Fix Encoding overloaded issue in OBS Studio

Are you experiencing the “Encoding overloaded” issue while trying to stream or record videos with OBS Studio? OBS which stands for Open Broadcaster Software is one of the most popular free and open-source live streaming and game and video recording software. A lot of OBS users have complained about facing the Encoding overloaded issue while streaming. When occurred, you will get the following error message:

Encoding overloaded! Consider turning down video settings or using a faster encoding preset.

If you are wondering why are you getting this error message, the answer is due to a CPU bottleneck. The high CPU usage of OBS Studio that your system is unable to handle is the primary reason for this error message. Now, OBS Studio having a high CPU usage is primarily caused because of higher output video settings.

Here are some of the reasons for the “Encoding overloaded” issue on OBS:

• If your output resolution is set very high, it will cause high CPU usage of OBS.
• Another reason for the same is selecting a higher framerate than 30 fps for the output video.
• Choosing a slower encoder preset that gives high-quality video but consumes even high CPU usage is also responsible for this error message.
• If you don’t have enough disk space to render and save output videos, you are likely to experience this error message.
• In case you have enabled the Game Mode feature, your PC will be optimized for gaming and OBS might not have enough system resources to process.
• Your hardware is too weak to handle demanding apps like OBS Studio.
• If there are too many apps running in the background, OBS might not have enough system resources and thus, you get this message.
• Overlay apps and other conflicting apps can also cause this issue.

Fix Encoding overloaded issue in OBS Studio

Here are the fixes you can use to fix the “Encoding overloaded” issue in OBS Studio on your Windows PC:

1. Decrease the output resolution.
2. Adjust your frame rate.
3. Change the encoder preset.
4. Use hardware encoding.
5. Change OBS priority in Task Manager.
6. Check the recording source.
7. End conflicting programs using Task Manager.
8. Free up some disk space.
9. Turn off Game Mode.
10. Use an alternative to OBS.

1] Decrease the output resolution

The first thing you should do to fix the issue is reducing your output resolution. If you have chosen a higher resolution to stream gameplay or screen video, it will consume high CPU usage that your system can’t take. And thus, you get the “Encoding overloaded” issue in OBS.

Now, you might want a high-quality video but your CPU might not be able to handle it at the moment. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, all you need to do is decrease the output resolution in your video settings on OBS and see if the issue is fixed. Here’s how you can do that:

1. First, open OBS Studio and go to the File > Settings option or press the Settings button from the bottom right side of your screen.
2. Now, go to the Video tab in Settings and click on the Output (Scaled) Resolution drop-down option.
3. Next, select a lower resolution than the current one. You can play with this setting and see which resolution works well for you.
4. Once done, press the Apply > OK button and restart your computer.
5. Finally, relaunch OBS and see if the issue is resolved or not.

If you still get the “Encoding overloaded” warning in OBS, you can follow the next fix.

2] Adjust your frame rate

Frame rate is defined by the number of frames captured and displayed per second in a video. Choosing a higher frame rate is likely to overload your CPU and GPU and cause the issue at hand. So, you can try lowering your frame rate and setting it below 30 FPS,  and then check if the problem is gone. Here’s how you can do that:

1. First, open OBS Studio and click on the File > Settings option.
2. Now, move to the Video tab and click on the Common FPS Values drop-down button.
3. From the available frame rate values, select a value less than 30.
4. Finally, click on Apply > OK and relaunch OBS. Launch your stream and then see if the problem is gone or not.

If your frame rate is not the issue, go ahead and try the next potential fix.

See: Fix OBS Game capture black screen on Windows

3] Change the encoder preset

OBS uses the x264 video encoder by default. Now, it has multiple presets that you can use for encoding a video. These presets are different in terms of video quality and CPU usage. The “fast” encoder preset has a high CPU consumption and produces high-quality video, while the “ultrafast” preset consumes low CPU usage but gives a lower video quality. If you have chosen a slower preset than the rest like fast, it will have higher CPU usage that might result in the “Encoding overloaded” warning. Hence, choose a faster encoder preset to fix the issue. You can select the “veryfast” encoder preset that has medium CPU usage and give standard video quality.

Here are the steps to change the encoder preset in OBS:

1. First, launch OBS and open its File > Settings.
2. Now, move to the Output tab from ht left-side panel and click on the Encoder preset drop-down button.
3. Next, select a faster preset like veryfast, faster, or superfast encoder preset.
4. After that, press Apply > OK to save changes and then relaunch OBS to check if the problem is resolved.

If you still get the same error message, move on to the next solution.

4] Use hardware encoding

To lower CPU usage, you can use a hardware encoder like Quicksync (Intel Integrated GPUs), AMF (newer AMD GPUs), or NVENC (latest Nvidia GPUs). However, these hardware encoders give lower video quality but also put less stress on your CPU. Hence, it is recommended to use a suitable hardware encoder from these. Here are the steps to change the hardware encoder in OBS:

1. First, start OBS and go to Files > Settings.
2. Now, go to the Output tab and set Encoder to Hardware. For example, as mine is an Intel GPU, I could select Quicksync hardware encoder.
3. Lastly, tap on Apply > OK and then restart OBS to check whether the “Encoding overloaded” warning has stopped or not.

Read: OBS not capturing Game Video on Windows PC.

5] Change OBS priority in Task Manager

The next thing you should do is set the priority of the OBS process in Task Manager to Above Normal or High. This is because the CPU works on task priorities. If there are multiple processes and tasks running in the background, OBS might not be able to utilize your system resources as it requires. Thus, as a result, you get the “Encoding overloaded” warning. Hence, you need to change the priority of OBS accordingly and then see if the problem is fixed or not.

Here are the steps to do so:

1. First, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Now, from the Processes tab, right-click on OBS Studio and select the Go to details option.
3. After that, in the Details tab, right-click on the obs64.exe process and select the Set priority as Above Normal or High.
4. Finally, open OSB and check if the problem is resolved or not.

6] Check the recording source

Your recording source like webcams and capture cards might be consuming a lot of CPU usage which is why you are getting the issue at hand. Hence, check your recording source and make sure it is configured accordingly.

If you are using a webcam, ensure that it is not configured to run at a higher resolution, such as more than 480p. For Logitech C920 users, you might face the problem at hand if you are running it at 1080p resolution.

7] End conflicting programs using Task Manager

There might be some conflicting programs running in the background that are causing the issue at hand. Overlay apps like Discord and NVIDIA Overlay are known to cause such issues. Hence, close all such programs using the Task Manager and then see if the problem is resolved. If not, you can move on to the next potential fix.

You might also like to check out: OBS Display Capture not working properly on Windows

8] Free up some disk space

The OBS Studio application requires storage space to write some files including the output video recordings. If you keep getting the “Encoding overloaded” message in OBS, it might be the case that your disk is running out of space required by the app. And as a result, you won’t be able to stream your videos using OBS. So, you need to free up some disk space to fix the issue.

You can run Windows inbuilt tool i.e., Disk Cleanup to make some space on your hard drive. Here’s how to run it:

1. First, open Disk Cleanup from the Startup menu.
2. Now, select the hard drive where you have installed OBS Studio and press OK.
3. Next, tick the kind of files you want to delete and press the OK button.

Apart from that, you can also delete your personal files that you don’t need anymore or move them to a different drive to make some space on the required drive.

If this method works for you, great. However, if the “Encoding overloaded” warning message still keeps popping up, you can apply the next fix.

9] Turn off Game Mode

If you have enabled Game Mode on your computer for optimizing gaming performance, it will leave fewer system resources for OBS Studio. And thus, you get the issue at hand. Hence, you can try disabling the Game Mode feature on Windows 11/10. Here’s how to do that:

1. First, open Settings using Win+I and go to the Gaming tab.
2. Now, click on the Game Mode option and disable the respective toggle.

Hopefully, the warning message “Encoding overloaded” will be stopped now.

Read: OBS recording stuttering, and freezes every few seconds on PC.

10] Use an alternative to OBS

If nothing else worked for you, the last option is to use an alternative to OBS Studio. There are many free ones available on the internet that you can download and install for live streaming and to capture your gameplay. For example, you can use software like XSplit Broadcaster, Lightstream Studio, or Streamlabs. These are popular and good ones.

If you still want to use OBS Studio, consider upgrading your hardware. This is because your CPU might be too weak for getting the best performance from the OBS app and streaming high-quality videos. As a result, you keep getting the “Encoding overloaded” issues. Also, if it is too old, you must replace and upgrade your hardware for higher performance.

Read: Fix OBS Studio keeps crashing on Windows PC.

How do I fix Encoding overloaded on OBS?

To fix the “Encoding overloaded” error message in OBS Studio, change your output configurations including output resolution, frame rate, encoder preset, etc., as they cause high CPU usage. Apart from that, you can use a hardware encoder instead of a software encoder, set the priority of OBS high, end all the conflicting background programs, disable the Game Mode feature, and free up some disk space. If the problem remains the same, check your recording source and make sure it is not running on a too-high resolution that causes high CPU usage.

How do I stop OBS from using so much CPU?

To prevent the OBS Studio app from having high CPU usage, you will have to lower your output resolution and decrease the framerate as the higher these output configurations are the higher CPU usage is. Apart from that, you can also change your encoding options including the encoding preset, and set it to a faster preset that consumes low CPU usage. You can also use a hardware encoder such as Quicksync (Intel Integrated GPUs), AMF (newer AMD GPUs), or NVENC (latest Nvidia GPUs) to fix this problem.

Read: OBS Camera Not Showing up or Working.