OBS Studio Vs ShadowPlay – Pros and Cons

Many video creators and gaming enthusiasts want to use broadcasting software to live stream their videos and games. Finding the right software is a challenging task. OBS Studio and ShadowPlay are two leading live streaming and game recording programs on the internet. They are long time competitors that compete for the same audience. Both are free to use and have powerful features to back their positions. In this article, we will take a close look at these programs and compare them based on their features, performance, ease of use, system support, and more. Before we move ahead, let’s briefly discuss the two programs and the reasons for their use.

What is OBS Studio?

OBS, in OBS Studio, stands for Open Broadcaster Software. It is one of the well-known and widely accepted programs for game capture and live stream broadcasting. It is open-source software and completely free. It offers users tons of professional features for recording videos, capturing games, and streaming live events. It supports multiple systems such as Mac, Linux, and Windows. It is pretty fun learning about its various features, settings, controls, and customization options available.

Salient Features of OBS Studio

OBS is one of the lightest video broadcasting applications available on the internet. Unarguably, OBS recorded videos take lesser space on your hard drive due to compressed format, whereas programs like ShadowPlay occupy more memory for the storage. OBS Studio is open source and free. Moreover, it has a closely-knit community that is always happy to help. Users can turn to the OBS community for help on various issues and amazing plugins, filters, and effects. OBS Studio supports all the major operating systems such as Windows, Mac, and Linux.

What is ShadowPlay?

ShadowPlay is a game recording software for people who own an NVIDIA Graphics Card. It effortlessly broadcasts games to YouTube or Twitch. You can create GIFS, capture 4K, and even 8K screenshots and upload them to Facebook, all without leaving your game. It supports systems run by Windows 7 and above. It includes a Shadow Mode to let you capture 20 minutes of your gameplay and Unlimited Mode for recording as long as your storage space allows.

Salient Features of ShadowPlay

ShadowPlay is free and delivers the same experience as advertised. You need to have NVIDIA GTX650 or higher to enjoy the features of ShadowPlay. Multiple modes of recording allow you to choose the length of video you can record. ShadowPlay depends on your GPU for gameplay streaming, which means it uses your GPU for heavy lifting while you game. This relieves the burden from your system resources. The program can record 4K videos at up to 60 frames per second, provided you meet the system requirements.

OBS vs ShadowPlay – Which One is Better?

ShadowPlay doesn’t allow Shadow Recording and Twitch streaming at the same time. Thus, most gamers see OBS as an alternative for the effortless streaming of their content. ShadowPlay is good for video and gameplay broadcasting, but OBS features allow higher overlay adjustments. The comparison between OBS and ShadowPlay will be incomplete if we do not compare the applications based on their ease of use. ShadowPlay is relatively easier to set up and arguably has a more intuitive interface. However, OBS studio has tons of tutorials on the internet and a vast community for support. ShadowPlay needs you to have a Windows system while OBS is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and even Linux. Unfortunately, ShadowPlay is only available if your system is equipped with NVIDIA’s graphics card, while there is no such condition for OBS Studio.

Why Host OBS and ShadowPlay on Apps4Rent Virtual Desktops?

To conclude, we can say that the choice between OBS vs ShadowPlay depends entirely on your requirements. If you have one of the NVIDIA graphic cards and don’t want to capture your gameplay while streaming at the same time, you may consider ShadowPlay. However, if you want to enable simultaneous gameplay recording and live streaming, OBS is the only option between the two programs. Irrespective of the software you choose for broadcasting, hosting it on a virtual desktop can enable scalability and boost performance. Apps4Rent offers affordable OBS hosting plans for you to get the best out of live streaming. We use NVIDIA based GPU on our servers to deliver seamless experience out of your applications. We can also host ShadowPlay and other software on the cloud. Contact our team of experts available around the clock via phone, chat, and email for further assistance.