A Comprehensive Review and Comparison: ShadowPlay vs OBS

Part 1. Introduction of OBS & ShadowPlay

¿Qué es OBS Studio?

Open Broadcast Software, the OBS, is one of the most popular free tools to do broadcasting and screen recording. It is also open-source and cross-platform, which means you can alter this software according to your needs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers a lot of recording and livestreaming options for different users. With its functional features, you can greatly enjoy making videos and live streaming.

Características:

• Multiple screen recording modes: Display Capture, Game Capture, Window Capture, etc.
• Add different sources including image, text, media, browser, color source, etc.
• Advanced Audio Mixer to adjust audio volume, select track and change lagging.
• Customize settings according to your device and personal needs.
• Directly stream your recording to live-streaming platforms.
• Free to add plugins and extensions to get more functions.

What is NVIDIA ShadowPlay?

Developed by NVIDIA, ShadowPlay is a screen recording and game-capturing software only serving NVIDIA graphic card users. It provides a high-quality game recording experience for users. You can record games at a maximum resolution and frame rate of 1440 fps, which most screen recording software doesn’t support. It is also convenient to use because it is built-in and automatically started when playing a game.

Características:

• NVIDIA GPU acceleration: it utilizes the power of GPU to decrease the stain of the CPU to minimize the impact on your system performance.
• Instant Replay: you can record and save the last few minutes with a hotkey so you won’t miss any exciting and highlight moments.
• Manual and automatic recording: you can choose to start and stop recording manually or let the recording start itself when the game begins.
• Highlights recorder: ShadowPlay can detect the highlight moments in gaming and save them as short clips for share.
• HD screenshot: This software enables you to create high-quality screenshots including 15s GIFs and 360-degree game shots.

Part 2. Comparison of OBS vs ShadowPlay Performance

Software performance usually is what users concern most. The following part will compare the performance of OBS and ShadowPlay from 5 different aspects.

Requisitos del sistema

Different software needs different hardware and operating systems. And there is a huge difference between OBS and ShadowPlay.

OBS supports Windows 10/11, macOS 11.0 or newer and Linux platforms. There are no strict hardware requirements, too. In short, it can work on any computer, but will not work perfectly if your device performance is too weak.

• CPU: Intel Pentium G Series, Core i3, i5, i7, or higher/AMD FX, Ryzen 3, 5, 7, Threadripper or higher.
• NVIDIA GPU

Till now, ShadowPlay is only for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Facilidad de uso

OBS is reputed for its powerful functions. But in the meanwhile, the powerful functions also make it hard to learn and use. One proof is that OBS user interface is full of options and buttons.

On the contrary, ShadowPlay has a much simpler user interface with simple buttons: Instant Reply. Record, Stream and Broadcast. You can turn it on/off with simple clicks. Usually, the ShadowPlay is hidden in the system tray, you need to bring it up with hotkeys.

Retransmisiones en directo

Both two software allow you to record and broadcast to livestreaming platforms. In OBS Stream setting, you can choose over 80 livestream platforms of different regions such as YouTube, Facebook, niconico, etc.

ShadowPlay has fewer options. It only supports broadcasting to Facebook, Twitch and YouTube.

OBS vs ShadowPlay Recording Quality

Aunque puedas grabar tu pantalla with any software, output quality differs a lot. Suppose you have an extremely high-end computer, then, OBS allows you to make a video with the highest 1080p 60 FPS, and ShadowPlay can record 4K video at 60 FPS and 8K video at 30 FPS.

Función de edición

To make your livestreaming better, you may need some editing tools when recording and live streaming. OBS offers different editing functions including transforming and adding multiple filters. But ShadowPlay has limited editing options: the NVIDIA Freestyle game filter.

Part 3. Best Alternative: Aiseesoft Screen Recorder

If you are not satisfied with both OBS and ShadowPlay, the Aiseesoft Screen Recorder can be your better alternative.

Aiseesoft Screen recorder has been popular in the screen recorder field for many years and has earned the best comments. It has a simpler interface for ease of use. Apart from regular screen recorder, window recorder, webcam recorder, and game recorder, it is also able to do phone recording and screenshot. With this software, you can make high-quality videos up to 4K fluently and fast. Besides recording, it also can help to trim, compress, convert video, etc.

Part 4. FAQs about ShadowPlay vs OBS