes and attached effects & editing tools. Except Linux, RecMaster works perfectly on Windows 10/8/7/XP and macOS 10.11 +. So free download it now to obtain a normal non-black-screen capture on computer in clicks.

With RecMaster, you can effortlessly work out Let’s Play game videos, remote learning courses, software tutorial videos, video presentations, voice lecture, as well as any streaming media on the web.
Features that OBS Studio doesn’t have: Scheduled recording, real-time annotation, built-in editor and one-click sharing button.

Note that: If you tend to capture some DRM-locked streaming TVs, Movies, or so, normal screen recorder programs like OBS and RecMaster are unable to work it out alone. You should seek and depend on those DVR-enabled streaming downloader or recorder tools.

IN CLOSING

Have you resolved your OBS black screen error with either of the life saving solutions above? If you have any other helpful ideas we have missed here, please feel free to let us know via our email.

In this post, we’ll talk about different solutions you can try if the OBS Game captures a black screen on your Windows 11/10 PC. OBS Studio is a popular video streaming and recording application. It is used to record games and stream them online on different platforms like YouTube. But being best in the category doesn’t mean that the product is free from problems. OBS Studio has a long list of issues, and game capturing black screen is among many cases. Many users have reported that they only see a black screen upon previewing the recorded game. Worry not if you are also facing the problem; we got you covered. Try the solutions mentioned in this post to solve the problem.

Картинка с сайта: www.thewindowsclub.com

Why does OBS Game capture black screen on Windows?

There can be multiple reasons why you are seeing a black screen while previewing a recorded game. But among all, below are the most common reasons triggering the problem.

1. The problem in question is mainly experienced by users who have a dedicated graphics card installed on their system.
2. If you haven’t provided the administrative rights to the Studio, you will face the mentioned problem.
3. The problem will occur if you have downloaded the incorrect version of OBs Studio.
4. If the OBS Studio is not compatible with the installed Windows version, you will see a black screen upon previewing the recorded game.
5. If your system features any other game-capturing application, it can interfere with the functioning of OBS Studio and cause the problem.

Now that you know what causes the problem let’s check out how you can resolve them.

Below is a list of all the effective solutions you can try to fix the OBS Game captures a black screen on your Windows 11/10 computer:

1. Choose the correct version of OBS Studio
2. Change OBS Studio compatibility
3. Disable other OBS Studio-like application
4. Run OBS Studio as administrator
5. Switch OBS Studio GPU
6. Reinstall OBS Studio

Now, let’s take a look at all the solutions in detail.

1] Choose the correct version of OBS Studio

Картинка с сайта: www.thewindowsclub.com

If you have downloaded the incorrect version of the application on your system, you will face the issue. As it turns out, OBS Studio has two versions 32 bit and 64 bit. You will have to download the same version as your Windows version. For instance, if you have a 64-bit operating system, you will have to download 64-bit OBS Studio. You can check your Windows version by following the below steps.

1. Right-click on the This PC icon and choose the Properties option.
2. Under Device specification, you will see the installed Windows version on your system next to System type.

Download that version of OBS Studio on your system.

2] Change OBS Studio compatibility

As per users, the latest Windows version is not compatible with the OBS Studio. Users have to change the compatibility to Windows 7 to run the application without any problem. You can do the same and check if it solves the problem. Here’s how it’s done.

1. To begin with, open the Start Menu and type OBS Studio.
2. Right-click on OBS Studio and choose Open file location from the result.
3. Now, right-click on the OBS Studio exe file and select the Properties option.
4. Click on the Compatibility tab.
5. Click on the drop-down present under Compatibility mode.
6. Choose Windows 7 from the list.
7. Click on Apply > OK.

Now, check if the problem is fixed or not.

See: OBS Studio is the best video recording and live streaming software

3] Disable other OBS Studio-like application

As mentioned, if you have any other game capturing or streaming application installed on your system running in the background, you are most likely to face the problem. To solve the issue, you will have to disable all such applications. You can do so by following the below steps.

1. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkeys to open the Task Manager.
2. Right-click on all the similar applications running in the background.
3. Choose End Task.

Once you have closed all the applications, launch OBS Studio, and record any game. Check if you’re still facing the black screen problem upon previewing. If yes, try the next solution.

See: Fix OBS Display Capture not working properly

4] Run OBS Studio as administrator

Картинка с сайта: www.thewindowsclub.com

Not having administrative privileges can be another significant reason behind the problem in question. As it turns out, OBS Studio needs a long list of permission to run without any issue. You can try running the application in administrator mode and check if it solves the problem. If yes, always run OBS Studio in administrator mode. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Right-click on the OBS Studio icon, and choose the Properties option.
2. Switch to the Compatibility tab.
3. Here, checkmark the Run this program as an administrator option.
4. Click on Apply > OK.

That’s it. Check if the problem is fixed or not.

5] Switch OBS Studio GPU

The next thing you can try is to switch the OBS Studio GPU. It provides more flexibility and runs the application which superior graphics. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Launch the NVIDIA Control Panel on your system.
2. Click on View and then Add the “Run with graphics processor” option to the context menu.
3. Right-click on the OBS Studio and select the Run with graphics processor option.
4. Select the High-performance NVIDIA processor.

That’s it. Restart your system, and launch OBS Studio. Do the needful, and check if it solves the problem.

Read: Fix OBS Studio keeps crashing on Windows PC

6] Reinstall OBS Studio

If none of the steps were helpful, the last thing you can try is to reinstall the OBS Studio. There can be some issues in the application files which can be causing the problem. If this is the case, the best thing you can do is reinstall the application.

Why is game Capture not working OBS?

If the OBS Studio is not capturing the game, you can try all these solutions: download the latest graphics driver update, run OBS Studio in administrator mode, change the compatibility mode, perform Clean Boot, and run the SFC scan. If nothing helps, you can reinstall the Studio to solve the problem.

Is display capture better than Game capture?

As evident by the name itself, Game capture only captures the game. For instance, if you are running the game in Windowed mode, Game capture will only capture the game window; it doesn’t matter how many other Windows are open in the background. On the other hand, Display capture will capture everything displayed on the monitor. So, when it comes to which is better between Display capture and Game capture, it all comes down to what satisfies your needs the most.

Read Next: Fix OBS not capturing Game Video on Windows PC.