How To Recover Deleted OBS Recording

OBS is a well-known open-source streaming and screen recording software. They are one of the popular software used by Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and other professionals. And, if you are someone who was working on a project and has accidentally deleted OBS recording then you are in right place.

Today, I would be showing you how you can recover your deleted OBS recording in Windows.

Quick links to specific parts of the article:

Where Can I Find OBS Recordings?

By default, OBS saves all the recording files in the C Drive. To locate the folder, you need to follow the steps below.

  • Open the OBS app.
  • Click on the File option in the left-hand corner.
  • A drop-down menu would pop up, click on Show Recordings.How to recover deleted OBS files
  • The app would automatically open the folder where all your recordings are stored. You can check the folder to ensure whether or not your file has been deleted.

OBS automatically opens folder where recordings are stored

Not everyone uses the default recording path of the OBS app so to know the exact file path, select the Settings options from the File drop-down menu. After that, select the Output option in the left-hand corner. Under the Recording option, you would be able to find the path where all your files are stored.

see file stored output

How To Recover Deleted Recording In OBS?

Every once in a while we all have made the mistake of deleting crucial files. I make these mistakes, especially while organizing my files/folder and sometimes while handling my recordings too. If you too are someone who found yourself to be in a similar situation then video recovery software would be perfect for you.

While there are many data recovery software for Windows out there I usually found Stellar Data Recovery software to be quite good. So today I will be using Stellar data recovery software to try recovering my deleted OBS recording.

As you can see below, I will be deleting the video recording saved in the default location of the folder. Once deleted I will head to the Stellar data recovery website to download software for Windows. Make sure to install the software on a partition/drive other than the one where the video was stored.

If the size of the video you are restoring is more than 1GB then you are going to need a paid premium plan to restore the video.

  • Launch Stellar Data Recovery App.
  • The first screen of the app would ask you which type of file you are looking to recover. I would recommend selecting videos as that’s the file type we want to restore.

Step 1 Launch steller data recovery

  • In the next screen, the software will ask you from which drive you want to restore the file. You can also select a custom location so that you get only get results from a specific location. Selecting all drives will increase the restoration time exponentially as the software will start looking for all the videos you have ever deleted.
  • I myself have selected the location where all my OBS videos are saved. After that, click on Scan, and Stellar would start scanning your drive/folder for the video.

Step 2 choose which drive to recover from

  • Once you get a scanning complete dialog press Okay to continue.

Step 3 scanning for deleted documents

  • In the next screen, all the files that are recoverable will be displayed. If there are many results then I would recommend using the search function on the top right corner to find the file you are looking for.
  • Once you have located the file the I would recommend selecting it and clicking on Recover.

Step 4 All the files recoverable are diplayed

Click Here to Try Stellar Windows Data Recovery

One thing to note here is that data recovery software is usually hit or miss. There are various factors that can influence whether or not your file can be restored. If the file has been deleted a long time back or you might have copied some other file that may have overwritten the deleted file then the chances of file recovery are minimal.

Moreover, if you are trying to restore deleted OBS recording files on SSD then you need to follow how to recover deleted files from SSD.

How To Recover Deleted OBS Scenes From The Last Stream?

Making scenes in the OBS is a tedious process and if it gets accidentally deleted redoing all the work feels frustrating, to say the least. If you too are in a similar situation then follow the steps below to restore your deleted OBS scenes.

  • Launch Start and type ‘folder options‘ then press Enter.
  • A File Explorer dialog box will appear. Click on the View Tab.

Step 1 folder options in windows

  • Select the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option. After that, click on Apply then OK.

Step 2 folder options show hidden file

  • Next, open This PC on your Windows computer. Click on the address bar, and paste the following, ” %appdata%” then press Enter.

Step 3 Type App Data

  • On the next screen, the explorer will open the App Data folder where all your files are saved temporarily.
  • Locate the obs-studio folder on the list and open it.

Step 4 temperorary folder after typing app data

  • Inside the folder, open the basic folder.

Step 4.1 open basic sub folder in obs studio

  • Then click on the scenes folder.

Step 5 Subfolder inside basic

  • There would be 3-4 files inside the subfolder. In my case, there were 4 files and I would recommend copying them before proceeding with the steps below.

Step 6 file name json

  • Using Notepad++, open the Untitled.json file on your computer. You will be able to see all the streams and widgets that you have been using. Ensure that the file has the data for your last stream otherwise it won’t work for you.
  • Once you have ensured that the document has data for your last stream, close the Notepad++. And, delete the Untitled.json file from your computer.

Step 7 Notepad++

  • After that, select the Untitled.json.bak file and rename it to Untitled.json.

Step 8 delete & rename the file

  • Launch the OBS again, you will notice that scene from your last stream has been restored.

FAQs

How Do I Restore A Scene In OBS?

You can check the AppData folder in Windows to restore the scene from your last stream using the backup .json files.

How Do I Recover Deleted Videos In OBS?

I would recommend using data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery otherwise there isn't any other way to restore deleted videos in OBS.

When You Record In OBS Where Does It Go?

By default, OBS saves the recording in the videos folder. However, you can change the location where the video is saved in the Output option under the Settings tab.

Is Stellar Data Recovery Software Free?

Yes, Stellar Data Recovery is free if you are looking to restore videos that do not exceed 1GB in file size.

Is OBS Studio Safe?

OBS Studio is open source software which means you can look at the code of the software and even contribute your own code to make the software better. Therefore, yes OBS studio is safe for personal as well as professional use.

About Me

I’m Satyam Pandey, a fellow data hoarder who keeps accidentally deleting files from time to time. I decided to start this blog after recovering all of my deleted high school photos from my old hard drive. With a knack to test data recovery software and see how well they perform I decided to create this blog.

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