Built-in elements

Built-in elements are the basic parts of any overlay: text, images, shapes, sounds, chat, timers and players. Every account has them; you find them under Add in the editor toolbar (W), sorted into the same categories as the other widgets. Some also have their own tool in the toolbar.

Chat commands on this page only work for you and your mods.

Text

Titles, labels, "Be right back" messages and scrolling tickers. Press T to add text straight away, or find Text under Text & Info.

Type into Text; Enter starts a new line. The text toolbar in the settings card adds underline, accent color and variables. Variables for your connected Twitch or Kick account show live values; time and date work without an account. Top line and Bottom line add small lines above and below.

What it shows switches between the text itself, Rotating lines (one line per entry, changing every few seconds) and a Countdown to a date and time. Reveal picks the entrance animation and Show can turn the text into a one-line chip or a Ticker rail.

Chat commands: !settext Back in 5 replaces the text, !textnext jumps to the next rotating line, !textreveal replays the entrance, !textclear empties it and !textreset goes back to the text from the editor. A chat text stays after an OBS reload until you change the text in the editor.

Image

Logos, PNGs, GIFs and short videos. Adding an image opens the file picker; you can also choose from Files or paste a URL into Image source. Fit shows the whole image or fills the box by cropping the edges. Add a Frame, Corner rounding (%) or a Drop shadow, and flip it with the quick buttons above the selected image.

Sound

A sound you can play live. Upload an audio file in Files, then choose Add to Sounds. Your sounds show up in the Sounds tool (S) and in the Sounds section of the Quick-Fire Deck. A sound has no visible layer on the canvas.

Set the Volume per sound. Chat commands: !play plays the sound, !stopsound stops it.

Shape

Boxes, bars, circles, stars and other shapes for backgrounds and dividers. Find Shape under Built-ins. Pick a Shape, a Fill color and, if you like, Fill with a gradient, a border or a Glow. Opacity makes it see-through.

Draw

Draw on your stream live: circle something in the game, point with an arrow or write a quick note. Click Draw in the toolbar (D) and a drawing surface is set up for you.

The drawing tools include pen, line, arrow, rectangle, circle, eraser and a laser pointer. In Fade mode strokes disappear after a few seconds; in Stay mode they remain until you clear them. Fade after (seconds) and Fade-out speed (seconds) set the timing. Click Done drawing when you are finished.

Media

GIFs, stickers and memes that pop up on stream. Open Gifs in the toolbar (G), search, and click to send one. The first time you send something, the Media element is added for you.

Spawn position decides where media appears; drag its marker on the canvas. Clip look chooses between Center Stage, Corner Pop and Fullscreen Blast. GIF duration (s), Sticker duration (s) and Meme duration (s) set how long each kind stays.

Media Player

YouTube videos, your channel's clips or a live stream on your overlay. Find Media Player under Music & Media and choose a Source:

• Video / channel queue plays YouTube. Paste a link into YouTube URL or video ID or use the queue. Song requests lets viewers add songs, see Song requests.
• Clips from your channels plays Twitch clips and Kick clips: top, newest or random.
• Live stream shows a Twitch or Kick Channel.

Open Player console (or Player in the toolbar, P) controls playback. The player starts Muted, because browsers and OBS only allow autoplay while muted; turn it off and set the Volume when you want sound. Duck while an alert plays lowers it during alerts.

Quick buttons above the player: Play, Skip, Pause and Muted. Chat commands: !player resume, !player skip, !player pause.

Chat

Your live chat on stream, from all connected channels. Find Chat under Chat & Community and pick the Chat channels to show.

Choose a Row layout (line, bubble or card) and what to Show: a header and list, the list only, just the newest message as a chip, or a horizontal ticker. Hide after (seconds) fades old messages; 0 keeps them until Max messages pushes them out.

Filters hide bot messages and commands by default, and Emote-only messages shows only messages that are nothing but emotes. Highlights mark mentions, first-time chatters, cheers and subs. Read messages out loud adds a voice.

Chat commands: !chattest shows a sample line, !chatclear clears the chat on the overlay. Both are also quick buttons above the widget.

Countdown

Counts down to your start or the end of a break. Find Countdown under Text & Info.

Count to a Duration (minutes and seconds) or a Date and time, such as 2026-12-31 20:00, or just 20:00 for every day. When it hits zero can stay on 00:00, hide the countdown or switch OBS to a Program scene by its exact name. Count past zero keeps counting into overtime, and Text at zero replaces the digits.

Subs and Bits add time: Minutes per sub and Minutes per 100 bits, 1 minute each by default.

Chat commands: !timerstart, !timerpause (pause and resume), !timerstop, !timerrestart, !timerreset, and !timeradd 5 or !timersub 5 to change the time by minutes.

Stopwatch

Counts up for uptime, speedruns or challenge runs. Find Stopwatch under Text & Info.

Turn on Start automatically or start it by hand. Precision goes down to hundredths. For speedruns, name your rounds under Round names and turn on Show round history; Timing label can show RTA or IGT.

Chat commands: !swstart, !swpause, !swstop, !swrestart, !swreset, plus !swsplit to close a split, !swunsplit to undo it and !swskip to skip one.

Live source

A placeholder that marks where your game or camera goes, so you can design around it. Find Live source under Built-ins, choose Game or screen or Camera as Source and set a Placeholder text. In the editor it shows a labeled stand-in; in OBS it stays empty, so the capture source below the overlay shows through.

Settings reference

Every built-in element and its settings, as they appear in the settings card.

Text settings

Image settings

Shape settings

Sound settings

Draw settings

Media settings

Media Player settings

Chat settings

Countdown settings

Stopwatch settings

Live source settings