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OBS Studio vs NVIDIA ShadowPlay: catalog facts
OBS Studio	NVIDIA ShadowPlay
Free Free and open source, funded by sponsors and contributors; no paid tier or watermark.	Free Free with a supported NVIDIA GPU.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows
Unlimited scenes built from window, display, camera, browser, image and text sources, with custom transitions Audio mixer with per-source noise gate, noise suppression and gain, plus VST plugin support	Hardware-accelerated recording built into the NVIDIA App Instant replay captures recent gameplay after the fact
There is a real learning curve before the first good recording Screen capture on Linux depends on the desktop: Wayland needs the PipeWire capture source	Requires a supported NVIDIA GPU Windows only
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: GPL-2.0	License not stated
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.