Where Does OBS Studio Save Recordings by Default?
OBS Studio's default output folder for recordings on Windows, macOS and Linux, and where to change it.
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Fresh OBS Studio installs point recordings at your OS's standard video library folder. It's easy to lose track of where a recording went, especially right after a fresh install, since OBS doesn't prompt you to choose a folder up front.
The setting itself lives in Settings > Output > Recording Path, which also shows you the current value if you're not sure what's already configured on your install.
Where OBS Studio stores this, by platform
C:\Users\[Username]\Videos
Check Settings > Output > Recording Path inside OBS to confirm. This is easy to change by accident, and Simple vs Advanced output mode have separate path settings.
~/Movies
Same Settings > Output > Recording Path location inside OBS confirms the current folder.
~/Videos
Depends on your distro's XDG user-dirs configuration. If there's no Videos folder in your home directory, check Settings > Output inside OBS for the actual configured path.
Frequently asked questions
OBS says it recorded but I can't find the file. What happened?
Check Settings > Output > Recording Path first; it's easy to have changed it during setup and forgotten. If OBS crashed mid-recording, look for a .mkv file (OBS's crash-safe intermediate format) rather than the .mp4 you expected.
Why is my recording a .mkv file instead of .mp4?
OBS records to .mkv by default because it's resilient to a crash mid-recording. Use File > Remux Recordings inside OBS to convert it to .mp4 without re-encoding.
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