I've spent a lot of time tweaking my OBS settings to find the perfect balance. For content creators, two things are always in conflict: recording quality and file size. High quality often means massive files that are slow to edit and upload. These presets use modern encoders like HEVC and AV1 with CQP (Constant Quantization Parameter) rate control. CQP targets a consistent quality level, which is much more efficient for your disk space than a fixed bitrate (CBR/VBR).
Preset 1: Near-Flawless HEVC
This is my go-to for long-form YouTube videos. It produces a nearly lossless recording that holds up perfectly after YouTube's compression, without creating a gigabyte-per-minute file. I use HEVC because it's a huge improvement over H.264 and is fully supported by Adobe Premiere Pro, unlike AV1 (for now).
For Long-Form Content
What it is: Selects the hardware or software used to compress your video.
Recommendation: NVENC uses a dedicated chip on NVIDIA GPUs (RTX 20-series+), having minimal impact on game performance compared to x264 (CPU encoding).
What it is: Determines how the encoder allocates bitrate.
Recommendation: CQP (Constant Quantization Parameter) targets a consistent visual quality level, letting the bitrate fluctuate. It's far more space-efficient than CBR (Constant Bitrate) for recordings.
What it is: The target quality level for CQP. It's an instruction: "Make the video look this good."
Recommendation: Lower numbers mean higher quality & larger files. Higher numbers mean more compression & smaller files. 25 is a great balance for high-quality source files.
What it is: A scale from P1 (Fastest) to P7 (Slowest) that adjusts how much effort the encoder uses.
Recommendation: P7 (Slowest) offers the best quality for a given file size. If you get "Encoder Overloaded" errors, dropping to P6 or P5 is the first and most effective fix.
What it is: Optimizes the encoding process for a specific goal.
Recommendation: 'High Quality' prioritizes visual fidelity, making it the best choice for recording. 'Low Latency' is better suited for streaming.
What it is: Analyzes frames in multiple passes to better allocate bitrate.
Recommendation: 'Two Passes (Quarter Res)' is a great balance. A fast low-res pass gives the full-res second pass valuable data to improve compression, especially in high-motion scenes.
What it is: The encoder buffers future frames to make smarter compression decisions on the current frame.
Recommendation: Keep enabled. It improves quality by anticipating scene changes. Disable if you experience encoder overload.
What it is: Also called Adaptive Quantization. Spends more bits on parts of the scene the eye is drawn to and fewer on less noticeable areas.
Recommendation: Always keep enabled. It significantly improves perceived quality for the same file size.
What it is: B-frames are frames that reference both past and future frames for maximum compression efficiency.
Recommendation: 4 is the maximum and provides the best compression for NVENC. Lowering to 2 can help if you face encoder overload, but it will slightly increase file size.
Approximate File Size:
144fps Recording: ~324 MB/minute
60fps Recording: ~164 MB/minute
Preset 2: Acceptable HEVC
I use this for short-form content like YouTube Shorts. It aggressively prioritizes file size, but the quality is still more than enough for mobile viewing. It uses the same high-quality settings as the first preset, but with a higher CQP value for more compression.
For Shorts & Clips
What it is: Selects the hardware or software used to compress your video.
Recommendation: NVENC uses a dedicated chip on NVIDIA GPUs (RTX 20-series+), having minimal impact on game performance compared to x264 (CPU encoding).
What it is: Determines how the encoder allocates bitrate.
Recommendation: CQP (Constant Quantization Parameter) targets a consistent visual quality level, letting the bitrate fluctuate. It's far more space-efficient than CBR (Constant Bitrate) for recordings.
What it is: The target quality level for CQP. It's an instruction: "Make the video look this good."
Recommendation: For smaller files, a higher value like 31 works well. The quality is still great for short clips, but the file size is drastically reduced.
What it is: A scale from P1 (Fastest) to P7 (Slowest) that adjusts how much effort the encoder uses.
Recommendation: P7 (Slowest) offers the best quality for a given file size. If you get "Encoder Overloaded" errors, dropping to P6 or P5 is the first and most effective fix.
What it is: Optimizes the encoding process for a specific goal.
Recommendation: 'High Quality' prioritizes visual fidelity, making it the best choice for recording. 'Low Latency' is better suited for streaming.
What it is: Analyzes frames in multiple passes to better allocate bitrate.
Recommendation: 'Two Passes (Quarter Res)' is a great balance. A fast low-res pass gives the full-res second pass valuable data to improve compression, especially in high-motion scenes.
What it is: The encoder buffers future frames to make smarter compression decisions on the current frame.
Recommendation: Keep enabled. It improves quality by anticipating scene changes. Disable if you experience encoder overload.
What it is: Also called Adaptive Quantization. Spends more bits on parts of the scene the eye is drawn to and fewer on less noticeable areas.
Recommendation: Always keep enabled. It significantly improves perceived quality for the same file size.
What it is: B-frames are frames that reference both past and future frames for maximum compression efficiency.
Recommendation: 4 is the maximum and provides the best compression for NVENC. Lowering to 2 can help if you face encoder overload, but it will slightly increase file size.
Approximate File Size:
144fps Recording: ~101 MB/minute
60fps Recording: ~58 MB/minute
Preset 3: Near-Flawless AV1
This is the future. I use this preset for recording any clips that I don't need to edit, like sending gameplay to friends on Discord. AV1 is an incredibly powerful codec. Don't be fooled by the high CQP value of 32; AV1 is so efficient that it looks as good as the HEVC preset at CQP 25, but with a drastically smaller file size.
For Non-Edited Sharing
What it is: Selects the hardware or software used to compress your video.
Recommendation: NVENC AV1 is the next-gen encoder on RTX 40-series GPUs. It's ~30% more efficient than HEVC, meaning even smaller files at the same quality.
What it is: Determines how the encoder allocates bitrate.
Recommendation: CQP (Constant Quantization Parameter) targets a consistent visual quality level, letting the bitrate fluctuate. It's far more space-efficient than CBR (Constant Bitrate) for recordings.
What it is: The target quality level for CQP. It's an instruction: "Make the video look this good."
Recommendation: Because AV1 is more efficient, you can use a higher CQ Level. A value of 32 in AV1 looks comparable to 25 in HEVC but results in a much smaller file.
What it is: A scale from P1 (Fastest) to P7 (Slowest) that adjusts how much effort the encoder uses.
Recommendation: P7 (Slowest) offers the best quality for a given file size. If you get "Encoder Overloaded" errors, dropping to P6 or P5 is the first and most effective fix.
What it is: Optimizes the encoding process for a specific goal.
Recommendation: 'High Quality' prioritizes visual fidelity, making it the best choice for recording. 'Low Latency' is better suited for streaming.
What it is: Analyzes frames in multiple passes to better allocate bitrate.
Recommendation: 'Two Passes (Quarter Res)' is a great balance. A fast low-res pass gives the full-res second pass valuable data to improve compression, especially in high-motion scenes.
What it is: The encoder buffers future frames to make smarter compression decisions on the current frame.
Recommendation: Keep enabled. It improves quality by anticipating scene changes. Disable if you experience encoder overload.
What it is: Also called Adaptive Quantization. Spends more bits on parts of the scene the eye is drawn to and fewer on less noticeable areas.
Recommendation: Always keep enabled. It significantly improves perceived quality for the same file size.
What it is: B-frames are frames that reference both past and future frames for maximum compression efficiency.
Recommendation: 4 is the maximum and provides the best compression for NVENC. Lowering to 2 can help if you face encoder overload, but it will slightly increase file size.
Approximate File Size:
144fps Recording: ~87 MB/minute
60fps Recording: ~55 MB/minute
Seeing is Believing
Words and settings can only say so much. I've compiled a Google Drive folder with sample recordings using these exact presets so you can see the quality and file sizes for yourself.
View Video TestsTroubleshooting: Encoder Overload
If OBS displays an "Encoding overloaded!" message, it means your GPU can't keep up. Try these steps in order:
- Lower the Preset: Change the
PresetfromP7: Slowestdown toP6orP5. This provides the biggest performance boost with the smallest quality loss. - Reduce B-frames: Lower
Max B-framesfrom4to2. - Disable Look-ahead: Uncheck the
Look-aheadoption to free up GPU resources. - Change Multipass Mode: Set
Multipass ModetoSingle Pass. - Increase CQ Level: As a last resort, increase the
CQ Levelby 1 or 2 (e.g., from 25 to 27). This directly reduces quality but significantly lessens the load on your GPU.
A Quick Story: The 4TB Mistake
Before I discovered the magic of CQP, my OBS settings were... inefficient, to say the least. I used the standard H.264 encoder with CBR (Constant Bitrate) cranked up to an absurd level, thinking "more bitrate is always better." This resulted in recordings that were around 600+ MB per minute.
I have a 1TB SSD dedicated entirely to storing my raw gameplay footage. Because I record content almost every day, I had to completely wipe that 1TB drive four separate times in a single year. That's 4TB of data I had to manage and delete, just to make room for more.
That's the real-world problem these presets solve. They save you from the headache of constantly managing disk space, letting you focus on creating content instead of deleting it. Learn from my mistakes!