How To Fix OBS Studio Encoding Overloaded Issue

OBS Studio is an open source streaming and recording program that’s free to download. It allows users to work with different sources and mix them together to create a smooth broadcast. Although this is a solid performing software there are instances when certain issues can occur which we will be addressing today. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue.

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How To Fix OBS Studio Encoding Overloaded Issue

Before performing any of the recommended troubleshooting steps listed below it’s best to restart your computer first. This action refreshes the operating system and remove any corrupt temporary data that could be causing the problem.

There are several factors that can cause this particular problem ranging from low storage to a CPU bottleneck. Listed below are the troubleshooting steps you need to do to fix this problem.

Try changing the priority of the process

  • Open the game and OBS studio and start playing the game while also streaming at the same time.
  • Press Windows + R, type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
  • In the task manager, select the game, right-click on it and select Go to details. You can also do the same for opening the properties of OBS Studio.
  • In the details section, right-click on the specific game process and select Set priority > Below normal. In the case of OBS, select Set priority > Above normal.
  • Save changes and exit the task manager. 

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Try reducing the output resolution

If the CPU is having difficulties keeping up with the high resolution encoding then this issue can occur.To fix this you will have to reduce the output resolution.

  • Launch OBS Studio and click on the Settings button present at the bottom-right side of the screen.
  • Select the category of Video and then click on Output (Scaled) Resolution. Try to lower your resolution. If it is set to  1080 then try to reduce it 720.
  • Save changes and exit the software. Restart your computer and try streaming again. 

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Try lowering the frame rate

  • Go to OBS settings then go to Video settings.
  • Select Common FPS Values and then select a lower value. If it was 30, consider going to 20, etc.
  • Save changes and exit the software. 
  • Restart your computer and try streaming again. 

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Change x264 Preset

By default the x264 encoder is being used and the preset is set to very fast. Try changing this setting then check if the issue still occurs.

  • Open OBS studio and click on Settings present at the bottom-right side of the screen.
  • Select Output from the left navigation pane and then click on Advanced as the output mode.
  • Try changing the preset modes and see if selecting any faster one solves the issue for you.

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Try using hardware encoding

  • Open your OBS Studio and go to Settings.
  • Under the ‘encoder’ drop down select ‘NVENC H.264’. This will enable hardware encoding on your Nvidia graphics card.

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Free up disk space

If your disk drive does not have sufficient space to store the streamed content then this problem can occur. You can try freeing up disk space by using the disk cleanup tool.

  • Press Windows + E to open the file explorer, click on This-PC, and select the drive which you want to clean.
  • Right-click it and select Properties.
  • In properties, select the General tab and click Disk Cleanup.
  • Disk cleanup – Windows Drive
  • After cleaning the disk, restart your computer. Make sure that you have at least 5-10 GB space free on your drive.

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

Close programs running in the background

In case the above steps fails to fix the problem then you should close the programs running in the background as this will use a considerable amount of CPU resources.

  • Press Windows + R, type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
  • In the task manager, select any extra applications running in the background. Right-click on them and select End task.
  • Look at the bottom-right side of your screen at your taskbar and locate any icons of software running. If you find any which are constantly running and consuming CPU, right-click on them and select Exit.

Check if the OBS Studio encoding overloaded issue still occurs.

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