How do I recover deleted, crashed, or corrupted OBS recordings?

Overview of OBS Recording Resume

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is a free and open-source suite for recording and live streaming. To start recording your screen with the OBS platform, download and install it on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Then, you'll need to set up a quick start for screen recording.

The most commonly used video formats in OBS are FLV and MP4. If you have lost your precious recordings due to accidental deletion, unexpected crashes, or corrupted recordings, don't panic. Read on to learn three effective methods to recover your OBS recordings.

How to easily recover deleted OBS recordings

If your OBS recording files have been accidentally deleted or the storage device has been formatted, the best way to recover them is by using a professional Data Recovery Wizard. Data Recovery Wizard fully supports the recovery of lost and deleted videos in almost all video file formats, including .flv and .mp4.

Now, please download the data recovery tool and learn the OBS recovery guide.

Step 1: Run the Tool Data Recovery Wizard and select the location or device from where you lost/deleted your videos. Click on “Scan” to look for the lost videos.

Step 2: After the scan, choose "Video" from the left panel. Go to "Lost" or "All" to find your needed video. Check the found videos and click "Preview".

Step 3. Select the video files you want to recover. Click “Recover” to save them to another secure location on your computer or an external storage device.

How to recover an incomplete OBS recording?

"Hi everyone, I was recording some videos using OBS yesterday when my computer suddenly crashed. I have an incomplete 4GB recording file. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to recover it. I really need this recording. Can anyone tell me how to make this file work properly?"

When you encounter a power outage or a program/system crash, you might lose your incomplete OBS recordings. Can you recover an unfinished OBS recording? Maybe, but it depends on the output file type you're using. Due to its specific container structure, content recorded in MP4 format by OBS is unrecoverable in case of accidents.

For safety's sake, you should set your output format to .flv so that, if OBS crashes, the files will still work since the .flv container allows for files to be ended at any time. You can then convert the .flv files losslessly to .mp4 without re-encoding each frame.

How to recover corrupted OBS recording files

If your OBS recordings were completing successfully at one point but you can no longer open them, the files might be corrupted. Data recovery software probably won't help you open and view a damaged recording. Instead, you'll need to look for a specialized video repair tool.

There are some renowned file repair utilities that can ideally fix corrupted OSB recording files for you, such as Stellar Video Repair software and Yodot Video Repair tool.