OBS is one of the best tools for streaming and screen recording any kind of content. It looks a little complicated when you first open it, but it's not as bad as it looks. Since it's super customisable, a lot of people get overly optimistic about what their systems are capable of, which generally results in a lot of performance issues and crashing. Especially on Windows 11, so follow along as we guide you through a list of important things you need to check to get OBS working stably.

Takeaways:

  1. Why does OBS Studio keep crashing on Windows 11?
  2. Learn how to configure OBS on Windows 11 so that it doesn't constantly crash.

How to Fix OBS Studio Keeps Crashing on Windows 11

As we mentioned in the intro, the main reason for OBS crashing on any operating system is pushing your settings way harder than your hardware can realistically deal with. If you are using a laptop, curb your optimism! That said, Windows is pretty bad at choosing the best settings sometimes, so make sure OBS is being allocated the right hardware if your system has dedicated and integrated graphics.

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Search for Settings and open it.
  • Click System from the left sidebar.
  • Click Display.
  • Scroll down and select Graphics.

In the list of installed applications, find OBS Studio.

  • Click on OBS Studio.
  • Select Options.
  • Choose High Performance.
  • Click Save.

How to Fix OBS Studio Keeps Crashing on Windows

This forces OBS to use your dedicated graphics card, rather than integrated graphics. If you are on a desktop PC, Windows will default to your main GPU. In rare cases, where you might have multiple cards installed choose the one you want OBS to use.

If OBS Studio does not appear in the list:

  • Click Browse near the top of the Graphics settings page.
  • Open the following folders:
  • C: Drive
  • Program Files
  • OBS Studio
  • bin
  • 64bit
  • Select obs64.exe.
  • Click Add.
  • Once added, repeat the steps above and set it to High Performance.

Run OBS Studio as Administrator

This probably won't solve the problem for anyone, but it's worth a shot since it's pretty much the most simple thing you can do.

  • Locate the OBS Studio shortcut on your desktop.
  • Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.
  • Open the Compatibility tab.
  • Tick the box labeled Run this program as an administrator.
  • Click Apply, then OK.

Remove OBS Plugins

If you have loaded up on BOS Plugins, disable them and see what happens. While plugins are awesome, they can also cause a lot of problems if they aren't being updated.

  • Open the OBS installation folder.
  • Locate the plugins directory.
  • Remove recently installed plugins.
  • Restart OBS.

If everything works after doing this, you know that a plugin is causing all the drama, so reinstall them one at a time until you find the one that breaks everything.

Reinstall OBS Studio

If you've made it this far, clean install OBS on your system. At this point, you don't really have any other choices. Once you have installed it, check to see if it works as a clean installation. If it does, slowly make changes to get things back to where you want them. Don't do everything all at once without testing.