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How To Fix: Starting the Output Failed in OBS Studio

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🕑 3 minutes de lecture

If recording or streaming with OBS Studio is throwing up that pesky « Failed to start recording. Starting the output failed » message, you’re not alone. This one bug can be super annoying, especially after updating drivers or reinstalling everything. The problem tends to pop up when the software tries to use hardware encoding (like NVENC or AMD) but something’s off—maybe outdated drivers or conflicting settings.

Initially, you might check your video drivers—on Windows, that’s usually via Device Manager or directly downloading the latest from NVIDIA or AMD’s site. But even with updated drivers, OBS might still freak out. So, if you’ve tried that and still hit the same error, here’s what worked on several setups: switch the encoder setting from hardware to software (x264).Seems weird, but hey, it’s a reliable workaround that avoids hardware decoding hiccups.

Here’s how to do it step-by-step, so you can hopefully get back to recording without pulling your hair out. Just beware, this might increase CPU load, but at least it’ll work.

How to fix OBS Studio error « Failed to start recording. Starting the output failed »

Change the encoder from hardware to software in the settings

  • Open OBS Studio. From the File menu, pick Settings.
  • Select Output on the left side. Under the Recording section in the right pane, look for Video encoder. It’s probably set to something like « Hardware (QSV, H264)” or “Hardware (NVENC)”.
  • Change that to « Software (x264)« .Yeah, it’s just a software encoding option, but it’s reliable when hardware encoders cause issues.
  • Click Apply then OK.

On some builds, this shift helps the output start right away. The downside? CPU usage goes up, but if you’re just streaming or recording casually, it’s a fair trade-off. On one machine, this fix worked like a charm—on another, it took a reboot, but hey, it’s a quick fix.

Test the recording again

  • Hit Start Recording. If the output kicks in without an error, success!
  • If it still fails, you might want to double-check your Video Drivers or try a different preset in your encoder settings, like lowering bitrate or changing encoding profile.

Another thing that sometimes helps is to run the software as administrator or disable conflicting apps like game overlays or screen capture tools. You never know what background process cuts into OBS’s peace of mind.

Anyway, switching from hardware to software encoding appears to fix this pesky bug in most cases, especially when driver updates don’t do the trick. Just keep in mind, if you’re doing high-res streaming or recording, your CPU might take a hit.

Summary

  • Open File > Settings > Output.
  • Change Video encoder from hardware to Software (x264).
  • Apply and test again.

Wrap-up

It’s kind of weird that toggling between hardware and software fixes this, but apparently this is a common quirk with OBS. Might be driver-related or just how the encoding defaults behave on your GPU. Either way, this workaround is pretty low effort and saved the day more than once. Fingers crossed this helps some others avoid tearing their hair out. Good luck!