Question 1

What's the difference between OBS's RNNoise and NVIDIA RTX Voice filters?

Accepted Answer

RNNoise is an open-source recurrent neural network noise suppressor built into OBS. It runs on CPU, is lightweight (minimal performance impact), works on any hardware, and handles common noise types like keyboard clicks and HVAC fairly well. NVIDIA RTX Voice (or NVIDIA Noise Cancellation via the Broadcast SDK) requires an NVIDIA RTX GPU and runs the suppression on the GPU's Tensor cores. RTX Voice generally produces cleaner results with fewer artifacts on speech and handles more complex noise environments. However, both are real-time constrained. For post-processing recordings, neither limitation applies — you can use higher-quality offline AI that processes the full file.

Question 2

Should I use OBS noise suppression during recording or clean up the file afterward?

Accepted Answer

For streaming, live noise suppression is your only option — the audio is transmitted in real-time. For recordings (VODs, YouTube uploads, podcast episodes), post-processing gives cleaner results. Using OBS noise suppression during recording on files you'll post-process later is redundant and potentially harmful — the real-time filter may introduce artifacts that then interfere with the post-processing AI. Best practice: record with OBS noise suppression disabled, then run the raw file through post-processing. If your room is very loud and you want monitoring to sound clean during recording, use OBS filters for your headphone monitor mix only, not on the recording track.

Question 3

Why does OBS's noise filter cut out my voice during loud background noise?

Accepted Answer

OBS noise filters work by comparing incoming audio to a noise model and attenuating frames classified as 'noise.' When background noise suddenly spikes (chair scraping, door slamming, keyboard mashing), the filter may misclassify speech + noise frames as all-noise and suppress your voice. This is called false triggering. In RNNoise, there's no threshold to adjust. In NVIDIA RTX Voice, the Intensity slider controls aggressiveness. Lower Intensity reduces false triggering. Alternatively, process the recording file after the fact — post-processing AI has full context of what your voice sounds like throughout the file, so it can better distinguish your voice from momentary noise spikes.

Question 4

Can I remove noise from an OBS MKV recording?

Accepted Answer

Yes. OBS defaults to MKV container for its recordings (safer for crash recovery). Most noise removal tools, including browser-based AI, accept MKV files directly. If your tool requires MP4 or WAV, remux the MKV to MP4 losslessly using FFmpeg: `ffmpeg -i recording.mkv -c copy output.mp4` — this copies the audio and video streams without re-encoding, so no quality loss. Alternatively, extract just the audio: `ffmpeg -i recording.mkv -vn -acodec copy audio.mka` then convert to WAV for processing. OBS also has a 'Remux Recordings' option under Tools that converts MKV to MP4 without re-encoding.

OBS Noise Filter Alternative — Cleaning OBS Recordings After the Fact

OBS noise filters leaving artifacts, cutting your voice, or not fully removing background noise from your recordings?

What You Get:

Free Instant Preview

Hear Voice Isolate transform these real recordings

Steve Jobs iPod Launch

Jeff Bezos Testimony

MLK 'I Have A Dream'

JFK Civil Rights Address

Viral Lawyer Cat Filter

Steve Jobs iPod Launch

Professional speech audio without the cost (and hassle)

No Equipment Required

Professional Quality

Zero Learning Curve

Save Hours of Work

Built for Business

Enterprise-Grade Security

Pay per use

Audio Enhancement

Unlimited Plan

Frequently Asked Questions