OBS Studio is the standard for developer screen recording. It is free, open source, and deeply configurable. But those configuration options mean you can accidentally produce recordings that look terrible or files that choke AI processing tools. This guide covers the exact settings for coding tutorial recordings.

Output Settings

Recording Tab

Type:              Standard
Recording Path:    ~/recordings/ (use a fast SSD)
Recording Format:  MKV (not MP4 -- MKV survives crashes)
Encoder:           NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (if available)
                   or x264 (CPU fallback)
Rate Control:      CBR
Bitrate:           8000 Kbps
Keyframe Interval: 2

Why MKV over MP4: If OBS crashes or your system freezes, MKV files remain intact up to the crash point. MP4 files become corrupted and unrecoverable. You can remux MKV to MP4 afterward with zero quality loss: ffmpeg -i recording.mkv -c copy recording.mp4

Why CBR over VBR: Constant bitrate produces more predictable file sizes and more consistent quality for screen recordings. Variable bitrate is better for camera footage with varying complexity, but screen recordings have relatively uniform complexity.

Why 8 Mbps: Screen recordings are mostly static text with occasional changes. 8 Mbps captures code text sharply without inflating file sizes. Higher bitrates waste space on code content.

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Video Settings

Base (Canvas) Resolution:  1920x1080
Output (Scaled) Resolution: 1920x1080
Downscale Filter:           (not applicable if same)
FPS:                        30

Do not downscale. Record at your native resolution. If your monitor is 1440p or 4K, you have two options:

  1. Record at native resolution, downscale in post: Better quality, larger files. VidNo handles this automatically.
  2. Set your display to 1080p before recording: Simpler workflow, no post-processing needed. Font sizes may need adjustment.

Audio Settings

Sample Rate:    48 kHz
Channels:       Stereo

Audio Sources

Set up two audio tracks:

  • Track 1 (Desktop Audio): System sounds, notification sounds, application audio. Set to -10 dB to avoid overpowering your voice.
  • Track 2 (Mic/Aux): Your microphone. Apply a noise gate filter (close threshold: -32 dB, open threshold: -26 dB) to cut background noise.

VidNo can work with a single mixed audio track, but separate tracks give better results for voice analysis.

Microphone Filters (in order)

  1. Noise Suppression: RNNoise (built into OBS). This AI-based noise removal is good enough for most environments.
  2. Noise Gate: Close threshold -32 dB, open threshold -26 dB. Cuts background hum between speech.
  3. Compressor: Ratio 3:1, threshold -18 dB. Evens out volume differences between loud and quiet speech.
  4. Gain: Adjust so your normal speaking voice peaks at -12 to -6 dB in the mixer.

Scene Setup

For coding tutorials, keep the scene setup simple:

Single Scene: Full Screen Capture

Sources:
  1. Display Capture (your primary monitor)
  2. Audio Output Capture (desktop audio)
  3. Audio Input Capture (microphone)

Do not use Window Capture for coding tutorials. It captures a single window, but you often switch between editor, terminal, and browser. Display Capture gets everything.

Optional: Webcam Overlay

Some developers add a small webcam overlay in the corner. If you do:

  • Keep it small (200x150px in the bottom-right corner)
  • Use a green screen or background removal filter
  • Do not cover the terminal or any area where output appears

VidNo can process recordings with or without webcam overlays. It automatically detects and excludes the webcam area from OCR analysis.

Hotkeys

Configure these hotkeys for smooth recording sessions:

Start Recording:       Ctrl+Shift+R
Stop Recording:        Ctrl+Shift+R (toggle)
Pause Recording:       Ctrl+Shift+P
Mute Mic:              Ctrl+Shift+M

Pause is especially useful. If you need to take a break, check your phone, or handle an interruption -- pause instead of stopping. Resumed recordings produce cleaner footage than separate recordings stitched together.

Performance Settings

Screen recording should not impact your coding workflow:

  • Process Priority: Set OBS to "Normal" (not "Above Normal"). Your development tools should have priority.
  • GPU usage: NVENC encoding uses dedicated hardware on NVIDIA cards and does not affect general GPU performance. x264 encoding uses CPU and may cause noticeable slowdown on 4-core systems.
  • Disk write speed: At 8 Mbps, OBS writes about 60 MB per minute. Any SSD handles this easily. Mechanical drives may cause frame drops during heavy writes.

After configuring OBS, do a test recording: 2-3 minutes of coding. Verify that text is sharp, audio is clean, and performance is not affected. Then start creating real content. For recording habits that improve output quality, see screen recording tips for developers.