VIBRESIA

Live video compared

Resolume vs OBS Studio: a VJ application or free streaming software?

By Syd Lawrence, a visual artist and developer who makes Vibresia. Facts last checked 2 November 2026; updated 2 November 2026.

If you are performing video to a room, pick Resolume: Avenue is €299 and it is built for playing decks of media and effects from a show. If you need the video recorded, sent to a streaming service, or sent to another machine over the network, pick OBS Studio, which is free and open source and does all of that out of the box. They overlap when people put a visualiser into a stream, and there the honest answer is that they do different jobs: OBS Studio is a production tool you configure, and Resolume is a performance tool you play.

ResolumeOBS Studio
What it isVJ and media-server software (Avenue, Arena) and a visual programming tool (Wire), for macOS and Windows.Free and open source software for live video recording and streaming, built around scenes that mix camera, screen, media and audio sources.
Price€299, one-timeFree
Runs onMac, WindowsMac, Windows, Linux
Free versionFree to use indefinitely, but video output has a Resolume watermark and audio has a robot voice until a serial number is entered.Free, with every feature, and the source published
Known forAn industry-standard pair: Avenue for VJing, Arena adding media-server featuresIt captures and mixes several video and audio sources into switchable scenes, with per-source filters, an audio mixer and hotkeys
Best forWorking VJs and venues running video on screens and projectors.People who need a live or recorded video feed on screen, saved to a file or sent to a streaming service, and who want the same tool on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Control and connections

ResolumeOBS Studio
MIDIYes: Avenue and Arena take MIDI in and send MIDI out, including pad colour feedback, from multiple enabled devices, and Wire adds MIDI In and MIDI Out nodes for generating and reading MIDI data.No: OBS Studio has no built-in MIDI source, filter or action, and MIDI control comes from community plug-ins such as obs-midi-mg.
OSCYes: Avenue and Arena accept OSC input and can send OSC output to other applications over the network, and Wire adds OSC In and OSC Out nodes for reading and writing OSC inside a patch.No: OBS Studio does not speak OSC natively, and OSC is handled by community scripts and companion applications built on its WebSocket API.
SyphonYes: Avenue and Arena provide Syphon input and output on macOS, and Wire can read and write Syphon textures through its Texture In and Texture Out nodes.Yes: OBS Studio includes a macOS module that reads Syphon servers, so Syphon video can be used as a source on a Mac; it has no Syphon output.
SpoutYes: Avenue and Arena provide Spout input and output on Windows, and Wire can read and write Spout textures through its Texture In and Texture Out nodes.No: OBS Studio has no built-in Spout support, and Spout video is shared with it through the third-party OBS Spout plug-in, which is Windows only.
NDIYes: NDI input is always enabled in Avenue and Arena, and NDI output can be broadcast from the composition, with Arena additionally treating NDI outputs as separate screens in the Advanced Output.No: OBS Studio ships no NDI support of its own, and NDI input, main output and a per-source filter come from the DistroAV plug-in.
DMXYes: DMX output over Art-Net is available in Arena only, and Arena also accepts Art-Net DMX input from a lighting desk, so Avenue has no DMX support.No: OBS Studio has no DMX support of its own, and DMX over Art-Net control is offered by community tools such as ArtNetOBS.
Video in and outYes: Video input works from webcams and capture cards, with native low-latency support for Blackmagic, AJA and Datapath devices, and video output goes to the displays connected to the computer.Yes: OBS Studio produces video output as recordings, live streams, projector outputs and a virtual camera that other applications can read.

Every row comes from the app's own documentation, on the date shown in the sources below. "Not that we could find" means we could not find it documented, not that the app cannot do it.

Pick Resolume if

you are performing video to a room and want to play decks of clips and effects from a show without setting up an encoder first. Avenue is €299, and Arena at €799 adds media-server features for bigger rooms.

Pick OBS Studio if

you need the output recorded, streamed, or sent to another machine, you want it on Windows or Linux as well as a Mac, or you would rather not pay for the software at all. OBS Studio costs nothing and its source is published.

Why people compare them

They come up together because both put video on a screen, live, from a laptop. But they were built for different ends of the same job. OBS Studio is free and open source software for live video recording and streaming, built around scenes that mix camera, screen, media and audio sources. Resolume is vj and media-server software (avenue, arena) and a visual programming tool (wire), for macos and windows.

One is a production tool: you set up scenes, add sources, pick an encoder and then let it run. The other is a performance tool: you trigger clips and effects in front of an audience. If your job is to be on a stream, OBS Studio is the one that ends the job. If your job is to be in a room, Resolume is.

Where Resolume wins

It is built to be played. Resolume does an industry-standard pair: Avenue for VJing, Arena adding media-server features. There is no encoder to configure and no scene to build before the show; you load your material and perform it.

Control and connections are built in. This is where the two differ most and it is not about price. Resolume takes MIDI in and out, sends and receives OSC, does Syphon on a Mac and Spout on Windows, handles NDI, and does DMX over Art-Net in Arena. OBS Studio has no built-in MIDI, OSC, NDI, Spout or DMX at all: each of those comes from a community plug-in, which means installing and configuring somebody else's code before a show.

You can try it for as long as you like. Resolume is free to use indefinitely. The catch is that video output has a Resolume watermark and audio has a robot voice until you enter a serial number, which is enough to learn the software but not to play a paid show.

Where OBS Studio wins

It is free, and its source is published. It is free and open source under the GNU General Public License version 2, with the source published and community plug-ins listed on the project's forum. There is no licence fee, no seat count and nothing to buy before a stream.

It runs everywhere. Mac, Windows, LinuxMac, Windows, LinuxMac, Windows, Linux means the same show can go out from a Windows laptop at the venue and a Mac at home. Resolume runs on Mac, Windows too, but it is one of the two, and OBS Studio is three.

It is a production tool, so it produces output. It captures and mixes several video and audio sources into switchable scenes, with per-source filters, an audio mixer and hotkeys, and the output can be recorded to a file, streamed to a service, sent to a projector, or read by other applications through a virtual camera. OBS Studio produces video output as recordings, live streams, projector outputs and a virtual camera that other applications can read.

It can be driven from outside. OBS Studio has shipped a WebSocket API inside the application since version 28, so other programs can change scenes and trigger things, alongside Lua and Python scripting and a plug-in system.

Where both fall short

Neither is ready the instant you open it. Resolume wants your media prepared and your cues built. OBS Studio wants its scenes, its sources and its encoder chosen, and On a Mac, OBS Studio needs Screen Recording permission before it can capture the desktop, windows or applications, alongside Camera, Microphone and Accessibility permissions.

The output path costs something in both. OBS Studio is free, but reaching the hardware usually means a plug-in from the community rather than a supported feature. Resolume has the connections built in, but the licence is €299 for Avenue, and the show features, DMX and capture card output are Arena rather than Avenue.

Neither is a music visualiser. Both are general tools for video, and both expect you to bring the content. If what you want is visuals that react to what the Mac is playing, with nothing to prepare, that is a different job than either of these does.

What it costs

Resolume Avenue is €299, one-time, Arena is €799, one-time and Wire is €399, one-time, each a one-time purchase with 12 months of updates included, and the licence keeps working after that.

OBS Studio costs nothing. That is not quite the whole comparison: the add-ons that make OBS Studio do what a paid VJ rig does are the ones that carry the risk, because they are maintained by other people. If you already know the software you want and you want the show to go out over the network, OBS Studio is hard to argue with on price.

Questions people ask

Is OBS Studio really free?

Yes. OBS Studio is free and open source software, so the price is zero rather than a paid tier. Its licence is the GNU General Public License version 2, which is a licence rather than a price. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and the source is published.

Can OBS Studio do MIDI or DMX?

Not on its own. OBS Studio has no built-in MIDI, OSC, NDI, Spout or DMX, and each comes from a community plug-in. Resolume has MIDI, OSC, Syphon, Spout and NDI built in, with DMX in Arena.

Which is better for streaming a visual set?

OBS Studio, because recording and streaming are what it was built for, and its output can go to a service or across a network to another machine. Resolume is better for playing video to a room in front of people, and neither of them turns the music into visuals by itself.

Do they run on the same computers?

Both run on a Mac and on Windows. OBS Studio also runs on Linux, and it needs macOS 13.0 or newer, or Windows 10 or 11, with an OpenGL 3.3-compatible GPU. Resolume runs on Mac, Windows.

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Sources

Every fact about another app on this page comes from the source listed for it, on the date shown. Some of OBS Studio's facts come from third-party pages, marked as such below. We make Vibresia, so we've tried to say where each of the others is the better choice. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.