When you download an OBS plugin you will either receive:

• An installer that installs the plugin automatically
• A ZIP file containing files that must be copied into the correct OBS folders

This page explains how to manually install an OBS plugin from a ZIP file.

This section describes the folder structure used by plugins on Windows.

After extracting the plugin ZIP file you should see a folder named after the plugin. For example:

obs-plugin-countdown

Inside this folder there are usually two subfolders:

• bin – contains the main plugin files (.dll, .pdb)
• data – contains supporting files (.json, .ini, assets, etc.)

This is the normal installation method for OBS installed using the standard installer.

Extract the plugin ZIP file.

You should now have a folder named:

obs-plugin-countdown

Copy the entire plugin folder into:

C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins

Your final structure should look similar to:

C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins\obs-plugin-countdown

Note: The ProgramData folder is hidden by default.

To show hidden folders:
- Open File Explorer
- Click View → Show
- Enable Hidden items

Restart OBS. The plugin should now be detected automatically.

If you are running a portable version of OBS (for example from a USB drive), the plugin files must be copied directly into the OBS folder.

For example, OBS may be located at:

D:\obs

The instructions below refer to this location as OBS_Portable.

Locate the plugin binary files inside the extracted plugin folder:

obs-plugin-countdown\bin\64bit

Copy the .dll and .pdb files into:

{{OBS_Portable}}\obs-plugins\64bit\

Example:

D:\obs\obs-plugins\64bit\

Locate the plugin data folder:

obs-plugin-countdown\data

Go to:

{{OBS_Portable}}\data\obs-plugins

Create a new folder with the plugin name:

obs-plugin-countdown

Example final location:

D:\obs\data\obs-plugins\obs-plugin-countdown\

Copy the contents of the plugin data folder into this location.

Restart OBS to detect the plugin.

Plugins on macOS are packaged differently from Windows plugins.

Instead of folders such as bin and data, macOS plugins are usually distributed as a single .plugin bundle.

You should have a plugin file with the extension:

.plugin

Copy this file into:

~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins

Restart OBS. The plugin should now be detected automatically.

Note: The Library folder is hidden on macOS.

Press the following shortcut in Finder to toggle hidden files:

CMD + SHIFT + .

From version 2.0.12 onwards the plugin no longer provides a Windows installer. Older versions installed files directly inside the OBS installation folder.

If you previously installed an older version you may need to remove those files once.

Delete the following if they exist:

• C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\obs-plugin-countdown
• C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit\obs-plugin-countdown.dll
• C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit\obs-plugin-countdown.pdb

After this cleanup, future plugin updates will simply overwrite the folder in:

C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins