OBS and Tau both record your screen — but they're built for completely different things. Here's an honest comparison for anyone trying to make timelapses.
If you’ve tried to make a timelapse and done any searching, you’ve probably landed on OBS as an option. It’s free, it’s powerful, and everyone recommends it for recording. So why would you use anything else?
Here’s the honest answer: OBS is built for live streaming. Making a timelapse with it is like using a broadcast mixing desk to record a voice memo. It works, but it’s fighting the tool the entire time.
What OBS does well
OBS is exceptional at what it was designed for — capturing your screen or camera in real time and sending that output somewhere. Live to Twitch, recorded to disk, streamed to YouTube. It handles multiple sources, custom scenes, audio mixing, and complex layouts with ease.
For streamers, it’s the gold standard. It’s free, it’s stable, and it has a decade of community support behind it.
Where OBS falls short for timelapses
No native frame interval recording. OBS records at full frame rate — 30fps, 60fps, whatever you set. A timelapse requires capturing one frame every few seconds and discarding the rest. OBS doesn’t do this. To make a timelapse, you record full video, then use a separate tool (Handbrake, FFmpeg, a video editor) to speed it up. That’s two tools, a large intermediate file, and manual work every time.
No built-in editor. OBS outputs a raw recording file. Trimming, adding overlays, exporting to GIF or WEBM — all of that happens elsewhere.
Heavyweight for background recording. OBS is designed to be your primary application. Running it in the background for a 6-hour recording session while you’re working is more resource-intensive than purpose-built background tools.
Steep learning curve. Scenes, sources, encoders, bitrates — OBS has a lot of surface area. If you just want to capture your work as a timelapse, this is all noise.
What Tau does differently
Tau is built specifically for timelapse. The entire workflow — record, edit, export — is designed around one use case.
Frame interval recording from the start. Set how often you want a frame captured (every 3 seconds, every 10 seconds, whatever fits your session length) and Tau handles the rest. No post-processing required.
Screen, camera, or both. Record your screen as a timelapse, your camera, or both simultaneously — the combined output is rendered automatically.
Built-in editor. Trim, add overlays, attach audio, and export directly from Tau. No external tools needed.
Runs quietly in the background. Tau is designed to run while you work, not instead of it.
The honest comparison
| Tau | OBS | |
|---|---|---|
| Native timelapse (frame intervals) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Screen recording | ✅ | ✅ |
| Camera recording | ✅ | ✅ |
| Screen + camera simultaneously | ✅ | ✅ (complex setup) |
| Built-in timelapse editor | ✅ | ❌ |
| Timer overlays | ✅ | ❌ |
| Export to GIF / WEBM | ✅ | ❌ |
| Runs in background quietly | ✅ | ❌ |
| Free | ❌ | ✅ |
| Live streaming | ❌ | ✅ |
Which should you use?
Use OBS if: you’re live streaming, you need complex multi-source scene management, or you need a free tool and are happy to post-process.
Use Tau if: you want to capture your work as a timelapse with minimal friction — screen, camera, or both — and export something polished without touching a separate video editor.
They’re not really competing for the same use case. OBS is a broadcast tool. Tau is a timelapse tool. If timelapse is what you’re making, Tau is the right choice.
Download Tau at trytau.app — available for macOS and Windows.