OBS Studio 33.0.0 released: Chromium 150 browser sources, new plugin folders, Ubuntu 24.04 dropped

OBS Studio 33.0.0, the free and open-source recording and streaming app, was published on GitHub on 23 October with a new Chromium engine for browser sources, a rebuilt plugin folder layout, and the end of support for Ubuntu 24.04, FFmpeg 6.x and 7.x, and Qt 6.4 through 6.9. Most streamers will just update. Anyone who depends on third-party plugins, browser-source overlays or their own builds has a little checking to do first, because plugins in the old locations only keep loading until OBS Studio 34.0.

Key points

• OBS Studio 33.0.0 was released on 23 October 2026 (the GitHub release page shows "23 Oct" with no year; the project's own 32.2 post is dated 21 July 2026).
• The Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) behind browser sources and docks moves from 127 (build 6533) to 150 (build 7871).
• First-party plugins now live in a new core folder and third-party plugins get a new install location and folder structure; plugins in legacy locations keep loading until OBS Studio 34.0.
• Ubuntu 24.04, FFmpeg 6.x and 7.x, and Qt 6.4 through 6.9 are no longer supported; official Ubuntu packages target Ubuntu 26.04.
• NVENC hardware encoding now works on Arm64, and a macOS startup crash on macOS 27.2 is fixed.

What to do

• Streamers and recorders on Windows or macOS: download 33.0.0 from the OBS Studio download page or the GitHub release. The release lists a Windows x64 installer and zip, Windows arm64 zip, and separate macOS Apple Silicon and Intel disk images. Back up your profile and scene collection first (the profile and scene-collection menus can export them), so you can go back if something misbehaves.
• Browser sources and docks: after updating, open every scene that uses a browser source (alerts, chat overlays, widgets) and check it renders. The OBS team says the CEF change is backend-only and asks users to report problems with browser sources or docks.
• Plugin users: note which plugins you use and check whether their authors have published builds for the new folder structure. Plugins in legacy locations still load in 33, but not in 34.0, so this is the release to sort it out.
• Linux users on Ubuntu 24.04: the release drops support for it. The packages in the release are built for Ubuntu 26.04, so stay on your current OBS version, move to 26.04, or use another package format your distribution supports.
• Not sure what changed for you? If OBS starts oddly after the update, Safe Mode now skips third-party plugins entirely and no longer starts the WebSocket server, which makes it a quick way to find out whether a plugin or your setup is the cause.

What happened

The tag 33.0.0 appeared on GitHub on 23 October at 22:20 (the page gives no time zone), created by the project's release automation. Its notes list five headline features, ten further changes and fourteen bug fixes, plus a section for people who build plugins or compile OBS themselves.

The changes users will notice most:

• A much newer browser engine. CEF, the library that renders browser sources and web docks, goes from version 127/6533 to 150/7871. The notes put this at a move from a July 2024 codebase to a September 2026 one, which is a long jump to take in one release. The change is described as a backend upgrade, and the authors say they are watching for regressions.
• A rebuilt plugin loader (#13594). First-party plugins move into a new core folder, while third-party plugins use a new installation location and folder structure. Anything installed the old way continues to load until OBS Studio 34.0. The Linuxiac report from the beta period says the same.
• Better source snapping (#12298). The preview now shows a visual indicator when a source snaps, snaps along an entire axis rather than only on contact, and ignores hidden sources.
• Number fields that behave (#12337). Typing is no longer blocked in some cases, values are no longer cut off, and a value is applied only when you press Enter, which no longer closes the window. Shift with the arrow keys moves several steps at once.
• NVENC on Arm64 (#13827). NVIDIA's hardware encoder is now available on Arm64 builds.

The smaller changes include a check for missing encoders when a profile loads (#11340), support for the newest NVIDIA Broadcast SDKs for audio and video effects (#13838), hotkeys to control audio monitoring of a source (#13599), better fullscreen detection for Game Capture (#10880), improved transparency handling for macOS Screen Capture (#13030), and a Simple output recording audio bitrate that now scales with the number of channels (#13311). Window Capture methods on Windows were renamed (#12047).

Fixes include a startup crash on macOS 27.2 (#14070), a potential crash on Linux when a USB microphone is unplugged (#13922), an AMF B-frame offset problem that could disconnect streams (#13762), duplicated PipeWire screencast sources in Studio Mode (#13673), glitching of grouped sources in Studio Mode (#11092), and profile import failing on paths with a trailing slash (#13863).

Background

OBS Studio is free and open source and relies on third-party plugins for things the core does not do, so a change to where plugins live matters to many setups. The project's blog shows 32.2 on 21 July 2026, centred on a reworked process for adding sources with a window of preview thumbnails, and says the initial Plugin Manager arrived in 32.0 and an experimental Metal renderer for macOS was introduced there too. Version 33 builds on that direction by giving plugins a defined home.

Beta and release-candidate builds of 33 circulated before the final release. Linuxiac covered beta 4 on 26 September, and the plugin and CEF changes it described match the final notes. We have not independently confirmed the dates of the release candidates, since sources we read disagree on how many there were.

How the release is shaped

Counting the items in the release notes gives a rough picture of where the work went. Bug fixes outnumber new features nearly three to one, which suits a release whose headline change, a Chromium upgrade, is meant to be invisible.

Bug fixes14

Changes10

New features5

Items listed in the OBS Studio 33.0.0 release notes (items)

	items
Bug fixes	14
Changes	10
New features	5

Source: OBS Studio 33.0.0 release notes on GitHub

For plugin authors and people who compile OBS the picture is stricter. The notes record these requirements:

• libnsgif is updated to 1.0.0 (#11178), which breaks plugins that use gs_image_file in libobs/graphics.
• The source monitoring_type APIs are deprecated and replaced by a monitoring_enabled boolean (#13599).
• Windows builds now use Visual Studio 2026 and SDK 26100 (#13543), and clang-format is 22.1.3 (#13549). Older versions may still work but are no longer tested or supported.
• MbedTLS version 3 is required, and version 4 or later is excluded (#13799).
• Safe Mode loads no third-party plugins; first-party plugins can check for it with obs_frontend_is_safe_mode.
• New API: a frontend event and output signal for replay-buffer saving (#8955), obs_canvas_video_active() (#13110), a file extension filter for OBS_PATH_FILE_SAVE (#10190), and versions for the Flatpak plugin extension point (#13735).

What it means

For most users, 33 is a routine update with one invisible, important change under the hood. A browser engine that is more than two years newer than the old one should bring current web-platform behaviour and security fixes to overlays and docks, though the notes do not spell that out and we are drawing the inference ourselves. The cost is a small chance that an old overlay renders differently, which is why a quick check of your scenes is worth the two minutes.

For plugin authors the message is a deadline. Legacy locations work in 33 and stop working in 34.0, and the new layout is documented by the pull request rather than a long migration guide in the notes we read. Authors who ship an installer should update it now; users who rely on abandoned plugins may find that those plugins do not appear in 34.

For Linux users the support cuts are the main story. Dropping Ubuntu 24.04, FFmpeg 6.x/7.x and Qt 6.4 through 6.9 means that distributions shipping those libraries will need either their own backports or a newer base. The Flatpak and distribution packages have their own timelines, and we did not check them.

For hardware, Arm64 NVENC support suggests a growing number of Arm Windows machines with NVIDIA graphics being treated as a real target. The release does not say which machines or driver versions it was tested on.

What we don't know yet

• System requirements and known issues. The release page we read lists neither, so we cannot say which GPUs, drivers or Windows versions have trouble.
• The exact new plugin paths. The notes name the core folder and a "new installation location and folder structure" but we have not confirmed the paths themselves; check the project's documentation or the pull request (#13594).
• How many browser sources break. The OBS team expects few user-visible changes and asks for reports. Community reports will show over the coming days whether that holds.
• When OBS Studio 34.0 will land. No date is given for 34.0, so the legacy-plugin deadline has no calendar date yet.
• Release-candidate dates. Sources disagree about how many pre-releases there were and when they shipped.

What to watch next

Watch the OBS Studio GitHub issues for browser-source and docks regressions, a likely 33.0.x patch release if any turn up, plugin authors announcing builds for the new folder structure, and the first notes about OBS Studio 34.0, which will end legacy plugin loading. Distribution maintainers on Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch will also need to decide how to handle the dropped library versions.

Sources

• OBS Studio 33.0.0 release notes (GitHub, primary source)
• OBS Studio 33 Nears Release: Here's What to Expect (Linuxiac)
• OBS Project blog, with the 32.2 release post