There is no special India-only OBS Media Source preset for YouTube gaming. Use Media Source for local video or audio clips in a scene; use Game Capture for the game itself, and configure YouTube’s encoder output separately according to your resolution, frame rate, and measured upload capacity.
What OBS Media Source does in a gaming stream
OBS Media Source adds a local video or audio file to a scene. It is useful for an intro, intermission clip, or other prerecorded element—not for capturing gameplay or setting the stream’s bitrate. Add the game with a suitable game-capture source, then add Media Source only for the file you want played in that scene. OBS lists video formats including MP4, TS, MOV, FLV, MKV, AVI, GIF, and WebM, and audio formats including MP3, AAC, OGG, and WAV. See the OBS Media Sources guide.
Choose Media Source playback settings
In OBS, select the scene, click Sources → + → Media Source, and choose or create a source. Enable Local File and select the media file. The following controls determine what happens as the clip plays and as its source is shown or hidden:
- Loop: Off by default. Leave it off for a one-time intro; enable it for a clip that should repeat after it finishes.
- Restart playback when source becomes active: On by default. When the source becomes visible in the current scene, playback starts from the beginning. This suits an intro that should restart each time that scene is activated; turn it off if you do not want that behavior.
- Use hardware decoding when available: Off by default. Enable it to let OBS use an available GPU hardware decoder for supported media formats.
- Show nothing when playback ends: On by default. Keep it enabled when a clip or overlay should disappear at the end rather than hold its final frame.
- Close file when inactive: Off by default. Enabling it unloads the file when the source is hidden or off-scene, freeing memory, but it may take time to reload when shown again.
These playback choices do not change YouTube’s encoder output, live archive, or DVR behavior.
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Set YouTube encoder output for your connection
OBS’s output settings govern the encoded stream sent to YouTube; Media Source settings do not. For RTMP/RTMPS, YouTube lists H.264, H.265/HEVC, and AV1 video codecs, recommends CBR, supports frame rates up to 60 fps, and recommends a 2-second keyframe interval that does not exceed 4 seconds. The appropriate bitrate depends on codec, resolution, and frame rate. The figures below are YouTube’s H.264 recommendations, not a guarantee that a particular connection can sustain them.
| Target output | YouTube-recommended H.264 bitrate |
|---|---|
| 1080p at 60 fps | 17 Mbps |
| 1080p at 30 fps | 14 Mbps |
| 720p at 60 fps | 8 Mbps |
| 720p at 30 fps | 6 Mbps |
For the full codec- and resolution-specific recommendations, consult YouTube’s live encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions. Match the profile to the output you actually intend to stream rather than selecting a higher resolution or frame rate than your connection can reliably carry.
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Check upload capacity and test before going live
- Run an upload-speed test on the same internet connection you plan to use for the broadcast.
- Allow about 20% of measured upload bandwidth to remain unused as headroom, and account for other people or devices using the connection. YouTube’s guidance is that the total stream bitrate cannot exceed available upload bandwidth; see Streaming tips.
- Choose a resolution, frame rate, and bitrate that fit within the stable capacity left after that headroom. A speed-test peak alone does not prove that the connection will remain stable during a long stream.
- Run an unlisted test. Check gameplay motion, audio, and YouTube’s stream-health indicators in Live Control Room before relying on the settings for a public session.
Keep the gaming stream available as a VOD
YouTube says live streams shorter than 12 hours can be automatically archived. Streams exceeding 12 hours may not be captured at all, so an automatic archive should not be treated as a guaranteed backup for a long session. YouTube recommends recording a local archive as a backup; its archive guidance explains the limitation.
For a session where a complete VOD matters, enable local recording in OBS and verify that the recording file is being created and growing during setup. Keep the local copy after the broadcast so you have a recovery option if YouTube’s archive is incomplete or unavailable.
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DVR and latency are separate from Media Source
YouTube DVR lets viewers pause, rewind, and resume a live stream when the feature is available. It is a YouTube Live Control Room setting, not an OBS Media Source control. Rewind can be limited or unavailable on streams longer than 12 hours, and viewers cannot seek to a point before the stream began. See YouTube’s DVR guidance and live stream settings.
Latency is the delay between capture and viewer playback. Lower latency can make chat interaction feel more immediate, but may increase buffering. Choose a latency mode in YouTube’s stream settings based on whether immediate interaction or a steadier viewing buffer matters more, then test it on the connection and setup you will use. This is independent of Media Source playback behavior.
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India-specific settings: what to use
The official guidance cited here does not prescribe different OBS Media Source defaults or a special YouTube gaming bitrate for India. Use the documented OBS controls and select the encoder profile based on your own stable upload capacity, with headroom. A viewer’s or creator’s location alone does not establish the best resolution or bitrate.
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