OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software) allows you to set your scene as ‘Virtual Camera’. It means there is no need to install additional plugin for accessing Virtual camera option. This software will help you by clicking “Start Virtual Camera” towards the bottom-right corner.

So if you are looking for virtual webcam for video conferencing solutions like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype and Google Meet, then “OBS Virtual Camera” can be one of best options for that. You can use OBS as virtual webcam/camera for this purpose. ‘OBS’ is great if you are giving company presentations, or just want to communicate with your colleagues with weird green screen background.

OBS Virtual Camera installation processes can be varied depending on your Operating System. The installation steps are quite simple for Windows OS based device while for macOS devices, you will need a second monitor and requires running multiple programs. However, this feature is now available for macOS device according to some sources. So, you can try OBS as virtual webcam on macOS devices also.

OBS Virtual Camera or OBS Studio is free, open-source software and it is also available as OBS-VirtualCam plugin. This program can help connect any digital camera with a video output to your video conferencing platform like Zoom, Skype and others. This software is available for Windows OS, macOS, and Linux.

OBS Studio allows you to preview the video from the webcam and you can change where its displayed on the screen and the dimensions of the webcam. If you are planning to stream or video conference while simultaneously sharing your screen and camera, then you can setup virtual camera using OBS Studio or OBS-VirtualCam plugin.

How to use OBS Virtual Camera in Windows 10/8/7?

Step 1: Open web browser and download OBS-VirtualCam Plugin, and save the ‘setup file’ in your computer hard drive

Step 2: Now, double-click on ‘Setup file’ and follow on-screen instructions to finish the installation. After that, restart your computer.

Step 3: After restart, setup OBS, select ‘Tools’ from top menu in “OBS” and click on “VirtualCam”

Step 4: In the opened “VirtualCam” window, click on “Start” button. Check the “Autostart” checkbox if you want to have VirtualCam start whenever OBS is running.

Step 5: Once done, you can should see now “OBS-Camera” as webcam option. However, you will still need to select your usual microphone as audio source.

How to use OBS Virtual Camera in macOS device?

 Step 1: At first, you need to install ‘OBS- VirtualCam’ plugin macOS version in your Mac computer.

Step 2: Once installed, you can use this feature as same as Windows method listed above, or follow ‘step 3 to 6’.

How to output video from OBS Virtual Camera to Zoom?

With virtual camera setup in OBS, you should make sure that ‘VirtualCam’ is activated. If it is activated, anything displayed on preview windows will appear on video conferencing platform. To do so, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Open “Zoom Meeting” in Windows device

Step 2: Click on “Start” or “Join” a call

Step 3: Click on “Upward-facing arrow” left of the camera input

Step 4: Select “OBS-Camera” from the menu

Step 5: Whatever is displayed on ‘OBS Studio Preview’ window should now appear on Zoom – video conferencing platform.

This way, stream your setup to Zoom in OBS Virtual Camera is easy. Similarly, ‘OBS Studio’ with ‘OBS-VirtualCam’ should also work with Skype, Google hangouts and Google Meet. For example, on Google Meet – video conferencing platform, find “OBS Virtual Camera” under “Video” source option, and click on it. This way, you can enjoy this feature on Google Meet.

OBS Virtual Camera allows you to add effects to your video and some additional filters on the top original video source. You are allowed to make few adjustments like applying some color corrections to webcam feed. You can also add some text or pictures on the video or on any frame. However, you will see the preview of video, and will be projected to your virtual camera.

Note that this preview originally shows flipped but with OBS Studio or OBS-VirtualCam plugin, you can easily control and flip the mirror to correct the output. To setup OBS Virtual Camera in Windows/Mac device, you can read & follow our instructions mentioned above. That’s all. For any suggestions or queries, please write on comment box below.