How to Add a Webcam to OBS

How to Add a Webcam to OBS

A great screen recording is only half of the equation. If you are recording a software tutorial, a Let’s Play, or a sales presentation, viewers want to see the person behind the voice. Adding a facecam builds trust, retains attention, and makes your content feel significantly more personal.

OBS Studio allows you to add virtually any camera to your broadcast, but unlike simple web-based recorders that just put a circle in the corner automatically, OBS treats your webcam as a raw video layer. You have to add it, resize it, and crop it manually.

Here is the exact step-by-step guide to adding and formatting your webcam in OBS Studio.

Step 1: Add the Webcam as a Source

Before you start, ensure your webcam is plugged into your computer and not currently being used by another application like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

1. Click the Plus Button: Locate the Sources dock. Open OBS Studio and select the Scene where you want your face to appear. Look at the Sources dock at the bottom of the screen and click the + (Plus) icon.

2. Add a Video Capture Device: Select the camera input. From the pop-up menu, select Video Capture Device.

3. Name the Layer: Keep your layers organized. A new window will appear asking you to create or select a source. Type a recognizable name into the "Create New" box (e.g., "Main Webcam" or "Logitech Brio") and click OK.

4. Select Your Device: Activate the camera feed. The Properties window will open. Click the Device drop-down menu at the top and select your specific webcam from the list. You should immediately see a preview of your face. Click OK at the bottom to finalize.

Step 2: Resize and Crop Your Facecam

By default, OBS drops your webcam onto the canvas at its full resolution. If you have a 1080p webcam and a 1080p canvas, your face will completely cover the screen. You need to shrink it and push it to the corner.

1. To Resize: Click on your webcam feed in the preview window. You will see a red border with small squares (handles) in the corners. Click and drag any of the corner handles inward to shrink the webcam. Then, click the center of the video and drag it to your preferred corner.
2. To Crop (Remove Dead Space): Most webcams shoot in a wide 16:9 aspect ratio, capturing a lot of unnecessary background space on the left and right of your face. To crop the edges, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) on your keyboard, then click and drag the side handles inward. The border will turn green, indicating the image has been cropped.

Skip the Manual Compositing: Meet Cubix Capture

OBS Studio gives you total freedom to build complex scenes, layer multiple cameras, and apply advanced chroma key (green screen) filters. But that freedom comes at the cost of speed. Every time you want to record a quick demo, you have to worry about cropping your camera, ensuring it isn't blocking important UI elements, and checking if your lighting looks right in a harsh, square box.

If you are a founder, sales rep, or educator who just wants to record a polished, professional video without acting as a technical director, Cubix Capture offers a completely frictionless alternative.

While previous guides highlighted Cubix Capture’s automated zooming and SSL security, its approach to the "Presenter Bubble" fundamentally changes how you record yourself:

• Zero-Config Presenter Bubble: You do not need to add sources, hold down the Alt key to crop, or manually drag a red bounding box. Cubix Capture natively supports a beautifully stylized, perfectly circular presenter bubble out of the box.
• Intelligent UI Evasion: In OBS, your square webcam statically blocks whatever is behind it. With Cubix Capture, your presenter bubble integrates cleanly into the presentation, and because the software utilizes cinematic auto-zooms, the camera dynamically moves around your screen to ensure your facecam never obscures the exact dropdown menu or button you are trying to highlight.
• Cross-Platform Consistency: Building complex webcam scenes in OBS can be notoriously finicky if you switch between operating systems. Cubix Capture delivers the exact same gorgeous facecam integration natively on both Windows 10/11 and macOS.
• Unified Post-Production: Instead of dealing with raw webcam layers on an OBS canvas, Cubix Capture manages your screen and your facecam simultaneously. It automatically applies its Magic Trim (filler word removal) and auto-transcription to your combined video, instantly hosting the final product in a secure cloud library.

If you are a live streamer who needs to run your webcam through heavy filters, use the OBS Video Capture Device steps above. But if you want to record a software demo with a beautiful, automated presenter bubble that never blocks your workflow, Cubix Capture handles the entire presentation layer for you seamlessly.