OBS browser source test
Add this page as a Browser Source and it reports what that source can do, live, on the rendered page. It reads the OBS version, the page permission level, the size you gave it, whether the graphics card does the drawing, how often OBS paints, whether transparency works, what fires when scenes change, whether audio plays, how far the clock drifts in a minute, and whether the browser can save settings.
Nothing leaves your machine. The page has no tracking and sends no results anywhere. It runs the checks and prints them.
How to run it
- In OBS, add a Browser source to any scene.
- Paste
https://timerbox.app/obs-browser-source-test/as the URL. Leave the size at 800 by 600 or match your timer's box. - Watch the report fill in. The frame rate and clock lines take ten and sixty seconds.
- To copy the summary, right-click the source, choose Interact, and click Copy summary. A screenshot of the source works too.
Below the report is a short note on each line. Running the page in a normal browser tab shows the same report for that browser, which tells you less about OBS.
Environment
- OBS
- checking
- Browser engine
- checking
- Page permissions
- checking
- Source size
- checking
Rendering
- Render tier
- checking
- 2D drawing
- checking
- Frame rate
- measuring, 10 s
- Transparency
- swatches below, solid to clear. The clear ones should show the scene.
Lifecycle
- Visibility
- checking
- Events
Audio, clock, storage
- Audio
- checking
- Clock check
- measuring, 60 s
- Storage
- checking
Summary
Right-click the source and choose Interact to copy the summary or play the tone again.
What each line means
OBS. Whether the page sees the OBS browser source plugin, and which version. A normal browser shows "not OBS". OBS 30 ships Chrome 103 as its engine and OBS 31 and 32 ship Chrome 127, which is what the engine line reports.
Page permissions. The Browser Source has a page permission setting. At the default level the page learns when OBS is streaming or recording and nothing more. TimerBox timers need only the default.
Source size. The Width and Height you typed in OBS, as the page measures them. The timer fits any box, so this line mostly confirms the numbers went in. Where a size matches a builder preset, the preset is named.
Render tier. Whether the graphics card or the processor draws the page. Every theme runs either way. Drawing on the processor costs CPU, so on that tier keep one animated theme per scene and use Classic for the rest.
Frame rate. How often OBS paints the source over ten seconds. The Browser Source FPS setting caps this. 30 is the OBS default and enough for every theme.
Transparency. Five swatches from solid to clear. Inside OBS the clear ones show the scene behind them. If all five look solid, the source has a background color set in its Custom CSS.
Lifecycle. Every visibility change and OBS event as it fires. Switch scenes, toggle Studio Mode, start and stop the stream, and watch what arrives. This is how the timer's "start when you go live" mode knows the moment. With Shutdown source when not visible on, the page reloads each time its scene returns, and the list starts over.
Audio. Whether the page can play a sound without a click. OBS allows it. To hear it on the stream, tick Control audio via OBS in the source and set its level in the mixer.
Clock check. A worker ticks once a second for a minute and the page compares each tick to the wall clock. The timer runs on the wall clock, so a slow tick costs nothing, but a large spread means the source was being throttled.
Storage. Whether the browser can save a small value. The builder keeps your settings this way. An OBS source needs none of it, because the URL carries the whole timer.
Updated 2026-09-05. Questions or a summary that looks wrong: contact.