1. Audio buffering hit the maximum value. This is an indicator of very high system load, will affect stream latency, and may even cause individual audio sources to stop working. Keep an eye on CPU usage especially, and
close background programs if needed.
Occasionally, this can be caused by incorrect device timestamps. Restart OBS to reset buffering.
Source affected (potential cause):
Desktop Audio
2. Two of your audio devices has a sample rate that doesn't match the rest. This can result in audio drift over time or sound distortion. Check your audio devices in Windows settings (both Playback and Recording) and ensure the Default Format (under Advanced) is consistent. 48000 Hz is recommended.
OBS Sample Rate:
48000 Hz
SteelSeries Sonar - Gaming (SteelSeries Sonar Virtual Audio Device):
96000 Hz
SteelSeries Sonar - Chat (SteelSeries Sonar Virtual Audio Device):
48000 Hz
Microphone (Voicemod Virtual Audio Device (WDM)):
48000 Hz
Speakers (2- Realtek High Definition Audio):
192000 Hz
3. Display and Game Capture Sources interfere with each other.
NEVER put them in the same scene.
4. Multiple Game Capture sources are usually not needed, and can sometimes interfere with each other. You can use the same Game Capture for all your games. If you change games often, try out the hotkey mode, which lets you press a key to select your active game. If you play games in fullscreen, use 'Capture any fullscreen application' mode.
5. Your GPU is maxed out and OBS can't render and encode scenes 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.
Enable V/G-sync or set a reasonable frame rate limit (165, 120, 60) 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. If you are experiencing issues in general while using OBS, your GPU may be overloaded for the settings you are trying to use.
Set Mulitpass Mode to Single Pass and disable Psycho Visual Tuning and Look-ahead. Those all use additional GPU.
Please check our guide for ideas why this may be happening, and steps you can take to correct it:
GPU Overload Issues.
6. 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 or enable Auto remux in the Advanced Settings.
If still having issues, post new log.
