After a few years since my last post, I thought I would give an update as to what settings I use in OBS to achieve a good balance between quality and file size. I stated in the previous guide that “this guide is not perfect,” so this is my refined version of the previous post.

Instead of repeating everything again, I will only go over what has changed, and explain in similar detail as to why I chose these settings. My setup is the same, using a 1440p display recording at 1080p at 60 fps. Instead of Nvidia, I am now using an AMD card, so some options may differ.

Recording

Use VBR at ~9000-10000kbps, depending on content type.

Instead of using CQP, I have switched to VBR. An issue I found with CQP was the large file size, which you are not able to reliably control. CQP determines the amount of bitrate it uses based on on-screen content, which is good if you want to maintain the same quality throughout, but suboptimal if you really want to optimise for file size. To combat this, I decided to instead switch to VBR, Variable Bitrate.

If you have used Nvidia Instant Replay, or Adrenalin Record and Capture, you will see that both provide a bitrate slider and never provide any option for CQP. This is both for simplicity when users communicate their settings to others, but it is also easier to interpret and understand. If a user was to say, “my recordings are not clear enough,” or “there is visible breakup in the image during motion,” that user will easily understand that increasing the bitrate will likely fix the issue, as bitrate is often in the same unit as internet speed. Conversely to CQP, increasing this value will actually decrease your recording quality.

VBR will also ensure the file size produced is well in the expected range, whereas CQP may cause greater variability. In my experience using the same settings, a video capture recording of a game such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will result in a much smaller recording when compared to a recording of Nioh 2, often double the size due to the encoder needing more bitrate to sustain the same quality. In practice, this is great as you get consistent visual quality, but its size is not predictable. VBR works similarly to CQP in that it allows the bitrate to lower when not needed, but will ensure that the average overall bitrate (this may or may not be accurate), is either at or below the target set. For reference, I did a test in Nioh 3, and saw that 9000kbps would retain most detail but under high action scenes, text would exhibit slight malformation which occurs less so at 10000kbps.

I do not currently have the time to conduct more specific testing, such as quantitative measurements of video quality, but as of now the difference between 9000 and 10000kbps is minimal at 1080p, depending on the scene. If you are using an Nvidia or Intel card, you can more than likely get away with 9000 as the encoder is more efficient.