Replay Buffer Pro

This OBS Studio plugin expands upon the built-in Replay Buffer, allowing users to save recent footage at different lengths with customizable save buttons, similar to how PlayStation/Xbox's "Save Recent Gameplay" functionality.

Note: Windows builds are 64-bit only, as OBS Studio 29.0.0+ dropped 32-bit support. macOS builds are universal binaries (arm64 + x86_64).

How It Works

OBS keeps a rolling buffer of the last few seconds or minutes of footage in memory using the built-in replay buffer. The length of this footage is defined in settings. If the amount of footage exceeds the length in settings, old footage is overwritten as new footage is recorded.

Unlike the default Replay Buffer, which saves a fixed duration, this OBS Studio plugin allows users to save different lengths on demand. Set the replay buffer length, then clip custom lengths of footage automatically. Example: Set your replay buffer to 10 minutes. Save the last 30 seconds, 2 minutes, or 5 minutes instantly with UI buttons or hotkeys.

The project website is currently hosted via GitHub Pages.

Usage

Saving Clips

1. Start the Replay Buffer in OBS

2. Click any save clip button (customizable durations) or use the assigned hotkey

3. Use the Customize button to set your preferred clip lengths

   

4. The plugin will:

   • Save the full replay buffer
   • Automatically trim to the selected duration (Without re-encoding)
   • Replace the original file with the trimmed version

Buffer Length

• Quickly adjust built-in replay buffer length (1s to 6h) without digging through the settings

Hotkeys

• Assign hotkeys to each save duration button in OBS Settings > Hotkeys

Installation

From Release

1. Download latest release
2. Extract the ZIP file
3. Copy the obs-studio folder to your OBS plugins directory:
   • Windows: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\obs-studio\plugins\ (typically C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\)

Final file structure should look like this:

obs-studio/
└── plugins/
    └── replay-buffer-pro/
        ├── bin/
        │   └── 64bit/
        │       └── replay-buffer-pro.dll
        └── data/
            └── locale/
                └── en-US.ini

Note: The %ALLUSERSPROFILE% environment variable typically resolves to C:\ProgramData. You can type this directly into File Explorer's address bar.

From Source

See below for instructions to build from source.

After building, use cmake --install to automatically install the plugin, or manually copy the compiled files:

1. Copy compiled plugin:
   • replay-buffer-pro.dll to your OBS plugins directory
2. Copy from source data directory:
   • Data files to your OBS data path for the plugin

Note: Close OBS before installing or copying the DLL.

Building from Source

The build system follows the obs-plugintemplate pattern. All dependencies (OBS Studio source, prebuilt obs-deps, Qt6) are automatically downloaded at configure time.

Requirements

Windows:

• Windows 10/11 64-bit
• Visual Studio 2022+ with "Desktop development with C++"
• CMake 3.28+

macOS:

• macOS 12.0+ (builds target macOS 12.0+; universal binary: arm64 + x86_64)
• Xcode 16+ with macOS SDK 15.0+
• CMake 3.28+

No manual OBS clone, Qt6 install, or FFmpeg setup is needed on either platform — everything is fetched automatically.

Build (Windows)

git clone https://github.com/joshuapotter/replay-buffer-pro.git
cd replay-buffer-pro

# Configure (first run downloads deps and builds OBS — takes a few minutes)
cmake --preset windows-x64

# Build the plugin
cmake --build --preset windows-x64

# Install (close OBS first)
cmake --install build_x64 --config RelWithDebInfo

The install target places the plugin in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%/obs-studio/plugins/. After building, a rundir is also available at build_x64/rundir/RelWithDebInfo/ for quick testing.

Build (macOS)

git clone https://github.com/joshuapotter/replay-buffer-pro.git
cd replay-buffer-pro

# Configure (first run downloads deps and builds OBS — takes a few minutes)
cmake --preset macos

# Build the plugin (universal binary)
cmake --build --preset macos

# Install (close OBS first)
cmake --install build_macos --config RelWithDebInfo

The install target places the .plugin bundle in ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/. After building, a rundir is also available at build_macos/rundir/RelWithDebInfo/ for quick testing.

Release (Windows)

Update the version in buildspec.json, then run:

cmake --preset windows-x64
cmake --build build_x64 --config RelWithDebInfo --target prepare_release

This creates build_x64/releases/<version>/replay-buffer-pro-windows-x64.zip.

CI / GitHub Actions

Pushing a semver tag (e.g., 1.4.0) to main/master triggers the GitHub Actions workflow, which builds the plugin for both Windows and macOS and creates a draft GitHub release with all artifacts attached.

Project Structure

replay-buffer-pro/
├── buildspec.json       # Plugin metadata + dependency versions (Windows + macOS)
├── CMakePresets.json    # Build presets (windows-x64, macos)
├── CMakeLists.txt       # Main build configuration
├── cmake/               # CMake modules (common + windows + macos)
├── data/               
│   └── locale/          # Translations
├── src/                 # Source files (fully cross-platform)
│   ├── config/          # Config constants
│   ├── managers/        # Core functionality managers
│   ├── plugin/          # Main plugin implementation
│   ├── ui/              # User interface components
│   └── utils/           # Utility classes (including video-trimmer)
├── .github/             # CI workflows, actions, scripts (Windows + macOS)
├── docs/                # Project website source
├── reference/           # Developer documentation
└── README.md

Troubleshooting

• Verify plugin file location (.dll on Windows, .plugin bundle on macOS)
• Check OBS logs for errors
• For trimming issues:
  • Check disk space
  • Check write permissions in output directory
• When building from source:
  • Windows: Ensure Visual Studio 2022+ and CMake 3.28+ are installed
  • macOS: Ensure Xcode 16+ (with macOS SDK 15.0+) and CMake 3.28+ are installed; run xcode-select --install if needed
  • First configure run downloads ~500MB of dependencies — ensure network access
  • Windows: Run install command in a terminal with admin privileges if installing to a protected directory

Third-Party Software

This plugin uses OBS Studio's built-in FFmpeg libraries (libavformat) for video trimming functionality. FFmpeg is licensed under the LGPL v2.1+ license.

License

GPL v2 or later. See LICENSE file for details.