How to Use Your GoPro as a Webcam with OBS Studio (No Capture Card Required)

If you are stuck at home like me and have some old gear lying around you might wonder what you can do with it to put it to some use. Maybe you got no webcam for your video calls, but you have an old GoPro. Most websites and videos say you need a capture card to make this work. But that’s not true. There are some special applications out there, too that achieve it, but they will set you back some bucks.

So, is it possible to use a GoPro as a webcam without a capture card and with free tools only? The short answer: Yes, it is! After some tinkering, I got a basic setup running. The only caveat is that there is a slight delay but on the bright side: You can use your old GoPro not only as a webcam but for streaming and recording via OBS Studio, too.

What you need:

• A GoPro obviously… (supported are GoPro HERO7 Black, HERO5 (incl. Session), HERO4 (incl. Session), HERO+, HERO3+, HERO3, HERO2 w/ WiFi BacPac as far as I know. Be sure to have the latest firmware installed!)
• FFmpeg
• OBS Studio
• OBS-VirtualCam Plugin (for webcam use)

Optional:

• Python
• GoProStream.py Script

Let’s start:

1. Install OBS Studio
2. Install OBS-VirtualCam Plugin
3. Install FFmpeg or extract the binaries into a folder of your choice e.g. C:/FFmpeg
4. Connect your computer to your GoPro’s WiFi (I needed several tries before my PC actually connected to my GoPro. If it doesn’t open the GoPro Quik application on your PC and try again.)
5. Open following URL in your browser:
   http://10.5.5.9/gp/gpControl/execute?p1=gpStream&a1=proto_v2&c1=restart
   This will start your GoPro’s stream. It’s the same that you see on your smartphone once it is connected to your GoPro.
6. Open the folder where FFmpeg is located in a command prompt and execute the following line:
   ffmpeg -fflags nobuffer -f:v mpegts -probesize 8192 -i udp://10.5.5.100:8554 -f mpegts -vcodec copy udp://localhost:10000
   This creates a new local stream from your GoPro’s stream.
   On Windows: Be sure to allow the network connection of FFmpeg through your firewall: Check both private and public as your GoPro’s WiFi is by default a public WiFi!
7. Open OBS Studio and add a new Media Source with the following settings:
   Uncheck Local File
   Input: udp://@:10000
   Input Format: mpegts
8. You should be all set and see your GoPro’s video stream in OBS Studio now. Go to Tools>VirtualCam and hit Start. Be happy and use your GoPro as a Webcam. :)

Optional (preferred) method:

1. Do steps 1-4 from above.
2. Additionally, install Python and download the script from the link above and place it in the folder where FFmpeg is located
3. Open the script in a text editor and edit line number 43 to be: STREAM=True
4. Start the script in a command shell via:
   python GoProStream.py
   The script handles the connection to your GoPro and starts FFmpeg for you.
5. Continue at step 7 from above.

Voila, you got yourself a GoPro Hero Webcam. :D

Let me know in the comments if this works for you or if you got any problems following this guide!