OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is a popular free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming. One great feature of OBS is the ability to show live comments from your viewers on stream. This allows for more interaction between streamers and their audience.
Showing comments on OBS requires connecting your streaming software to a third-party commenting service. The most common options are YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. Once connected, comments made by viewers on those platforms will appear overlaid on your OBS scenes as they come in.
Enabling this feature is simple, but does require a few steps to get set up properly. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to make comments appear on stream using OBS Studio.
Prerequisites
Before you can get comments showing up on OBS, there are a couple requirements:
- OBS Studio installed on your streaming PC
- Active account on YouTube, Twitch, or other supported platform
- Video encoder capable of streaming (x264 or NVENC)
- Stable internet connection
As long as you meet those requirements, you should be ready to start displaying live comments.
Connect OBS Studio to Your Streaming Platform
The first step is to connect OBS Studio to the platform you want to stream to and pull comments from. This will vary slightly depending on if you use YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, or another service.
YouTube
If you want to stream and show YouTube comments, you’ll need to connect to YouTube Studio. Here is the process:
- Go to the Settings menu in OBS and click on the Stream tab
- Select YouTube / YouTube Gaming from the Service dropdown menu
- Click Connect Account and sign into YouTube
- Copy your Stream Key from YouTube Studio and paste it into OBS
- Click Apply to save the stream settings
Once connected, you can proceed to setting up the comments overlay.
Twitch
For Twitch, the steps are very similar:
- Open Settings and go to Stream
- Choose Twitch from the Service menu
- Sign in to Twitch by clicking Connect Account
- Enter your Twitch Stream Key into OBS
- Click Apply to save
After linking your Twitch account, you’ll be ready to move on.
If streaming to Facebook Live, here is how to connect OBS Studio:
- Go to Settings > Stream
- Select Facebook Live from the Service dropdown
- Click Connect Account and log into Facebook
- Copy your Facebook Stream Key
- Paste the Stream Key into OBS and click Apply
Once your Facebook account is connected, you can proceed to the next steps.
Other Platforms
The steps may slightly vary if using other streaming platforms and services beyond YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. Most will require selecting the platform in OBS, connecting your account, and entering a stream key. Consult the platform’s documentation for exact details.
Install the Comments Overlay Plugin
Now that your streaming platform is linked up, you need to install the plugin that will display comments in OBS.
The most popular option for this is the Comments Overlay plugin from OBS Project. Here’s how to install it:
- Open OBS Studio on your streaming PC
- Click on Tools > Scripts in the top menu
- Search for Comments Overlay and click Install
- Restart OBS to complete the installation
Once Comments Overlay is installed, you can move on to configuring it.
Configure the Comments Plugin
After installing Comments Overlay, you need to set it up properly for your streaming platform.
YouTube/Twitch Configuration
For YouTube or Twitch, the setup steps are nearly identical:
- In OBS, click Tools > Comments Overlay > Quick Setup
- Select either YouTube or Twitch depending on what you connected to earlier
- Log in with the account used to connect your platform
- Adjust any style settings like text size, color, etc
- Click Start to begin displaying comments
And that’s it! The overlay will now show live comments on your OBS scenes as they come in.
Facebook Configuration
If using Facebook Live, follow these steps:
- Click Tools > Comments Overlay > Quick Setup in OBS
- Choose Facebook from the Service dropdown menu
- Enter your Facebook Page ID and access token
- Customize the look and style of your comments
- Click Start to enable the overlay
You can now see live Facebook comments directly in OBS Studio.
Other Platform Tips
For other platforms, you may need to select Comments Overlay > Advanced Setup and manually enter API keys or other credentials required by that service. Refer to their documentation for details.
Positioning the Comments Overlay
Now that comments are enabled, you can position the overlay wherever you want over your gameplay or camera feeds in OBS.
Here are some tips for placing the comments:
- Put near the top or bottom edges to avoid blocking main action
- Make the text large enough to be easily readable
- Add background coloring or borders to make text stand out
- Keep essential UI elements uncovered
- Experiment with different positions to find what works best
Having comments off to the side, top, or bottom tends to work best in most cases. Always test out different positions during setup to ensure important areas are not obstructed.
Streaming with Comments
Once you have comments appearing where you want them, you are ready to start streaming! When live, viewer comments on your platform will be pulled into OBS automatically.
Here are some tips for streaming smoothly with comments enabled:
- Interact with interesting comments when possible
- Have a moderator remove inappropriate comments
- Pause the overlay if too many comments pile up
- Adjust text speed and fade time in settings
- Use a second monitor to watch comments
Streaming with an active comment feed creates great engagement with your viewers. Keeping up with comments can take practice, so consider ways to feature and manage the discussions.
Troubleshooting Overlay Issues
In some cases, you may run into issues getting comments to appear correctly in OBS Studio:
- Verify account is connected properly in OBS
- Confirm stream key or credentials are correct
- Check platform account settings are allowing OBS access
- Reinstall or update the Comments Overlay plugin
- Disable/re-enable the overlay under Tools menu
- Restart OBS after making changes to overlay config
For persistent problems getting comments to show up, searching for your specific streaming platform and Comments Overlay plugin can provide additional troubleshooting steps.
Alternative Comment Options
Besides the standard Comments Overlay plugin, there are a few other options for displaying comments with OBS:
- Streamlabs – Popular streaming toolkit with built-in comments
- PopOut Chat – Browser source pop-out for platform chats
- Chatbot – Bot emulates a comment feed in OBS
These tools each take a slightly different approach but allow capturing platform chats without relying on Comments Overlay.
Streamlabs is an especially robust choice with many features beyond just comments. The PopOut Chat browser source is a simpler DIY option. Chatbot emulates comments but requires more customization.
There are pros and cons to each alternative, so consider experimenting to see which works best for your stream.
Conclusion
Displaying live viewer comments is a great way to increase audience interaction for your OBS streams. With Comments Overlay installed and connected to your streaming platform, the setup takes just a few steps. Position the overlay thoughtfully and optimize it during streaming until you have engaging comment discussions flowing in. Following this guide, you’ll be able to show comments from YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, or any platform and take your OBS streams to the next level.