How to use Webex with OBS to enhance meetings

Open Broadcaster Software or OBS is the software of choice for many, if not most, of today’s online streamers. This open source software allows users to create “scenes” using their webcam feed along with any videos or images they wish to use. The scenes are then streamed live to the streaming platform of their choice, such as YouTube or Twitch, or to a recording. The original use case for OBS was simple, allowing video gamers to overlay their webcam image over a corner of their video game for their online streams. Viewers could see the game in full screen as well as the real-time reactions of the player in the corner.

Over time, OBS has added numerous features and capabilities as streamers have tried to improve their videos and differentiate themselves. The software is now practically a full-featured live video editor. Almost anything a user can do in post-production with traditional video editors like Adobe Premiere Pro, they can now do live in OBS. Premiere Pro can turn video into a professional production, but it requires a recorded video file and is expensive software. OBS is free and can edit and produce a live feed in real time.

OBS business users improve their video appearance by using the software to display lower thirds like title bars, present their PowerPoint as a background, put themselves in different virtual places and enable video production techniques.

One of the most popular features of OBS is the virtual camera. Normally the output from OBS is sent to a streaming service like YouTube, but the virtual camera feature allows users to send the output to other apps on their PC like Cisco’s Webex by pretending it’s a webcam. Webex treats the virtual camera like physical webcam input, allowing customers to use their produced OBS scenes as their video. This can be achieved in a two-step process:

1. Select in OBS Start virtual camera in the control settings.
2. Select in Webex Virtual OBS Camera in the camera controls.

Now the content created in OBS is displayed as a webcam image in Webex. While Webex has its own production features like virtual backgrounds, OBS offers a much higher level of customization for interactive video tricks and effects. With OBS, users can take their presentation to the next level on Webex or any video platform and have much more control over how they look in everyday video meetings.