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In OBS, add an Image Slide Show source to rotate album covers on a timer or advance them manually. That does not automatically match each image to the song currently playing: exact track-to-cover matching needs a separate mechanism that detects track changes and updates the displayed image.
Choose timed rotation, manual changes, or track synchronization
First decide whether covers need to match the music precisely. OBS’s built-in slideshow cycles through a set of images; its documented settings do not identify the current song or select that song’s embedded album art. A timer can therefore show the wrong cover for a track.
| Method | How it works | Operator involvement | Does it follow track boundaries? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic timed slideshow | Cycles through image files at a configured interval. | Low after setup. | No. Timing is independent of the playlist. |
| Manual or hotkey advancement | An operator advances the image when the music changes. | Someone must follow the playlist and change the slide. | It can, if the operator advances the cover at each track change. |
| Metadata-aware image updates | A separate mechanism detects the playing track and updates the image source. | Potentially unattended, depending on the implementation. | This is the required approach for hands-off exact matching. The OBS documentation cited here does not establish a specific implementation. |
Set up a rotating album-art slideshow in OBS
- Add the source. In the scene where your music stream is composed, add an Image Slide Show source and load the album-art files or select a directory of images. OBS documents support for BMP, TGA, PNG, JPEG/JPG, and GIF files. See the OBS image sources guide.
- Choose how slides advance. Select automatic operation for timed rotation, or manual/hotkey operation if a person will advance covers at track changes. For manual operation, arrange the art in the same order as the playlist and keep the operator’s place in that order.
- Set the interval and transition. Choose how long each image stays on screen and how quickly it transitions. OBS lists 8,000 ms as the default interval and 700 ms as the default transition speed; these are defaults, not recommendations for every stream. Match the interval to your intended visual pacing.
- Set looping and randomization deliberately. Enable looping if the art set should cycle again after its last image. Leave randomization off when the covers must remain in playlist order; randomization makes it harder to keep a manual slideshow aligned with a known track sequence.
- Check the composition. Preview the scene and confirm covers are legible and do not obscure any other on-screen information. Play through enough of the playlist to check the slide order and transitions.
Keep a playlist and its covers aligned
For manual advancement, treat the playlist and image sequence as a pair: use a consistent order, begin both at the same item, and advance the image at each track boundary. This can work for a stream attended by an operator, but it relies on someone keeping the two sequences in sync.
OBS’s VLC Video source can play a media playlist, loop it, and optionally shuffle it. The cited documentation does not say that the current playlist item is connected to an Image Slide Show item. A playlist in OBS alone therefore does not establish automatic album-art matching.
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If the stream must be unattended and every cover must correspond to the current track, use a separate metadata-aware mechanism that detects track changes and updates an image or visual source. The documentation cited here does not verify a particular plugin or recipe, so test any implementation you choose with the full playlist before relying on it live.
Configure and test the YouTube stream separately
The artwork source controls what OBS displays; YouTube’s ingestion requirements govern how the encoded video and audio reach the platform. Follow YouTube’s current live encoder settings, bitrate, and resolution guidance for the encoder and output you use. YouTube recommends: “Make sure to test before you start your live stream.” Test with audio and visual movement similar to the planned broadcast, then monitor stream health while it is live.
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YouTube also supports HLS ingestion, but it requires an HLS-capable encoder and specific playlist, segment, and transport configuration. YouTube notes that HLS has higher latency than RTMP because it sends video segments rather than a continuous stream. HLS is an ingestion option, not a solution for matching album art to tracks; see YouTube’s HLS setup guidance.
YouTube’s Live Streaming API describes both reusing a live stream for recurring broadcasts and a 24/7 broadcast continuing without stopping the video feed. That concerns broadcast operation; it does not control OBS scenes or synchronize the image source with the current song. See Understanding broadcasts and streams.
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Troubleshoot common album-art problems
- The cover changes midway through a song. The slideshow is advancing on its timer rather than following track boundaries. Use manual advancement for an attended stream, or a separately tested metadata-aware mechanism for exact unattended matching.
- The cover does not change when the song changes. A timer may be longer than the track, or manual mode may require an operator action. Check the slideshow’s advance mode and interval; a playlist source does not by itself connect its current track to the slideshow.
- Covers appear out of playlist order. Check whether randomization is enabled and whether the image sequence matches the audio playlist. Disable randomization if maintaining a fixed sequence matters.
- The stream is unstable or the picture behaves differently live than in preview. Test the actual audio and visual behavior before going live, follow YouTube’s encoder guidance, and monitor stream health during the broadcast.
- You are considering HLS to fix a cover mismatch. HLS changes the ingestion method and has higher latency than RTMP according to YouTube; it does not make the slideshow track-aware.
Or let it run in the cloud
For a YouTube stream built from uploaded recordings or playlists, StreamNeo keeps the channel live from the cloud, so nothing has to stay on at home. Upload the recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key, and go live. It does not go live from a camera, and a rotating cover in a recording or playlist still needs to be prepared as part of that content or managed by a separate track-aware setup.
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