Why Your Overlay Looks Different on Stream Than in OBS
Colors shift, edges soften, details vanish. Here's what compression does and how to design around it.
Your OBS preview is uncompressed; what viewers see has been squeezed to a few thousand kilobits per second. Fine detail, subtle gradients and saturated reds suffer most.
Gradients band
Smooth gradients turn into visible steps at low bitrate. Adding a little texture or noise hides banding better than a perfectly smooth fade.
Thin lines disappear
One-pixel outlines and small text get eaten. Design overlay text and borders chunkier than feels necessary.
Saturated colors smear
Deep reds and vivid blues are the hardest for encoders. Slightly desaturated palettes hold up noticeably better — one reason cozy pastel and muted themes stream so well.
Check on the real thing
Do a private stream and watch it on your phone. That's what viewers see — not the OBS preview. Packs in the shop are built with these limits in mind.
Designed to survive compression
Cozy palettes and chunky readable elements that hold up at real bitrates.
Browse the packs