Copyrighted music is the single most common reason a Twitch VOD (video on demand) gets muted or a clip gets pulled. The fix isn't cutting music from your stream. It's keeping it out of what gets saved.
Twitch supports two separate audio feeds inside a single stream: one for live viewers, and one that gets saved as your VOD and clips. OBS calls this second feed the VOD Track. Streamlabs Desktop has the identical feature under the same name, "Twitch VOD," in its own Output settings.
Whatever audio is checked for that track ends up in your saved recording. Uncheck your music from it, and it just isn't there when you go back and watch. The benefit is you still get to play music live, and your VOD comes out clean.
Make sure you have these in place before configuring anything.
With the basics in place, here's how to configure it.
1. In Settings > Output, enable Advanced Encoder Settings.
2. Tick Twitch VOD Track. It defaults to Track 2.
3. Add your music player as its own source instead of folding it into Desktop Audio, using Application Audio Capture or a virtual audio device.
4. Open Advanced Audio Properties from the gear icon above the Audio Mixer.
3. Check Track 1 and Track 2 for every source except your music. For your music source, check Track 1 only.
4. Set your Audio Monitoring Device to your headphones, not a device OBS also captures.
Confirm it's actually working before you count on it during a stream. Play a track from a DMCA-safe source like StreamBeats during one of your streams, then jump to that timestamp in the VOD afterward to confirm it isn't there.
If you're capturing a console through a card like Game Capture 4K X, the console's audio arrives as one combined signal, so in-game music can't be separated from sound effects once it reaches OBS. Many games with licensed soundtracks include their own music or radio volume slider. Turn that down before you go live, and the problem never reaches OBS in the first place.
Do this once and you're done. If you're already running Wave Link, you can skip the OBS checkbox routine altogether by routing a dedicated music-free mix straight to your VOD Track.
PRODUCTS IN ARTICLE
Stay up to date with Elgato. Get our latest News, Guides, and Product Updates in your Google feeds.
Add Elgato as a preferred sourceThanks for helping us improve this article.