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v4l2loopback

Kernel module that creates the virtual camera OBS outputs to.

Not display-server dependentGPL-2.0-or-later

Install

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS

sudo apt install v4l2loopback-dkms

Fedora, RHEL, Nobara

First, enable the repository:

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install akmod-v4l2loopback

Lives in RPM Fusion free, not Fedora's own repositories.

Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS

sudo pacman -S v4l2loopback-dkms

openSUSE

sudo zypper install v4l2loopback

NixOS, or Nix on any distro

nix profile install nixpkgs#linuxPackages.v4l2loopback

This is the piece that makes “Start Virtual Camera” in OBS do anything. It is a kernel module, so it needs to match your running kernel — which is why every distro ships it as DKMS or akmod, rebuilding it automatically on kernel updates.

If the virtual camera button in OBS is greyed out or errors, this module is almost always the reason. After installing, sudo modprobe v4l2loopback loads it immediately; a config in /etc/modules-load.d/ makes it persist across reboots.

Browsers are the common consumer, and some of them cache the camera list, so a virtual camera that appears after the browser started may need a restart to show up in a video call.