SegraDocs

Configuration

Video Presets

Configure recording quality, resolution, framerate, and encoding settings in Segra

Segra offers quality presets for quick configuration, plus custom settings for advanced users. Choose the right balance of quality, performance, and file size for your needs.

Quality Presets

Quick configuration options for both recordings and clips.

Recording Presets

Resolution: 720p
Framerate: 30 fps
Best for: Older hardware, testing, or minimal file sizes

Use when you need Segra to have minimal performance impact or when disk space is very limited.

Clip Presets

Separate quality settings for exported clips:

Settings: Fast encoding, 30 fps
Best for: Quick sharing, social media stories

Fast exports with smaller file sizes, suitable for casual sharing.

Custom Video Settings

When using the Custom preset, configure these parameters:

Resolution

resolutionenumdefault: 1440p

Output resolution for recordings:

  • 720p: 1280×720
  • 1080p: 1920×1080
  • 1440p: 2560×1440 (requires 1440p+ display)
  • 4K: 3840×2160 (requires 4K display)

Higher resolutions are only available if your monitor supports them. Segra automatically limits options based on your display's maximum resolution.

Hardware H.264 encoders (NVENC, AMF, QSV, and VAAPI) can't encode wider than 4096 pixels. When you record with a hardware H.264 encoder and the output would be wider than that (for example, on super-ultrawide displays), Segra scales the output down to 4096 pixels wide and keeps the aspect ratio.

Framerate

frameRateintegerdefault: 60

Frames per second to record. The settings UI exposes preset values of 24, 30, 60, 120, and 144:

  • 24: Cinematic look
  • 30: Standard
  • 60: Smooth gameplay (recommended)
  • 120: High refresh rate displays
  • 144: For 144Hz+ monitors

Higher framerates increase file size and CPU/GPU load. Match your game's framerate for best results.

Encoder

encoderenumdefault: gpu

Hardware to use for video encoding:

  • gpu: Hardware encoding (NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, Intel Quick Sync)
  • cpu: Software encoding (x264/x265)

GPU Encoding:

  • Faster, lower CPU usage
  • Minimal performance impact while gaming
  • Recommended for most users

CPU Encoding:

  • Higher quality at same bitrate
  • More CPU intensive
  • Best for systems with powerful CPUs and no GPU encoder

Codec

codecobjectdefault: null

Video codec to use for encoding. When null, Segra picks a default at startup via SelectDefaultCodec() based on the available codecs for the active encoder. Available codecs depend on your hardware:

NVIDIA GPUs:

  • NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (most compatible)
  • NVIDIA NVENC H.265/HEVC (better compression)
  • NVIDIA NVENC AV1 (newest, best compression, RTX 40-series only)

AMD GPUs:

  • AMD AMF H.264
  • AMD AMF H.265/HEVC
  • AMD AMF AV1 (RDNA 3 / Radeon RX 7000-series and newer)

Intel GPUs:

  • Intel Quick Sync H.264
  • Intel Quick Sync H.265/HEVC
  • Intel Quick Sync AV1 (Arc and 11th gen+ iGPUs that support it)

CPU:

  • x264 (H.264 software encoder)
  • x265 (H.265/HEVC software encoder)

Segra automatically selects the best codec when you change encoders.

Rate Control Methods

Control how the encoder manages bitrate and quality. The persisted setting is named rateControl; default value is "VBR".

CBR (Constant Bitrate)

rateControlenum

Maintains a constant bitrate throughout the recording.

When to use:

  • Streaming or uploading to platforms with bitrate limits
  • Predictable file sizes
  • Consistent quality

Settings:

bitrateintegerdefault: 50

Target bitrate in Mbps (10-100+)

Recommended values:

  • 720p/30fps: 10-15 Mbps
  • 1080p/60fps: 30-50 Mbps
  • 1440p/60fps: 50-80 Mbps
  • 4K/60fps: 80-130 Mbps

VBR (Variable Bitrate)

rateControlenum

Varies bitrate based on scene complexity.

When to use:

  • Best quality-to-size ratio
  • Local storage (not streaming)
  • Most efficient for archival

Settings:

minBitrateintegerdefault: 35

Minimum bitrate in Mbps (simple scenes use lower bitrate)

maxBitrateintegerdefault: 70

Maximum bitrate in Mbps (complex scenes use higher bitrate)

CRF (Constant Rate Factor) - CPU Only

rateControlenum

Quality-based encoding (lower CRF = higher quality).

When to use:

  • Best quality for file size
  • CPU encoding only
  • Archival or content creation

Settings:

crfValueintegerdefault: 23

Quality level (0-51):

  • 17-18: Very high quality (large files)
  • 21-23: High quality (recommended)
  • 24-26: Good quality (balanced)
  • 27-28: Lower quality (smaller files)

23 is considered visually lossless for most content. Lower values increase quality and file size.

CQP/CQ (Constant Quantization) - GPU Only

rateControlenum

GPU equivalent of CRF (lower = higher quality).

When to use:

  • GPU encoding with quality priority
  • Similar to CRF but for hardware encoders

Settings:

cqLevelintegerdefault: 20

Quality level (0-30). The Settings UI clamps values outside this range:

  • 0-15: Very high quality
  • 16-20: High quality (recommended)
  • 21-25: Good quality
  • 26-30: Lower quality

Advanced Settings

4:3 Aspect Ratio Handling

stretch4By3booleandefault: true

Automatically stretch 4:3 content to 16:9.

Enable for older games that run in 4:3 to avoid black bars.

Encoder Presets

Presets control encoding speed vs. quality tradeoff.

clipPreset controls the encoder preset used when exporting clips, not live recording. Live recording uses the encoder defaults negotiated by OBS for the selected codec.

CPU Presets (x264/x265)

clipPresetenumdefault: veryfast

Speed/quality tradeoff for CPU clip exports:

  • ultrafast: Fastest, lowest quality
  • superfast, veryfast: Fast, good for real-time
  • faster, fast: Balanced
  • medium: Good quality, slower
  • slow, slower, veryslow: Best quality, very slow

For live recording, use veryfast or faster. For clip exports, medium or slow work well.

GPU Presets

Presets vary by GPU vendor:

NVIDIA NVENC (H.264/HEVC):

  • slow: Best quality
  • medium: Balanced
  • fast: Better performance

NVIDIA AV1:

  • p1: Fastest
  • p4: Balanced (recommended)
  • p7: Slowest, best quality

AMD AMF:

  • quality: Best quality
  • transcoding: Balanced
  • lowlatency: Faster
  • ultralowlatency: Fastest

Intel Quick Sync:

  • slow: Best quality
  • medium: Balanced
  • fast: Better performance

Clip Export Settings

Separate settings for exporting clips:

clipEncoderenumdefault: cpu

Encoder for clip exports (can differ from recording encoder)

  • cpu: Better quality, slower exports
  • gpu: Faster exports, uses GPU
clipCodecenumdefault: h264

Codec for exported clips:

  • h264: Maximum compatibility
  • h265: Better compression (larger compatibility)
  • av1: Best compression (limited compatibility)
clipFpsintegerdefault: 60

Framerate for clips:

  • 0: Use original framerate
  • 30, 60: Fixed framerate
clipAudioQualityenumdefault: 128k

Audio bitrate for clips:

  • 96k: Lower quality, smaller files
  • 128k: Standard quality (recommended)
  • 192k, 256k, 320k: Higher quality
clipQualityCpuintegerdefault: 23

CRF value for CPU-encoded clips (17-28, lower = better)

clipQualityGpuintegerdefault: 23

CQ value for GPU-encoded clips (0-51, lower = better)

Settings JSON Examples

High Quality GPU Recording

{
  "videoQualityPreset": "custom",
  "resolution": "1440p",
  "frameRate": 60,
  "encoder": "gpu",
  "codec": {
    "friendlyName": "NVIDIA NVENC H.264",
    "internalEncoderId": "jim_nvenc",
    "isHardwareEncoder": true
  },
  "rateControl": "VBR",
  "minBitrate": 60,
  "maxBitrate": 90
}

CPU Quality Recording

{
  "videoQualityPreset": "custom",
  "resolution": "1080p",
  "frameRate": 60,
  "encoder": "cpu",
  "rateControl": "CRF",
  "crfValue": 20
}

Fast Clip Export

{
  "clipQualityPreset": "custom",
  "clipEncoder": "gpu",
  "clipCodec": "h264",
  "clipFps": 60,
  "clipQualityGpu": 20,
  "clipPreset": "fast",
  "clipAudioQuality": "128k"
}

Performance vs Quality Guide

Minimal impact on gaming performance:

  • Encoder: GPU
  • Resolution: 720p or 1080p
  • Framerate: 30 or 60 fps
  • Rate Control: VBR or CQP
  • Preset: Fast (GPU)

Troubleshooting

Encoder not available

If a codec/encoder isn't listed:

  • GPU encoders: Update graphics drivers
  • NVENC: Requires NVIDIA GTX 600-series or newer
  • AMD AMF: Requires AMD Radeon HD 7000-series or newer
  • Quick Sync: Requires Intel CPU with integrated graphics
  • Restart Segra after driver updates
Performance issues while recording
  • Switch to GPU encoder
  • Lower resolution (1080p → 720p)
  • Reduce framerate (60 → 30 fps)
  • Use faster preset (Medium → Fast)
  • Close other applications
  • Check GPU/CPU usage in Task Manager
Large file sizes
  • Use VBR instead of CBR
  • Lower bitrate (try 30-50 Mbps for 1080p)
  • Use H.265/HEVC codec (better compression)
  • Reduce resolution or framerate
  • Enable compression in Storage settings