OBS GStreamer Source Plugin - Setup Guide

Arch Linux (and variants)

Install everything in one step:

yay -S obs-gstreamer gst-plugins-bad-libs gst-plugin-va gst-plugin-qsv gst-libav

Skip to the OBS pipelines below.

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Windows

1. Install GStreamer

Download the latest MinGW x86_64 runtime installer from the official GStreamer site:

https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/#windows

The current stable version is 1.28.1. Make sure you pick the MinGW variant and the x86_64 architecture, not MSVC, and not x86.

Run the installer. When prompted, select the Complete installation to ensure all plugins (including libav, needed for software decoding) are included. It will install to C:\gstreamer\1.0\mingw_x86_64\ by default.

2. Add GStreamer to PATH

Open PowerShell and run:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "C:\gstreamer\1.0\mingw_x86_64\bin;" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "User"), "User")

This prepends the GStreamer binaries to your user PATH. You can also do this manually via System Properties > Environment Variables by adding C:\gstreamer\1.0\mingw_x86_64\bin to your user PATH.

3. Install obs-gstreamer

Download obs-gstreamer.zip from the latest release (currently v0.4.1):

https://github.com/fzwoch/obs-gstreamer/releases

Extract the zip and copy obs-gstreamer.dll from the windows folder to:

C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\obs-gstreamer\bin\64bit\

You may need to create the folders if they don't exist.

Restart OBS if it was running.

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OBS Pipelines

Add a GStreamer Source in OBS and paste the appropriate pipeline. If the plugin is installed correctly, you should see it in the source list:

Replace <IP> with the server IP address, which will be provided during the event.

H.265 decoder reference

Use the tables below to find the right decoder element for your hardware. Replace <DECODER> in the game stream pipeline with your chosen element. Prefer vendor-specific over generic, and generic HW over software.

Linux

Hardware	Type	Vendor-Specific	Generic HW	Software Fallback
NVIDIA GPU (Maxwell+)	dGPU	nvh265dec	-	avdec_h265
Intel iGPU (Skylake+)	iGPU	qsvh265dec	vah265dec	avdec_h265
Intel Arc	dGPU	qsvh265dec	vah265dec	avdec_h265
AMD iGPU (Ryzen 2000G+)	iGPU	vah265dec	-	avdec_h265
AMD dGPU (Polaris+)	dGPU	vah265dec	-	avdec_h265
No GPU / F-series / non-G Ryzen	CPU	-	-	avdec_h265

Windows

Hardware	Type	Vendor-Specific	Generic HW	Software Fallback
NVIDIA GPU (Maxwell+)	dGPU	nvh265dec	d3d11h265dec	avdec_h265
Intel iGPU (Skylake+)	iGPU	qsvh265dec	d3d11h265dec	avdec_h265
Intel Arc	dGPU	qsvh265dec	d3d11h265dec	avdec_h265
AMD iGPU (Ryzen 2000G+)	iGPU	-	d3d11h265dec	avdec_h265
AMD dGPU (Polaris+)	dGPU	-	d3d11h265dec	avdec_h265
No GPU / F-series / non-G Ryzen	CPU	-	-	avdec_h265

Game stream pipeline

Game stream (H.265 over TCP with audio):

tcpclientsrc port=5000 host=<IP> ! matroskademux name=demux ! queue ! h265parse ! <DECODER> ! videorate ! videoconvert ! video.  demux. ! queue ! audiorate ! audioconvert ! audio.

Replace <DECODER> with the element from the tables above (e.g. nvh265dec, qsvh265dec, vah265dec, d3d11h265dec, avdec_h265).

Webcam (MJPEG over TCP):

tcpclientsrc port=5001 host=<IP> do-timestamp=true ! multipartdemux ! image/jpeg, framerate=30/1 ! jpegparse ! jpegdec ! queue ! video.

For additional webcams, duplicate the pipeline and increment the port number (5002, 5003, etc.).

TomorrowLAN stream layout

• Quad stream: one player cam per IP (4 IPs total, one webcam each).
• Main stream: two player cams per IP (2 IPs total, two webcams each, ports 5001 and 5002).

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Troubleshooting

GStreamer Source not showing in OBS (Windows)

Step 1: Restart OBS

Completely close OBS and reopen it. The plugin is only loaded when OBS starts.

Step 2: Check the plugin file is in the right place

Open File Explorer and navigate to:

C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\obs-gstreamer\bin\64bit\

You should see obs-gstreamer.dll in that folder. If the ProgramData folder is hidden, type the path directly into the File Explorer address bar.

If the folders don't exist, create them yourself:

1. Open C:\ProgramData\
2. Create obs-studio folder (if it doesn't exist)
3. Inside it, create plugins
4. Inside that, create obs-gstreamer
5. Inside that, create bin
6. Inside that, create 64bit
7. Place obs-gstreamer.dll in the 64bit folder

Step 3: Check that GStreamer is installed and in your PATH

Open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type powershell, hit Enter) and run:

gst-launch-1.0 --version

If you see a version number (e.g. GStreamer 1.28.1), GStreamer is correctly in your PATH.

If you get an error like 'gst-launch-1.0' is not recognized, GStreamer is either not installed or not in your PATH. Go back to step 2 of the Windows setup above and re-run the PowerShell command to add it to your PATH. Then close and reopen PowerShell and try again.

Step 4: Check for DLL conflicts

Some software (e.g. Tesseract-OCR, GIMP) installs its own copy of GStreamer or GLib DLLs. If one of these appears earlier in your PATH than the GStreamer bin folder, OBS may load the wrong DLLs and fail silently.

To fix this, open System Properties > Environment Variables, find Path under User variables, and make sure C:\gstreamer\1.0\mingw_x86_64\bin is at the top of the list. You can select it and click Move Up until it's first.