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Connection guides / Capture one app’s sound in OBS

Capture one app’s sound in OBS

Give the game, Discord and music their own OBS sources with Application Audio Capture on Windows, so you can mute, mix or leave one out of the recording.

Updated October 14, 2026

The short version

On Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) or Windows 11, OBS 28 and newer can capture one app’s sound as its own source. Add an Application Audio Capture (BETA) source and pick the app’s window. From OBS 30.1, a Window Capture or Game Capture source can carry its app’s sound: tick Capture Audio (BETA). Then turn off Desktop Audio in Settings, Audio, so nothing is heard twice.

Why give each app its own source

With the game, the voice chat and the music on separate sources, you can turn each one up or down in the mixer, mute one on its own, and send them to different tracks. That is how you keep music out of a Twitch VOD or a recording: see separate stream, recording and VOD audio.

Add an app as its own source

  • In the Sources dock click +, choose Application Audio Capture (BETA) and name it after the app, such as “Discord”.
  • Pick the app’s window from the list.
  • Set Window Match Priority. Matching by type suits most apps. For apps whose window title keeps changing, such as Chrome or Spotify, choose Match title, otherwise find window of same executable so the capture keeps working.
  • Repeat for each app, then disable the global Desktop Audio in Settings, Audio, or you will hear those apps twice.

Or take the sound with the picture

From OBS 30.1, a Window Capture or Game Capture source has a Capture Audio (BETA) box. Tick it and the source carries that app’s sound as well as its picture, with no extra source to keep in step.

When an app’s sound doesn’t come through

Some apps send their sound in a way this source can’t pick up. OBS’s own guide names in-game voice chat in Valorant and Call of Duty. Its workaround is a virtual audio cable such as VB-Cable: set that app’s output to the cable (in its own settings or in the Windows Volume Mixer), and add the cable’s output to OBS as an Audio Input Capture source. On the cable’s Recording properties, tick Listen to this device so you still hear it.

Questions

Does Application Audio Capture work on a Mac? OBS lists it for Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) and Windows 11 only.

I hear the game twice in the recording. Desktop Audio is still on alongside the app sources. Disable it in Settings, Audio. OBS audio routing covers giving every sound one way in. If the game also moves your microphone’s meter, it is reaching the microphone itself: game audio through the microphone tells a leak from a double capture.

Sources