Your Twitch viewers heard the game perfectly during the livestream, but the saved broadcast contains only your microphone. Before changing headphones, reinstalling OBS, or blaming the game, check which audio mix OBS sent to the Twitch VOD.
OBS Studio can transmit one mix for live viewers and a different mix for the replay. That is useful when a creator wants to omit certain sounds from an archive, but it also means a game can sound normal live and disappear from the recording.
Twitch muting a section of a replay is a separate problem with a different remedy.
Recheck routing after adding audio sources or updating OBS. Rave-Tech’s OBS Studio update guide gives broader context for checking source organization and audio stability after software changes.
Identify the Kind of Audio Loss
Missing from the beginning: If the entire VOD is silent, or the game is absent throughout while your voice remains, first investigate the selected OBS VOD track and its source assignments. An audio meter moving in OBS shows that a source is receiving sound. It does not prove that the source was included in the replay mix.
Only certain sections are silent: Check the VOD in Twitch’s Video Producer for a muted-audio indicator. That points toward Twitch’s audio-recognition process rather than a source being omitted from the whole OBS VOD track.
There is no replay at all: That is a storage question, not an audio-track question. Check whether Twitch was configured to save past broadcasts before the stream began.
Fix the Twitch VOD Track in OBS
OBS’s official Twitch VOD Track Guide explains the two-mix setup. Track 1 normally carries the live mix and track 2 the VOD mix, but check the track actually selected in your Output settings rather than assuming those numbers were never changed.
- Open Settings → Stream in OBS and confirm your Twitch connection, then open Settings → Output.
- Locate Twitch VOD Track. In Simple output mode, you may first need Enable Custom Encoder Settings. In Advanced mode, check the Streaming output section and its selected VOD track.
- In the Audio Mixer, open Advanced Audio Properties. Put the microphone and game sources on both the live track and the selected VOD track. For the usual track-1/track-2 setup, both checkboxes should be selected for each sound you want preserved.
- If you intentionally keep a separate, authorized music source out of replays, leave it off the VOD track. Do not accidentally exclude the game or microphone alongside it.
Changing these assignments affects future broadcasts. It cannot reconstruct audio that was never included in a previously saved Twitch replay, although a separate local recording may still contain it.
Check Whether Desktop Audio Is Hiding Two Sources
Another trap appears when game sound and music reach OBS together through a single Desktop Audio source.
The track checkboxes cannot remove just the music from that combined signal. Excluding Desktop Audio from the VOD also excludes the game.
On supported Windows setups, OBS’s Application Audio Capture instructions explain how to capture applications separately. Per-application capture was introduced in OBS Studio 28 for Windows 10 version 2004 or later and Windows 11. OBS 30.1 added an audio-capture option within Game Capture and Window Capture. Individual application compatibility can vary.
Once the required programs are reliably captured as separate sources, OBS recommends disabling the global Desktop Audio source to avoid doubling the sound. Test that every wanted audio source still reaches the live mix before leaving that setting off.
A console connected through a capture card may send music and game effects together as one HDMI audio feed. OBS track routing cannot separate sounds that arrive already mixed. A game’s own streamer-mode or music controls may be the practical alternative.
Treat Twitch-Muted Audio Separately
Twitch says its audio-recognition system can mute portions of stored broadcasts containing detected copyrighted audio. Its muted-audio appeal instructions explain how to inspect a flagged video and request review when the identification or permission assessment is incorrect.
An OBS VOD track is not a music license. Leaving copyrighted music out of the saved replay does not grant permission to transmit it live. Buying a song or paying for a personal music subscription does not, by itself, authorize use in a public stream.
If the whole broadcast is missing, Twitch’s past-broadcast storage guidance directs creators to enable Store Past Broadcasts in the web Creator Dashboard ahead of time. Turning it on after a stream cannot recover a broadcast Twitch never stored.
Test the Replay, Not Only the OBS Meters
Make a short, low-stakes live broadcast with your voice and game audio, then review its saved VOD after processing. Listen to the same moments you checked live.
A local OBS recording is helpful as a backup, but its track settings can differ from the audio Twitch saves.
The useful distinction is simple: a sound missing throughout the replay suggests routing; a flagged muted section suggests Twitch’s recognition process; an absent replay suggests storage settings.
Diagnose which one happened before changing hardware or rebuilding a working streaming setup.