OBS Timer Plugin: The Built-In Countdown Script vs Ashmanix

You may not need an OBS timer plugin: OBS Studio ships a countdown timer script, countdown.lua, that you load under Tools → Scripts and point at a text source. It counts down a duration you set and shows a final message at zero — enough for "Starting soon" and "Back in 5". If you want several timers, a count up, a dockable control panel, or a scene switch when the timer hits zero, install the Ashmanix Countdown Timer plugin. Both are covered below, with what each one cannot do.

Option 1: the countdown script that ships with OBS

OBS's scripting guide says two example scripts ship with every install, in the data/obs-plugins/frontend-tools/scripts folder under your OBS installation. The folder on current builds actually holds a few, including countdown.lua, clock-source.lua, instant-replay.lua, pause-scene.lua and url-text.py. The countdown one is the timer.

To use it:

1. Add a Text (GDI+) source to the scene where the timer should appear. The script writes into an existing text source; it does not create one.
2. Open Tools → Scripts and click +.
3. Browse to the OBS installation folder, then data\obs-plugins\frontend-tools\scripts, and pick countdown.lua. On Windows that is usually under C:\Program Files\obs-studio\.
4. Select the script in the list. Its settings appear on the right: Duration (minutes), the Text Source to write to, the Final Text shown when the timer reaches zero, and a Reset Timer button.
5. The script also registers a reset hotkey. Bind it under Settings → Hotkeys if you want to restart the countdown without opening the Scripts window.

It is Lua, so nothing extra to install — Lua is embedded in OBS. The timer restarts when the scene containing the text source becomes active, which is exactly what a Starting Soon scene wants and exactly what a timer you need to keep running across scenes does not.

What it cannot do: run more than one timer, count up, count down to a clock time ("live at 8 pm"), or trigger anything at zero beyond changing the text.

Option 2: the Ashmanix Countdown Timer plugin

Ashmanix Countdown Timer is the plugin most people mean by "OBS timer plugin". As listed on its OBS forum page at version 2.2.0, it needs OBS 31.1.0 or newer, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux (64-bit), and the source is on GitHub.

What it adds over the script:

• A dockable panel with the timer controls, so you start, pause and reset from the OBS window rather than from the Scripts dialog.
• Multiple timers, each counting up or down.
• A period timer in days, hours, minutes and seconds, with an option for a steady one-second increment.
• Actions at zero: display a message, or switch scenes when a timer reaches zero.
• Output formatting (version 2.2.0 added an option to split the output into parts).

It still writes into a text source you create, like the script.

Installing it on Windows

The current version is no longer an installer. Per the plugin page:

1. Download the Windows zip from the forum resource page and unzip it.
2. Copy the plugin folder into C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins. Create the obs-studio\plugins folders if they do not exist. This is the location OBS's own plugins guide now recommends for every plugin; the old C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit path still works but is marked as stopping in a future version.
3. If you had an older Ashmanix version installed with the previous Windows installer, remove those files first — the page warns they interfere with the new one.
4. Restart OBS. The timer appears under the Docks menu.

Users on the plugin's thread have reported that a target time already in the past will not start in time mode, and that the timer uses timestamps, so if OBS lags the display can jump a few seconds rather than drift. Check the thread for the state of any bug before relying on a feature on air.