How to Fix Audio Sync Issues in OBS (2026 Guide)

Audio sync issues in OBS almost always come down to one of three root causes: a mismatched sample rate between your device and OBS (44.1 kHz vs 48 kHz is the most common culprit), a sync offset that needs to be dialed in per-source, or monitoring latency creating feedback between what you hear and what gets recorded. Fix the sample rate first, then apply a sync offset if the audio still drifts — most setups are corrected in under five minutes using these steps.

Why Audio Goes Out of Sync in OBS

OBS mixes audio and video in real time. When any audio device runs at a different clock rate than OBS expects, the encoder slowly drifts — a 1-second gap after 10 minutes of streaming is a classic symptom. Video-heavy pipelines (Elgato capture cards, NDI feeds, virtual cameras) introduce their own frame-buffer latency. Bluetooth headsets add 40–200 ms of wireless delay. Each of these requires a different fix.

The most common causes, in rough order of frequency:

• Sample rate mismatch — Windows device set to 44,100 Hz while OBS expects 48,000 Hz

• Sync offset not set — webcam or capture card with hardware buffer delay

• Monitoring latency — audio monitoring through desktop speakers re-enters the mic

• Bluetooth audio device — inherent 80–200 ms wireless codec delay

• Rendering lag — OBS can't keep up with the encoder, causing A/V drift

Step 1: Match Your Sample Rate Everywhere

This one setting resolves the majority of OBS audio sync complaints.

1. Right-click the speaker icon → Sound settings → More sound settings

2. Open the Recording tab, select your microphone, click Properties

3. Go to Advanced → set Default Format to 2 channel, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)

4. Repeat for every audio device: speakers, headset, capture card, USB audio interface

1. Settings → Audio

2. Set Sample Rate to 48 kHz

3. Set Channels to Stereo (unless you have a specific reason for mono)

4. Click OK and restart OBS completely — changes don't take full effect until restart

If your audio interface (Focusrite, GoXLR, M-Audio) has its own control panel, set the clock rate there to 48 kHz too. Mismatched hardware clocks are the single biggest driver of gradual drift over a long stream.

Step 2: Set a Sync Offset Per Audio Source

Once sample rates match, any remaining offset is usually fixed and predictable — set it once per source and forget it.

1. In the OBS Audio Mixer, click the gear icon next to any source

2. Select Advanced Audio Properties

3. Find the Sync Offset (ms) column

• Record a short clip while clapping in front of your webcam — the waveform spike should line up with the video frame where your hands meet

• Use a free tool like Audacity or DaVinci Resolve to scrub through and measure the gap in milliseconds

• Enter that value as a positive number in Sync Offset

Step 3: Fix Monitoring Delay and Echo

Audio monitoring in OBS lets you hear your sources through your headphones or speakers while recording or streaming. The latency of monitoring through OBS itself is typically 20–100 ms depending on your buffer size — this does not affect the recorded/streamed audio, but it can cause you to unconsciously compensate your speech timing, making your delivery feel off.

1. Settings → Audio → General Audio Settings

2. Audio Monitoring Device — set this to your headphones directly, not a virtual device

3. In Advanced Audio Properties, set monitoring to Monitor and Output only for sources that need it (mic), not for desktop audio (causes echo)

Step 4: Delay the Video When Audio Arrives Early

If your audio is consistently early — you hear sound before the video catches up — the fix is to delay the video track, not add latency to audio. This happens most often with webcams that buffer fewer frames than a capture card.

1. Right-click the video source (webcam) in the Sources panel

2. Select Filters

3. Click + and add a Video Delay (Async) filter

4. Set the delay in milliseconds to match the gap you measured

Typical webcam video lead is 0–60 ms. Adding a 40–50 ms video delay to a Logitech C920 or C922 often achieves perfect lip sync without touching audio at all.

Step 5: Check for Rendering Lag and Dropped Frames

Audio drift that gets progressively worse over a session (not a fixed offset) is almost always caused by OBS struggling to render. When OBS drops video frames to keep up with the encoder, the audio continues uninterrupted — widening the gap over time.

• Rendering lag above 0.1% — lower your canvas resolution or FPS

• Encoding overload above 0.1% — switch to a GPU encoder (NVENC) or lower x264 preset

• Dropped frames (network) — unrelated to sync, but signals other issues

Fixing rendering lag eliminates progressive audio drift permanently. Switch from x264 to NVENC H.264 at the same bitrate, or drop from 1080p 60fps to 1080p 30fps canvas if your CPU is maxed out. See the OBS settings hub for a full performance optimization walkthrough.

Quick-Reference: OBS Audio Settings for Zero Sync Issues

Diagnosing Sync by Source Type

For platform-specific audio encoding requirements, check the Twitch settings page and YouTube settings page — both platforms have slightly different audio bitrate tolerances that affect how sync errors manifest for viewers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my OBS audio go out of sync after 10-20 minutes?

Gradual drift over a long stream is almost always a sample rate mismatch. When OBS expects 48,000 samples per second but your device delivers 44,100, the audio clock runs slightly slower than real time — after 20 minutes, the gap becomes noticeable. Set every audio device to 48 kHz in Windows Sound settings and in OBS Settings → Audio, then restart OBS completely.

My audio and video are perfectly synced in OBS preview but out of sync in the recording — why?

This usually means your recording encoder is causing buffer delay that the preview monitor bypasses. Switch your recording to a faster encoder preset (NVENC instead of x264 Slow, or lower x264 to veryfast/superfast) and check if the issue disappears. Also verify you are not accidentally recording with a different audio track assignment than your monitoring output. See the recording time calculator to budget disk space when testing different encoder settings.

How do I fix audio sync for an Elgato or AVerMedia capture card specifically?

Capture cards add 1-3 frames of video latency as part of their hardware encoding pipeline. In OBS Advanced Audio Properties, set a positive sync offset on the capture card's audio source — start with 67 ms for 30fps content or 50 ms for 60fps content and adjust from there. Alternatively, use the capture card's dedicated audio output and feed it into a separate audio interface rather than relying on the card's internal audio routing.

Does audio sync work differently for live streaming vs local recording?

The fix process is identical, but the symptoms can differ. In a live stream, network jitter can cause intermittent sync gaps on top of any base offset — these are separate issues. For live streaming, also use the bandwidth calculator to confirm your connection has enough headroom so OBS never has to buffer, which can introduce its own timing irregularities. For recording, pure encoder speed is the variable; rendering lag is the most common drift cause.