How do I decrease encoding lag?

iixdarkvibez

iixdarkvibez

New Member
I'm trying to record a roblox video, but my finished product is laggy, apparently it's because frames were skipped from encoding lag? I've tried to find any help, but it isn't working, does anyone know how to fix it? The log is in the files
 

Attachments

More going on than just encoding lag. Anyway, Gen 4 is too old for the newest versions of OBS. I think v28 is the last version that should work with that hardware.

That said, don't expect much. The system is super thin & has no deadicated GPU/VRAM. Even with the resolution set @ 720p, there's next to no RAM available to run OBS.
13:35:57.658: Physical Memory: 8092MB Total, 1302MB Free
 
1. Audio buffering hit the maximum value. This can be an indicator of very high system load and may affect stream latency or cause individual audio sources to stop working. Keep an eye on CPU usage especially, and close background programs if needed. The only programs that should be open are OBS and Roblox. Occasionally, this can be caused by incorrect device timestamps. Restart OBS to reset buffering.

Source affected (potential cause): Desktop Audio
2. Display, Window and Game capture interfere with each other. Never put them in the same scene.
3. Record to MKV. If you record to MP4 or MOV and the recording is interrupted, the file will be corrupted and unrecoverable. If you require MP4 files for some other purpose like editing, remux them afterwards by selecting File > Remux Recordings in the main OBS Studio window.
4. The refresh rate on your monitor appears to be 59.94. Set your OBS Video Common FPS Value to 29.97 and see below.
5. Your GPU is maxed out and OBS can't render scenes and encode frames fast enough. Running a game without vertical sync or a frame rate limiter will frequently cause performance issues with OBS because your GPU will be maxed out. OBS requires a little GPU to render your scene.

Set a reasonable frame rate limit (29.97) that your GPU can handle without hitting 100% usage.

If that's not enough you may also need to turn down some of the video quality options in the game (find the settings where the game will run at 150-200% of target FPS and then cap at 29.97). If you are experiencing issues in general while using OBS, your GPU may be overloaded for the settings you are trying to use.

Please check our guide for ideas why this may be happening, and steps you can take to correct it: GPU Overload Issues.
 
i tested a 15 minute video of me playing roblox, while following your suggestions, but it was still kind of lagging, heres the log files
(also i did want to mention, this lag only happens when i play roblox specifically, everything else can record perfectly fine)
 

Attachments

As I mentioned above, the current versions of OBS are not helping your cause. Rollback to v28.x.x. You're never going to get traction in the current state.

System is overloaded & no doubt thrashing due to lack of resources (RAM)
12:20:54.961: Physical Memory: 8092MB Total, 1848MB Free

12:27:03.587: Max audio buffering reached!
12:27:03.587: adding 917 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 960 milliseconds (source: Desktop Audio)
12:27:03.587:
12:27:03.607: Source Desktop Audio audio is lagging (over by 244701.51 ms) at max audio buffering. Restarting source audio.

Scene is bugged

Rendering Lag is GPU overload. as far as the encoding lag is concerned, use a faster Preset. TU1 is as slow as it gets.
12:27:05.480: [qsv encoder: 'advanced_video_recording'] settings:
12:27:05.480: codec: H.264
12:27:05.480: rate_control: CBR
12:27:05.480: target_bitrate: 2500
12:27:05.480: Lookahead Depth:60
12:27:05.480: target_usage: TU1
12:27:05.480: profile: high
12:27:05.480: keyint: 2
12:27:05.480: latency: normal
12:27:05.480: b-frames: 2
12:27:05.480: fps_num: 30000
12:27:05.480: fps_den: 1001
12:27:05.480: width: 1280
12:27:05.480: height: 720
12:27:05.480: [qsv encoder: 'advanced_video_recording'] debug info:
12:27:05.593: surf: Texture
12:27:05.662: m_nSurfNum: 11
12:27:05.663: m_nTaskPool: 4
12:27:05.663: major: 1
12:27:05.663: minor: 20
12:27:05.664: ---------------------------------
12:27:05.666: [FFmpeg aac encoder: 'Track1'] bitrate: 160, channels: 2, channel_layout: stereo, track: 1
12:27:05.666:
12:27:06.594: ==== Recording Start ===============================================
12:27:06.594: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Writing file 'D:/obs vids coolio/2026-07-05 12-27-05.mkv'...
12:41:54.347: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Output of file 'D:/obs vids coolio/2026-07-05 12-27-05.mkv' stopped
12:41:54.348: Output 'adv_file_output': stopping
12:41:54.348: Output 'adv_file_output': Total frames output: 26557
12:41:54.348: Output 'adv_file_output': Total drawn frames: 24491 (26606 attempted)
12:41:54.348: Output 'adv_file_output': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 2115 (7.9%)
12:41:54.349: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 17273/26587 (65.0%)
12:41:54.351: ==== Recording Stop ================================================

Encoding Performance Troubleshooting | OBS

OBS Knowledge Base. Learn best practices to solve encoding performance issues
obsproject.com obsproject.com
 
The encoding session is missing, the log ends just after your Scene Collection loads.

For your next test, disable these, they're not needed & there may be some resource savings.
15:44:32.354: Game Bar: On
15:44:32.354: Game DVR: On

If possible, set your monitor to exactly 60HZ.
15:44:33.070: name=OptiPlex 9030
15:44:33.070: pos={0, 0}
15:44:33.070: size={1920, 1080}
15:44:33.070: attached=true
15:44:33.070: refresh=59

Still light on RAM. Try disabling Bit-defender & run Windows defender/firewall. Also, close all apps not needed when using OBS, free up more RAM. Your system is more than likely thrashing with the available RAM being so low.
15:44:32.354: Physical Memory: 8092MB Total, 1667MB Free
15:44:32.363: Bitdefender Antivirus: enabled (AV)
15:44:32.363: Microsoft Defender Antivirus: disabled (AV)
15:44:32.365: Bitdefender Firewall: enabled (FW)
15:44:32.365: Windows Firewall: disabled (FW)
 
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