The OBS-NDI plugin now ships under the name DistroAV

The setup

OBS-NDI is the plugin VTubers have historically used to send an OBS scene, or a single source within it, across a local network as an uncompressed NDI feed, commonly to split webcam or model tracking on one machine from rendering and encoding on another. As retrieved on 16 September 2026, the project's own repository states plainly that the plugin no longer carries that name: 'OBS-NDI was renamed to DistroAV around June 2024 per obsproject.com's request to drop OBS from our name.' Anyone still searching for OBS-NDI documentation is, as of this writing, looking for DistroAV.

What the documents show

The project's GitHub repository lists three features: an NDI Source to receive NDI video and audio inside OBS, an NDI Output to transmit OBS's own video and audio as an NDI feed, and an NDI Filter that sends a single source or scene to NDI on its own. The repository states current requirements as OBS v31.1.1 or higher and NDI Runtime v6.3 or higher. A second document, the project's installation wiki page, adds what the README does not: the preferred Windows install method is the winget package manager, which installs DistroAV, OBS and the NDI dependency together, alongside Chocolatey and manual-zip alternatives. The project's own site adds one fact worth stating precisely: DistroAV calls itself 'a community-led project' that 'is not affiliated with OBS Project nor Vizrt NDI AB,' the company behind NDI itself.

The craft

The two-computer split this plugin enables is a specific answer to a specific load problem: face and body tracking, an avatar renderer, OBS's own compositing and an encoder can all compete for the same GPU and CPU on one machine. Running the avatar software and an NDI Output on one PC, and OBS with an NDI Source pulling that feed in on a second PC, moves the render and encode work off the tracking machine. The installation wiki's version requirements are the practical gate: both machines need compatible OBS and NDI Runtime versions, or the source will not appear.

Keeping the creator in control

The rename and the independence statement both clarify who is responsible for the tool. DistroAV is not an OBS Project product and not an NDI vendor product, so support, security fixes and roadmap decisions come from a separate community team, documented on its own repository rather than folded into OBS's release notes. Knowing that boundary is what lets a creator judge which changelog to watch when something breaks.

• Are both the tracking machine and the rendering machine running compatible OBS and NDI Runtime versions?
• Is the feed being sent as a full NDI Output, or would a single-source NDI Filter reduce unnecessary network load?
• Since DistroAV is independently maintained, is its installed version still receiving updates for the OBS version in use?

A plugin that changed its name mid-life is easy to document incorrectly by citing an old page. Going to the project's current repository, rather than an archived OBS-NDI listing, is the difference between accurate setup instructions and ones that describe software that no longer exists under that name.