As of OBS 33.0, when OBS launches it will check if there are any encoders previously available that are now missing. This prompts a dialog to be shown:
In general, the first thing to do is to reinstall or update your GPU's drivers. If a reinstall or update does not work, please visit our support forums or Discord for further assistance.
If you have an NVIDIA GPU, you can consult the following table for further steps that you can try.
NVENC Check Error
Troubleshooting Steps
NVENC check program start failure
Run "Check File Integrity" in OBS Studio from the Help menu. Check any active antivirus to ensure it is not blocking OBS from running the check.
NVENC check process failure, exit code: ##
Run "Check File Integrity" in OBS Studio from the Help menu. Check any active antivirus to ensure it is not blocking OBS from running the check.
NVENC check process output read failure, exit code: ##
Run "Check File Integrity" in OBS Studio from the Help menu. Check any active antivirus to ensure it is not blocking OBS from running the check.
NVENC check failed with reason:
Troubleshooting Steps
No NVIDIA GPUs found
This error can occur when you previously had an NVIDIA GPU in a system, with NVENC selected, and replace/removed the GPU. Either reinstall the NVIDIA GPU, or switch to a different encoder.
The architecture (Kepler) of your GPU is no longer supported. Please use OBS 30.2 or earlier instead.
Legacy NVIDIA GPUs are no longer supported in newer versions of OBS Studio. You may continue to use an older version for support of your GPU.
Failed loading/initializing NVML library
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
Failed loading/initializing NVENC library
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
NVENC version empty
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
Failed loading/initializing/missing CUDA library
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
Invalid/Missing CUDA version
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
Outdated driver
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
No NVIDIA devices with NVENC support found
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers. This error can also occur when you have an NVIDIA GPU that does not support NVENC (such as a 1030 or MX model laptop GPU).
NVENC version empty
Reinstall/Update NVIDIA Drivers
Encoder session limit exceeded
This likely means that other applications on your system are utilizing the NVENC encoder. Common programs are video editors or 3D modeling software. Ensure that nothing else on your system is using NVENC.
AV1 encoding is not supported by any of the system's NVIDIA GPUs
Your GPU does not support AV1 hardware encoding. Please select a different encoder (usually NVENC HEVC or NVENC H264) instead.
