OBS Studio 33.0 arrives with a two-year browser engine jump and a plugin loading rework

OBS Studio 33.0 is here, led by a substantial update to the Chromium Embedded Framework that powers browser sources and docks. According to the release notes, CEF moves from version 127/6533 to 150/7871, described internally as a leap from the July 2024 release to September 2026. The developers characterize the change as entirely backend work that should be invisible to users, while asking anyone who runs into “new weirdness or problems” with browser sources to report it. The release also enables NVENC hardware encoding on ARM64 systems.

Plugin handling sees a complete overhaul: first-party plugins now live in a new folder named core, while third-party plugins get an updated installation location and folder structure. Notably, existing third-party plugins will continue to load from their legacy locations until OBS Studio 34.0, giving developers and users a transition window. Editing in the preview also gets attention, with a new visual indicator for source snapping, snapping that now works along the entire axis rather than only when sources directly touch, and an end to snapping against hidden sources. Number-entry spinboxes were likewise reworked: typing is no longer inexplicably blocked, values no longer get cut off, changes apply only after pressing Enter (which no longer closes the window), Shift+Up/Down advances multiple steps, and dragging the cursor inside the input but outside the text now behaves correctly.

The remainder of the changelog is a mix of fixes and housekeeping. OBS now checks for missing encoders when loading a profile, adds support for the newest NVIDIA Broadcast SDKs for NVIDIA audio effects and video effects, and introduces hotkeys for controlling a source's audio monitoring. Safe mode no longer starts the WebSocket Server. Several group-related bugs in studio mode are resolved, including sources glitching out in program when moved inside a group and sources inside a group unexpectedly appearing live. Window capture method naming on Windows was adjusted, full-screen game detection for game capture improved, and transparency handling for macOS screen capture refined. Simple output recording audio bitrate is now scaled by channel count, and support for Ubuntu 24.04 has been removed.