OBS Timer
This free OBS timer is a ready-made countdown overlay for OBS Browser Source. It opens with stream-friendly defaults — a dark 10-minute preset, centered timer text, and a reusable URL — then lets you adjust duration, label, colour, transparency, sound, and display settings for your scene. Use this page when you want the ready-made OBS timer URL itself. Use the OBS setup guide when you need step-by-step Browser Source instructions, transparent CSS, source dimensions, or reset troubleshooting. It is useful for BRB screens, starting-soon scenes, intermission breaks, raid countdowns, and live challenge windows where the URL should stay stable in OBS while the timer settings remain editable in the browser. For step-by-step OBS browser source setup instructions, custom CSS, source dimensions, and scene-switch reset troubleshooting, our OBS setup guide explains the full workflow.
What is a obs timer used for?
- ✓On-screen countdowns for stream segments, intermissions, sponsored reads, and planned breaks.
- ✓Game round timers visible to viewers, casters, and co-hosts without adding another desktop app to the capture stack.
- ✓BRB and "Starting soon" countdowns where the timer should sit over a designed scene without a solid background box.
- ✓Sub-goal, raid, charity, and live challenge timers that need a stable browser-source URL you can reuse between streams.
- ✓OBS scenes that need a stable browser-source URL, readable labels, and normal timer settings you can tune for the layout.
- ✓Streamer production checklists where the timer URL is saved once in OBS and updated by changing URL parameters later.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is different about the OBS Timer overlay?
The OBS Timer starts from the same timer engine with route defaults for a 10-minute duration, dark theme, centered position, and an "OBS Timer" label. Transparency, sizing, and sound remain normal settings you can choose for your stream layout.
Should I use /obs-timer or the OBS setup guide?
Use /obs-timer when you want a ready-made OBS countdown overlay. Use /obs when you need step-by-step browser-source setup, transparent-background CSS, source dimensions, or scene-switch reset troubleshooting.
How do I change the duration or use the 10-minute preset?
The page opens at the 10-minute preset. To set a different countdown length, open settings and enter your own minutes and seconds — the new duration is applied immediately and saved into the URL so the same length reloads next time.
Can I change the on-screen look of the overlay?
Yes. Open settings to change the label text, pick from the available fonts, set the text colour, and adjust the size so the overlay matches your scene. Each change updates the live timer and is captured in the shareable URL.
Can I save this as a reusable OBS scene source?
Yes. Paste the URL into your OBS Browser Source once — every setting (duration, label, font, colour) is encoded in the URL, so the same link reloads your exact overlay next stream. If you change settings later, copy the updated URL back into that source. You can also bookmark the URL to reuse it across scenes, projects, or other streaming tools.
Does the countdown keep running if I switch OBS scenes or browser tabs?
While the OBS scene holding the timer is active, the browser source runs like a normal page and the countdown advances normally. If you switch to a scene where the source is hidden, OBS can throttle its timers the same way a background browser tab does — leave "Shutdown source when not visible" unchecked (and avoid "Refresh browser when scene becomes active" if you do not want a reset) so it keeps time across scene switches. In a regular browser, a backgrounded tab can have its tick throttled or paused, but the timer is anchored to the clock, so when you return to the tab the display rapidly catches up to the correct remaining time.
Can I use the OBS Timer without OBS — on a second screen or in a browser tab?
Yes. The OBS Timer is a normal web page that happens to ship with stream-friendly defaults, so you can open it fullscreen on a second monitor, a confidence screen, or any browser tab without OBS at all. OBS is only needed when you want the countdown composited into a scene as a browser source.
Related timers
More timers
Set any duration on the homepage timer.
Short (10–25 min)
Long (30+ min)
By use case
- Classroom
- Stream
- Presentation
- Fullscreen
- OBS Timer
- Interval
- Tabata
- Relax
- Happy Cat
- Playful Cat
- Black Cat
- Airplane
- Paper Plane
- Flight Path
Need a section-by-section agenda timer? Open the presentation flow timer.