Video Feedback Effect Troubleshooting

If you see OBS Studio repeating like a tunnel in your scene preview, as in the above screenshot, you are seeing an example of the Video Feedback Effect.

This happens because you have set OBS Studio to capture a particular display which happens to be the same one that OBS Studio is on it. It's as though you're pointing a video camera at a TV that's showing what's on the video camera, appearing to go on for infinity.

There are multiple options available to remedy this effect.

Minimize OBS Studio

The simplest option is to simply minimize OBS Studio to the taskbar/tray or Dock/menu bar. While OBS Studio is not visible, it will not be captured. However, if you bring it up again, it will be captured until you minimize it again.

Hide OBS Studio from screen capture

On Windows and macOS (13 Ventura and higher only), you can exclude OBS Studio windows from screen capture.

Windows: go to OBS Studio → Settings → General, and check "Hide OBS windows from screen capture".
When this option is enabled, you will be unable to take screenshots of OBS Studio; disable this option when taking screenshots, then re-enable it.

macOS: using a macOS Screen Capture source, set the capture mode to Display Capture, then check "Hide OBS from capture"

Windows	macOS 13 and later

Use a different kind of capture

Display Capture is not the only way to capture your desktop. You can also use these other sources for more refined control over your scene setup.

Capture hardware-accelerated Windows games with high performance.	Change the mode to Window Capture to capture a single window or use Application Capture for all of the windows belonging to an application.	Capture a single window on Windows, Linux, and macOS 12.6 and prior.

Use a secondary display

The ideal way to use OBS Studio is to connect a secondary display, such as a monitor or television connected to your computer. You can move OBS Studio to the secondary display so that it doesn't get captured whilst you capture your main display (or vice-versa!).

Dummy displays

If you don't have a secondary display available or it isn't practical to add one to your setup, you can also use a smartphone, tablet, or another computer (such as a spare laptop) using these "dummy display" programs.