7 Best OBS Studio Plugins That Can Elevate Your Stream

OBS Studio is one of the most popular broadcasting programs available. It is free and open-source, allowing you to add plugins to increase its functionality and meet your streaming needs. With so many options available, it can be a little overwhelming knowing which plugins to choose when you are initially setting things up.

We looked at dozens of plugins in preparation for this post and have come up with a list of 7 unique options that you should consider for your channel.

OBS Studio Plugins That Will Improve Your Stream

1. OWN3D Pro Plugin
2. OBS.Live Plugin
3. StreamFX Plugin
4. VST Plugin
5. OBS Websocket
6. OBS NDI Plugin
7. Closed Captioning Plugin

1. OWN3D Pro Plugin

The design of your stream is one of the most important aspects of your channel. Most of the time, your graphics can be seen as part of your thumbnail when people are looking for a streamer to watch. Fortunately, OWN3D has created a plugin that provides all the bare essentials you need to brand your channel.

Created for OBS studio, the OWN3D Pro plugin gives you access to more than 575 overlay and alert designs to help you make your channel shine. Feel free to experiment with designs as often as you like to keep things fresh or match your content. Additionally, the plugin comes with the following benefits:

• One-click installation

  You don’t have to worry about setting up each element of a design. Instead, all you have to do is scroll through your options and pick the one you like best.

• Preset Stream Labels

  Celebrating your community engagement has never been easier. Place the plugin’s preset stream labels in a place where they can clearly be seen by your viewers, inspiring more donations and excitement.

• Chatbot

  Create commands, set up moderation tools, post live announcements, and post alerts in your chat. This tool will make managing your chat simple and easy.

• Embed Twitch Chat

  Want to show your chat on your screen while you stream? OWN3D Pro allows you to embed your chat into OBS so that it can be saved.

With over 2,000 reviews, the OWN3D Pro Plugin is a high-rated asset to anyone who is using OBS and wants to have different options on the appearance of their stream.

2. OBS.Live Plugin by StreamElements

Every streamer knows that there are many things you need to track while you are live. The OBS.Live Plugin by StreamElements was developed to customize how your OBS looks so that you can see everything you need while broadcasting.

The plugin makes it easy for you to track many aspects of your stream and you can drag and drop each feature to the best setup for you. A few of the features that the plugin offers are as follows:

• Chat Integration

  You can integrate your chat from Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook Gaming (or all three) so that you can easily see it on OBS without having to open Twitch.

• Alert Management

  Not only will OBS.Live keep track of your alerts, you can also check the plugin to ensure that donations are real when they are sent in chat. You will also be given the options to replay, skip, or mute the alerts.

• View Count Meter

  Easily keep track of the number of viewers watching your stream.

• Free Custom Bot Name

  If you use the StreamElement chatbot, you will be able to give it a custom name with this plugin.

The OBS.Live plugin is great for streams where you can’t always keep an eye on your chat through Twitch or have it overlayed onto your stream.

3. StreamFX Plugin by Xaymar

The StreamFX plugin by Xaymar offers several visual effects that can be added to your stream. They offer new filters, sources, and transitions that will allow you to mask things you don’t want your viewers to see or manipulate one of your sources to appear that it is in a 3D space. Here are a few of the features that the plugin has to offer:

• Mapping

  You can use the displacement mapping feature to move the pixels in several different ways.

• Blur

  The blur feature is one of the most popular features of the plugin. It allows streamers to use different blurring styles to mask out features of images or videos that may break ToS or that are not right for your community.

• Color Grading

  The plugin offers several color grading options that allow you to make your stream look unique.

• Source Mirror

  This feature will allow you to modify how some of your sources appear without affecting the original source. You can create multiple mirrors at the same time.

Many OBS users consider the StreamFX plugin one of the most essential aspects of their stream’s setup.

4. VST Plugins

The audio quality of your stream is more important than any other aspect. While some viewers will watch a stream at low-resolution or one with no webcam, most will not stay if you have issues with your audio.

Fortunately, the VST Plugin is perfect for improving your audio quality overall. It comes with several control features (such as compression, microphone EQ, and control background noise).

5. OBS Websocket

If you don’t have an Elgato Stream Deck, but you want to take advantage of similar functionality, look into the OBS Websocket. This simple plugin allows your OBS to communicate with a third-party program to change your scenes, activate transitions, and more. You will be able to use OBS Websocket with one of the following programs:

1. Touch Portal

   Touch Portal works with Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS and connects with several different streaming apps.

2. Deckboard

   Deckboard is a superior app that will connect Platforms and apps seamlessly, giving many options on how to control your stream graphics.

6. OSD NDI Plugin

If you want to use your mobile device as a webcam or use a dual PC streaming setup, you generally need to purchase a capture card. The OSD NDI plugin, however, allows you to get around that by providing audio/video input using your local network.

While many users report that there can be some lag or quality issues, the plugin is perfect for novice streamers or those who occasionally stream with their phones around the home. This is made possible through the NewTek NDI technology.

7. Closed Captioning Plugin

Many streamers overlook the importance of closed captioning on Twitch, especially if they have never had to use it themselves. In fact, many viewers are hard of hearing or would prefer to keep the stream muted to not disturb those around them.

The Closed Captioning OBS Plugin was created by a GitHub user who goes by the name Ratwithacompiler. It uses the Google Cloud Speech Recognition API to integrate a CC button onto your steam.

Not only will the plugin work for both live-streams and VODs, but you can also have it replace certain words with others. That way, everyone reading closed captioning will see every F-bomb turn into the word “fluffy.”