OBS Studio - Free and open source software for live streaming and screen recording
This report summarizes scanner evidence for obsproject/obs-studio, a C project with 78,655 GitHub stars. SynthScan examined 625,479 lines of code across 4306 source files, recording 947 pattern matches distributed across 10 syntactic categories. The legacy adjusted pattern signal is 1.3 (Low pattern signal); it is not an authorship estimate.
Use the findings to ask whether maintainers can explain intent, verify dependencies, simplify unnecessary scaffolding, and focus review effort. Risk Payload v1 adds ownership, supply-chain, over-engineering, and review-effort vectors when available. These are prompts for human verification, not probabilities, security findings, or measured maintenance costs.
Use each vector to guide manual verification of the underlying findings.
Payload schema: 1.0.0 · Engine: 2.0.0 · Scoring: heuristic-density-v1 · Scan date: 2026-10-31.
Can maintainers explain intent, assumptions, and trade-offs? 926 finding(s).
Are imports declared and package/API names verified? 12 finding(s).
Are wrappers, guards, and repeated structures necessary? 9 finding(s).
Which changes need focused human review? 947 finding(s).
This chart tracks the legacy adjusted pattern score across scan runs. Changes can reflect source changes, scan coverage, or detector/scoring versions; they do not measure AI adoption or prove that a team refactored code. Compare runs only when their scoring versions are compatible. The dashed line tracks the raw pattern-hit count.
Groups findings by configured severity weight. Severity is not a confidence estimate, security rating, or proof that a package is missing. Verify imports against the project's manifests and inspect each finding in its local design context.
This horizontal bar chart shows where configured pattern scores accumulate across directories. Treat the bars as locations to inspect, not as evidence of authorship or code quality. Use the file-level findings to decide whether a directory needs a focused ownership, dependency, complexity, or review check.
The scanner identified 947 distinct pattern matches across 10 syntactic categories. Each entry below represents a discrete location in the source code where the engine recorded a detector match to inspect in context. Expand any category row to inspect the individual file paths, line numbers, code snippets, and the lexical context (CODE, COMMENT, or STRING) in which each match was detected.
Reading the findings table: The Severity column indicates the configured finding weight (CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW). The Context column identifies whether the match occurred inside executable code, an inline comment, or a string literal — legacy comment-context matches receive a ×1.5 score weight. The ⚡ bolt icon marks clustered matches: three or more patterns within a 10-line window, each receiving an additional ×1.5 density multiplier under the legacy scoring model.
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | frontend/OBSApp.hpp | 21 | #include <utility/OBSTheme.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/obs-main.cpp | 21 | #ifdef __APPLE__ | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/obs-main.cpp | 861 | #ifdef _DEBUG | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/OBSApp_Themes.cpp | 21 | #include <utility/OBSThemeVariable.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/OBSApp.cpp | 21 | #include <dialogs/LogUploadDialog.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/OBSApp.cpp | 41 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/settings/OBSBasicSettings.cpp | 21 | #include "OBSHotkeyWidget.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/settings/OBSBasicSettings.cpp | 321 | #define SCROLL_CHANGED &QSpinBox::valueChanged | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/settings/OBSBasicSettings_Stream.cpp | 1 | #include "OBSBasicSettings.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_Flatpak.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_Linux.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_Linux.cpp | 41 | // * User Root Path: $XDG_DATA_HOME | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_BSD.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_BSD.cpp | 41 | // * User Root Path: /home/<User>/.config | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_MacOS.mm | 21 | #include <obs.h> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_MacOS.mm | 41 | // * Data: <Data Environment Variable>/<Plugin>.plugin/Contents/Resources | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginManagerWindow.cpp | 21 | #include <plugin-manager/InstalledPluginRow.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_Windows.cpp | 21 | #include <obs.h> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/plugin-manager/PluginModuleLoader_Windows.cpp | 41 | // * Root Path: C:/ProgramData | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/oauth/RestreamAuth.cpp | 1 | #include "RestreamAuth.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/oauth/YoutubeAuth.cpp | 1 | #include "YoutubeAuth.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/oauth/TwitchAuth.cpp | 1 | #include "TwitchAuth.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/updater/resource.h | 1 | //{{NO_DEPENDENCIES}} | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/updater/resource.h | 21 | #define _APS_NEXT_SYMED_VALUE 101 | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/updater/updater.hpp | 21 | #define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0600 | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/components/AudioCaptureToolbar.cpp | 1 | #include "AudioCaptureToolbar.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/components/DisplayCaptureToolbar.cpp | 1 | #include "DisplayCaptureToolbar.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/components/WindowCaptureToolbar.cpp | 1 | #include "WindowCaptureToolbar.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/components/OBSAdvAudioCtrl.cpp | 1 | #include "OBSAdvAudioCtrl.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/components/SourceTreeItem.cpp | 1 | #include "SourceTreeItem.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/dialogs/OBSBasicInteraction.cpp | 21 | #include <utility/OBSEventFilter.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/dialogs/OBSBasicFilters.cpp | 21 | #include <components/VisibilityItemWidget.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/dialogs/OBSBasicProperties.cpp | 21 | #include <widgets/OBSBasic.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/wizards/AutoConfig.cpp | 1 | #include "AutoConfig.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/wizards/AutoConfigStreamPage.cpp | 1 | #include "AutoConfigStreamPage.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/wizards/AutoConfigTestPage.cpp | 1 | #include "AutoConfigTestPage.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/wizards/AutoConfigVideoPage.cpp | 1 | #include "AutoConfigVideoPage.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasicPreview.hpp | 1 | #pragma once | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/AudioMixer.cpp | 21 | #include <dialogs/NameDialog.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSQTDisplay.cpp | 1 | #include "OBSQTDisplay.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_ContextToolbar.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic.cpp | 21 | #include "ui-config.h" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic.cpp | 41 | #include <settings/OBSBasicSettings.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_Updater.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic.hpp | 21 | #include "OBSMainWindow.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_MainControls.cpp | 21 | #include "OBSBasicStats.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasicStats.cpp | 1 | #include "OBSBasicStats.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/WhatsNewInfoThread.cpp | 1 | #include "WhatsNewInfoThread.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/WhatsNewInfoThread.cpp | 21 | #ifndef WIN_WHATSNEW_URL | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/MultitrackVideoOutput.cpp | 1 | #include "MultitrackVideoError.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/win-dll-blocklist.c | 181 | // Reference: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/issues/8552 | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/platform-x11.cpp | 21 | #include <OBSApp.hpp> | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/platform-x11.cpp | 41 | #if defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__) | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/GoLiveAPI_Network.cpp | 1 | #include "GoLiveAPI_Network.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/AutoUpdateThread.cpp | 1 | #include "AutoUpdateThread.hpp" | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/AutoUpdateThread.cpp | 21 | #ifndef WIN_MANIFEST_URL | COMMENT |
| LOW | frontend/utility/platform-windows.cpp | 21 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | plugins/linux-v4l2/v4l2-output.c | 1 | #define _GNU_SOURCE | COMMENT |
| LOW | plugins/linux-v4l2/v4l2-input.c | 21 | #include <inttypes.h> | COMMENT |
| LOW | plugins/obs-outputs/rtmp-stream.c | 21 | COMMENT | |
| 857 more matches not shown… | ||||
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | plugins/frontend-tools/data/scripts/url-text.py | 9 | # ------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | plugins/frontend-tools/data/scripts/url-text.py | 37 | # ------------------------------------------------------------ | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | deps/w32-pthreads/config.h | 70 | # ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | deps/w32-pthreads/config.h | 100 | # ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | frontend/dialogs/OBSBasicSourceSelect.cpp | 342 | // Allow some room for previous/next rows to make scrolling a bit more seamless | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | deps/w32-pthreads/config.h | 72 | # facilitate development of applications on Win32 that will be ported | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM⚡ | deps/w32-pthreads/config.h | 86 | # that are not meticulous in tracking thread lifecycles e.g. applications | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | build-aux/format-manifest.py | 2 | CODE | |
| LOW | build-aux/format-manifest.py | 7 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 3 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 5 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 9 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 11 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 12 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 13 | CODE | |
| LOW | plugins/obs-filters/rnnoise/src/rnn_train.py | 16 | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 150 | except Exception as e: | CODE |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 188 | except Exception as e: | CODE |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 233 | except Exception as e: | CODE |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 322 | except Exception as e: | CODE |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 360 | except Exception as e: | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | plugins/rtmp-services/service-specific/dacast.c | 23 | struct dacast_ingest dacast_invalid_ingest = {"rtmp://dacast", "", "", "fake_key"}; | CODE |
| LOW | …alcam/src/camera-extension/OBSCameraDeviceSource.swift | 101 | let placeholderURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "placeholder", withExtension: "png") | CODE |
| LOW | libobs-metal/MetalTexture.swift | 142 | /// This constructor creates a "placeholder" object that can be shared with `libobs` or updated with an actual | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | build-aux/format-manifest.py | 10 | CODE | |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 108 | CODE | |
| LOW | .github/scripts/utils.py/check-services.py | 165 | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | docs/sphinx/conf.py | 7 | # This file is execfile()d with the current directory set to its | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW⚡ | deps/w32-pthreads/config.h | 90 | # Usage: | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | frontend/widgets/OBSBasic.cpp | 2044 | // TODO: Implement for other platforms if possible. Don't forget to | COMMENT |