OBS scenes and sources: how to build, switch and reuse them

OBS scenes are layouts made from video and audio sources. Create a named scene for each picture you need, add sources to the selected scene, then switch layouts instead of rebuilding them. Reuse an existing source when its settings should stay shared; move or crop its scene item when only the placement should differ.

The source supplies the picture or sound. Its scene item places it in a layout. Check which other scenes use a source before changing its Properties or Filters: those edits can reach several layouts at once.

Separate the layout from the output settings

The OBS scene-and-source overview describes scenes as the place to arrange the devices and media in your output. For example, Live can hold a game and a small camera frame, while Break contains an image and a message. Those names describe jobs; OBS doesn't require that particular set.

Part	What it holds	Use it for
Source	An input, such as a camera, window, image or microphone	The content and its source settings
Scene	Arranged source items	A different composition for Live, Talk or Break
Scene Collection	Scenes, sources and Global Audio Sources	A separate set of layouts, such as gaming versus a podcast
Profile	Stream, Video and Output settings	A different streaming or recording configuration

A Scene Collection includes the Global Audio Sources from Settings > Audio, but doesn't store output settings. The settings saved in a Profile include Stream, Video and Output, including Base (Canvas) Resolution. Keep layouts you'll switch between during one session in the same collection; changing collections doesn't establish the matching output configuration for you.

Build the layouts your session needs

I'd start with Live and Break because they separate the main picture from a holding screen with fewer layouts to check. Add Starting or Ending if either needs a different composition.

1. Click + under Scenes, enter a distinct name and confirm it.
2. Select that scene before using + in Sources. New items belong in the selected scene.
3. Add the main picture first, check the preview, then add a camera or labels above it.

A Break picture doesn't mute a global microphone. The audio-source guide separates scene-specific devices from global capture. Check the Audio Mixer and mute the intended audio explicitly if the break must be silent. Capturing the same device globally and through an audio source can also produce echo, so choose one route for that device.

Add a new source in OBS 33

The English controls below follow OBS Studio 33.0.1. The source dialog creates a new source automatically before opening its Properties; older instructions that first ask you to name the source describe another flow.

1. With the destination scene selected, click + in Sources.
2. Choose the type in the list on the left. For a new image, select Image. Keep Make source visible checked if it should appear now, then click Add a new Image.
3. Choose the image file in Properties and confirm. OBS has already given the new source an available name.
4. Arrange the item in the preview. Drag it to move it and use the handles to resize it. For precise placement, open Edit > Transform > Edit Transform….

OBS draws an item higher in Sources over one below it, as the source ordering and transform instructions explain. Put the camera above the game if the camera should cover part of it. Use an item's eye icon to hide it while checking the composition.

Once the placement is right, use the item's Lock control in Sources. It locks that item's position and scale against accidental preview edits. Shared Properties and Filters still belong to the source.

Reuse a source and keep its placement separate

To put an existing camera in another layout, select the destination scene, click Sources +, and choose the camera's source type. Select the existing source by name, then click Add 1 existing when one source is selected. With nothing selected, the button reads Add existing. That adds another scene item referring to the same source.

• Move, resize or crop the scene item: only that placement changes. The camera can be small in Live and large in Talk.
• Change the source's Properties or Filters: every layout using that source receives the changed input. Changing its camera device, text, Browser URL or Crop/Pad filter is a shared edit.

Copy and Paste (Reference) reuse that source. Paste (Duplicate) can create independent settings for a duplicable source, such as a text label whose wording must differ. In OBS's source-duplication code, a source type marked not to duplicate comes back as a reference to the original, so Duplicate doesn't promise an independent camera or device.

Duplicating a whole scene also keeps references to its input sources. That suits a second arrangement of the same inputs. Their Properties and Filters stay shared.

Nest a scene when the arrangement should travel together

For an example camera-and-name block, create a scene called Camera block and arrange those sources inside it. Select Live, open Sources +, choose Scene, select Camera block and add it as an existing source. Repeat in Talk. For the Scene type, OBS hides the new-source button, so create the child scene before trying to nest it.

Editing Camera block changes that composition wherever it is included. Moving its item in Live changes the placement of the whole block there. I'd nest the scene when the camera frame and label should stay together, because one edit then reaches both layouts.

A group keeps items together inside one scene only: select them in Sources, right-click and choose Group Selected Items. Nest a scene instead when the same block has to appear in several layouts.

When tidying up, removing an item in Sources removes that placement. Deleting the child scene itself removes it from every parent scene as well, as OBS's scene-removal code shows, so export the collection before deleting a shared block.

Change a setting or replace the source type

A different capture target often belongs in the existing source's Properties. On Windows, change Window in Window Capture Properties to choose another app window. The Game Capture modes include fullscreen, specific-window and foreground-window capture; changing that mode still leaves a Game Capture source. On a Mac, macOS Screen Capture's Method selects display, window or application capture.

Capture types also differ by operating system: Game Capture is Windows-only, and Linux has its own screen and window sources. If a collection made on Windows opens on a Mac, replace each Game Capture item with macOS Screen Capture instead of rebuilding the scene.

Replacing Game Capture with Window Capture means adding the new source type:

1. Keep the working source while you add the replacement through Sources +.
2. Choose its target in Properties. Check the intended app or game picture, then set the new item's position, size and layer order.
3. Hide the old item with its eye icon while comparing the result. Check that the replacement exposes only the intended content.
4. For other scenes that need the replacement, add that new existing source and arrange each item. A change in one scene doesn't replace the old placements elsewhere.
5. Remove the old items after the replacement works in every required layout. Keep the collection export until you've checked the next recording.

Send the intended scene to Program

With Studio Mode off, selecting a scene changes the Program composition through the chosen transition. With Studio Mode on, selection prepares Preview; Transition sends it to Program. In the standard two-pane layout, Preview is left and Program is right.

Cut or Fade is enough while organizing layouts. Studio Mode doesn't isolate edits to a source shared with Program: changing that source's Properties or Filters can still alter the outgoing picture. Save those edits for the rehearsal.

1. Open Settings > Hotkeys. Under the scene's name, click the binding field for Switch to scene and press a distinct combination your foreground app doesn't need. The per-scene hotkey selects that scene using the current Studio Mode behavior.
2. Click OK to save and close Settings. Try the bindings with streaming and recording stopped.
3. In Studio Mode, assign a separate Transition hotkey as well. OBS registers Transition separately from scene selection. Check that the second action changes Program.

If the correct scene stays in Preview, check the switching action before changing encoder settings.

Rehearse Live, Break and Live again

Make a short local recording of that sequence. Play it back and check the intended capture, crop, labels and transition. Listen through Break too: the holding picture can be correct while a global microphone remains audible. The official overview recommends checking configured scenes before an important output.

Before reorganizing further, choose Scene Collection > Export…, then save the file in the Export Scene Collection dialog. The export writes JSON configuration; keep the original images and media separately. Use the setup guides when the next change concerns the canvas or output settings.