To record your desktop in OBS Studio:
Open OBS Studio
In the Sources panel, click + → Screen Capture (or Display Capture on older versions)
Choose your display and click OK
Click Start Recording
If you don't see Screen Capture, try + → Window Capture or + → Game Capture depending on what you need.
To record audio too, add an Audio Output Capture source for system sounds.
▣ Build · Big Pickle · 5.4s
needs to work on wyland
+ Thought: 389ms
Exa Web Search "OBS Studio record desktop Wayland 2026"
- Thought: 526ms
The user wants to know how to make OBS Studio work on Wayland. Let me check what desktop environment and distro they're using.
Here's how to get OBS Studio recording your desktop on Wayland:
1. Install Required Packages
# Install PipeWire and XDG portal
sudo apt install pipewire xdg-desktop-portal
# Install the portal backend for your desktop:
# GNOME:
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
# KDE:
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-kde
# Sway/Hyprland:
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
2. Verify PipeWire is Running
systemctl --user status pipewire
3. Force OBS to Use Wayland
OBS may default to X11. Launch it with:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
obs
To make this permanent, add to ~/.bash_profile:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
4. Add Screen Capture Source
In OBS:
Click + under Sources
Select Screen Capture (PipeWire) (not XSHM)
Approve the portal dialog that appears
Click Share
If "Screen Capture (PipeWire)" doesn't appear, OBS was built without PipeWire support. Use the Flatpak instead:
flatpak install flathub com.obsproject.Studio
flatpak run com.obsproject.Studio
Troubleshooting
Black screen? Restart the portal: systemctl --user restart xdg-desktop-portal
Check your session type: echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE (should output wayland)
Reinstall portal packages and restart OBS
▣ Build · Big Pickle · 10.6s