Bug 514179

Summary:	Window flickering in OBS recordings
Product:	[Plasma] kwin	Reporter:	francois.rhandy9
Component:	screencasting	Assignee:	KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	normal	CC:	xaver.hugl
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.5.4
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description francois.rhandy9 2026-01-05 13:14:30 UTC

SUMMARY
Windows (most notably Steam) visibly flicker during full-screen OBS display capture on Wayland. The flickering does not occur when using a rectangular region capture that covers the entire screen.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Log into a Wayland session in KDE Plasma
2. Open OBS Studio and add a Display Capture source
3. Select an entire monitor/output
4. Start recording
5. Observe visible window flickering in the OBS preview that also persists in the final recording
6. Open the Display Capture properties and configure it to use a rectangular region covering the entire screen instead of a specific output
7. Start recording again
8. Flickering does not occur

OBSERVED RESULT
Visible window flickering occurs when recording a specific display output.

EXPECTED RESULT
Recording a specific display output should not cause window flickering and should behave identically to region capture covering the same area.

SOFTWARE / OS VERSIONS
Distribution: EndeavourOS
Kernel: 6.18.3-2-cachyos
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.21.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
GPU: NVIDIA
Driver: nvidia-open-dkms 590.48.01

Display setup:
1920×1080 @ 60 Hz
2560×1080 @ 60 Hz
3440×1440 @ 120 Hz (VRR enabled)

Comment 1 Zamundaaa 2026-01-08 16:47:01 UTC

I can't replicate that here, with the same driver version.
Do you have any environment variables set for KWin or the Nvidia driver? You can check with
> env | grep -E 'KWIN|NV'

Comment 2 francois.rhandy9 2026-01-08 18:34:52 UTC

Here is the output of env | grep -E 'KWIN|NV'

KWIN_TRIPLE_BUFFER=1
NVCC_CCBIN=/usr/bin/g++
BASH_ENV=/home/foibles/.bashenv-trace
INVOCATION_ID=1838e52f84eb4ce29a9eba28a07d1ab7

Comment 3 Zamundaaa 2026-01-08 22:48:54 UTC

That KWin environment variable doesn't actually exist, you can remove that... The correct one would be problematic on Nvidia though.
As there's no other env var, either some part of the chain isn't doing explicit sync correctly, or there's something else different on your system.

Comment 4 francois.rhandy9 2026-01-09 13:16:06 UTC

Alright, I'll do some more digging on my end