How To Adjust For Out of Sync Audio and video

[Shish-k-Bobs]

Before I ask for help, please know that I did read some of the existing threads on this subject so as not to waste people's time. But I'm really not sure how to fix this problem, even with the advice I found on this forum. As stated in the subject line, my video and audio get out of sync when streaming. Seems to be a common problem. One bit of advice that somebody offered is to reduce my bitrate. Happy to do that, but to what? One trick/workaround that I've found is every ten minutes or so go in and adjust the Sync offset. It doesn't seem to matter to what. +/- 10ms. Then the video and audio will resync. But not for long. It quickly gets out of sync again. As you can imagine, this is a PITA.

So here's my settings. I have an older computer but the performance bar is typically in the green at 3300 kbs. I know that Tune is set to still image, but that's because I am recording right now. I can change that to film. Is that the crux of the problem? Two questions I have are about optimum Bitrate and CPU usage. I experimented with a whole bunch of CPU Presets, but I couldn't tell if higher CPU is better or worse. Didn't seem to solve the sync problem. Also, does the Rate Control setting matter? I Googled it and found that CBR is the best option. But I'm open to suggestions. Thx

I have all Global Audio Devices disabled:

 

[Shish-k-Bobs]

Additional. I did notice tonight that while streaming the bitrate did drop down a few times to just a little over 2800 kbs. So maybe that should be the baseline bitrate for my settings? Again, I don't know. Still trying to figure this out.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

What may be confusing you
- what is normal is to have different data paths for audio and video, and for those to not naturally be in sync after being processed. And a static adjustment to 'correct' that timing, usually by slowing down (delaying) audio
- a variable out of sync is NOT normal. and typically indicates a system workload problem (typically, CPU not keeping up)... and the Windows Audio sub-system is NOT your friend in this scenario... unfortunately. Though running out of RAM could cause the same

So - biggest issue - you ignored pinned post in this forum about posting an OBS Studio log from a Recording/Streaming (either is fine) session (15-30 seconds, at least, please).

*IF* your computer is under-powered (you mentioned old), then
- ensuring all audio devices uses same sampling rate is a 1st step.
- following standard processes to optimize for an under-powered computer apply, ie stopping/disabling unnecessary background apps and processes [Which you ask? that is for you to determine as it depends, there is not fixed answer to that question]
- make sure your overall system utilization is not bottlenecking (CPU, GPU, RAM, disk I/O, etc) ... this is an art, not a science. Start with Task Manager (Performance). Do NOT use/rely on the OBS Stats CPU #
- And then there is being conscientious in OBS Studio of what things can be CPU intensive (chromakeying, some audio filters/effects, certain plugins, etc