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How to Find OBS Crash Logs After a 24/7 YouTube Stream Stops

Use OBS’s log menu or local folders to retrieve the session log and separate crash report that match the time your YouTube stream stopped.
Length4 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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In OBS, open Help > Log Files > Upload Last Log File to share the previous session’s regular log, or choose Upload Current Log File for the session that is still open. If OBS has closed or will not launch, find the session log in OBS’s local logs folder. Crash reports are separate files in the crashes folder. Match both artifacts to the time the stream stopped; a stopped YouTube broadcast does not by itself mean OBS crashed.

Find the OBS files for the affected session

OBS creates a regular log for each run. A crash report is a different artifact, kept separately. The paths below are the standard locations documented in OBS support guidance; custom or portable installations may use a different data location.

Operating system Regular session logs Crash reports
Windows %APPDATA%obs-studiologs %APPDATA%obs-studiocrashes
Linux ~/.config/obs-studio/logs ~/.config/obs-studio/crashes
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/logs ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/crashes

On Windows, %APPDATA% is an environment-variable path; enter it in File Explorer’s address bar to open the roaming application-data location. OBS support guidance gives this location for users unable to retrieve a log in the program. Linux and macOS paths, along with crash-folder locations, are documented in OBS community support discussions. (OBS log guidance; OBS crash-report guidance)

Upload the right log or retrieve it manually

  1. Note the incident time. Record approximately when the YouTube broadcast stopped and whether OBS remained open, displayed an error, or closed unexpectedly.
  2. If OBS is still open, upload its current log. Select Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File. This is the log for the active OBS run.
  3. If OBS has closed, try the last-log upload. Reopen OBS and choose Help > Log Files > Upload Last Log File, but use the result only if it belongs to the run when the stream stopped. If you have started a later session, its log is not a substitute for the incident log.
  4. If the menu route is unavailable, open the logs folder. Use the operating-system path above and select the file whose timestamp corresponds to the affected OBS session. Do not choose a later test run simply because it is the newest file.
  5. Check the crashes folder separately. Look for a crash report created at about the same time. Keep it distinct from the regular log; they are not interchangeable.
  6. Preserve and label both files. If you ask for help, share the uploaded log URL and crash report as separate items, and include your OBS version, operating system, and approximate stop time. OBS support guidance asks users to include a relevant log with support requests. (OBS log guidance)

For a future reproduction, OBS’s support instructions recommend starting the stream, letting the problem occur, stopping the stream, and uploading that session’s current log. For a past incident, retrieve the saved log that matches the incident instead of generating an unrelated one.

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What the log and crash report can tell you

  • The regular log describes an OBS run. It can show what OBS recorded during that session; it is not itself a YouTube termination record.
  • A crash report is separate evidence. It may help when OBS crashed, but a report may not exist if OBS did not crash. A missing report is not proof that the broadcast ended normally.
  • Session matching matters. A log from another run may have limited relevance to the time the stream stopped. Preserve matching files promptly: the available OBS sources do not specify log-retention duration or guarantee that older files will remain recoverable after later sessions.
  • OBS artifacts may not explain a platform-side stop. The fact that a YouTube stream ended does not establish that OBS crashed. If the matching OBS files do not explain what happened, investigate the platform-side broadcast information separately; these OBS sources do not establish YouTube’s cause or termination records.

If OBS will not start

First retrieve existing files directly from the logs and crashes folders. OBS’s launch-parameter guide documents two options for troubleshooting startup, but neither is described as a way to recover a missing prior-session log:

  • --verbose makes logs more verbose.
  • --safe-mode forces startup while disabling third-party plugins, scripts, and websockets.

These options can help investigate startup problems; they do not prove the cause of the earlier stream stop. See the OBS Launch Parameters guide.

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