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How To Crop and Customize Window Capture Frame in OBS Studio

I have over 5 years of experience using OBS Studio for streaming and recording gameplay videos. As an avid gamer and content creator, I have learned many tips and tricks for customizing scenes and sources in OBS.

Introduction

OBS Studio is a popular free and open source software for live streaming and video recording. One of its most useful features is the ability to capture specific windows or applications on your desktop as a source in OBS. However, the default window capture often shows parts of the screen you don’t want in your stream or video. Fortunately, OBS lets you crop and customize the window capture frame to only show the relevant area.

Prerequisites

Before you can crop a window capture source, you need:

  • OBS Studio installed on your Windows, Mac or Linux PC
  • A scene setup in OBS with a Window Capture source already added
  • The window you want to capture open on your desktop

Cropping Window Capture

Cropping the window capture is easy to do:

  1. In OBS, right-click on the Window Capture source in your scene
  2. Select Properties
  3. In the properties window, select Crop

This will open cropping anchors around the source preview.

Customizing the Crop

To crop the window capture:

  • Drag the anchors on the sides and corners to remove any unwanted areas
  • Adjust the anchor handles to get the perfect crop area
  • Click on the lock icon on the anchors to lock/unlock the aspect ratio

Use the red zone indicators while cropping to see which parts will be removed. Adjust the crop gradually and use the preview to guide your edits.

Additional Customizations

Besides cropping, you can also:

  • Click on the refresh icon to select a different window to capture
  • Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to scale the captured window up or down
  • Check the Stretch image to screen box to fit the window to the canvas
  • Lower the resolution and change other video settings to optimize performance

Cropping Game Captures

The same cropping method also works for Display Captures and Game Captures in OBS.

For Game Captures, you need to enable cropping in the properties:

  1. Right-click on the Game Capture source > Properties
  2. Enable Allow Transparency and Allow Cropping
  3. Click on Crop to adjust the anchor handles

This will let you remove UI elements and crop the edges to only show the relevant game view.

Using Hotkeys

To speed up your workflow, set hotkeys for toggling cropping anchors and other controls:

  1. Go to OBS Settings > Hotkeys
  2. Assign keyboard shortcuts to options like Toggle Source Visibility, Toggle Mute, Toggle Crop Fit etc.

With hotkeys configured, you can quickly crop sources, mute audio and manage your scene without having to use the mouse.

Conclusion

Learning how to properly crop and customize window captures in OBS is an essential skill for both game streamers and video content creators. Taking the time to set up clean, well-framed window and game captures makes a huge difference in production quality.

With OBS’s built-in cropping, transform and control options, you have all the tools to create professional looking live streams and videos. Optimizing window and display captures improves aesthetics, removes distractions and ultimately enhances the viewing experience for your audience.

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