Setup guide · updated 4 October 2026
How to add alerts and overlays in OBS Studio
OBS plays transparent video natively, so a personalised alert or socials bar can sit on top of your game and camera with no extra plugins. Here's the clean way to set it up — the same steps work in Streamlabs Desktop.
1. Add a Media Source
- In your scene, click + under Sources and choose Media Source.
- Name it (e.g. 'Follow alert') and browse to your transparent file — the (MOV) for best quality or the (WEBM) for a smaller file.
- Click OK, then drag and resize it in the preview.
2. Loop it or play it once
- Overlays that stay on screen (socials bars, webcam frames): tick Loop.
- One-off alerts: untick Loop and tick 'Restart playback when source becomes active'.
- Now toggling the eye icon plays it from the start every time.
3. Play it on cue with a hotkey
In Settings → Hotkeys, find your source and set 'Show' and 'Hide' keys (or use a Stream Deck). Press show to play the alert, hide when it's done.
4. Get the layers right
Sources at the top of the list draw on top. Keep overlays above your camera and game capture.
Want it to fire automatically on a real follow or sub? Load the same file into your alert tool (Streamer.bot, Streamlabs or StreamElements alerts) as the follow animation.