How to use a spinning wheel on stream

Browser Source or Window Capture?

Use Window Capture for draws you run by hand, and a Browser Source for a clean wheel that loads with your scene.

The OBS Project's Browser Source documentation describes the source as a web browser built on the Chromium Embedded Framework. It is a separate browser, so the wheels you saved in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari don't appear in it.

How to add the wheel as a Browser Source

To add the wheel as a Browser Source, paste your wheel link into the source's URL field.

1. Set up your wheel on the embed generator and press Copy link. The wheel link shows only the wheel, the Spin button and the last result.
2. In OBS, add a Browser source to your scene and paste the wheel link into URL.
3. Set Width and Height. The default is 800 × 600; a taller size leaves room for the Spin button under the wheel.
4. To spin, right-click the source, choose Interact, then click Spin or the wheel.

For a quick list, type the entries straight into the address, separated by | characters: https://wheelspinning.net/embed/?entries=Ana|Ben|Cleo|Dev. Add &seconds=8 for an 8-second spin, or &popup=0 to show the result under the wheel instead of in a popup.

Leave "Refresh browser source when scene becomes active" off. With it on, OBS reloads the page each time you switch to the scene, and the wheel starts again from the address you pasted. "Shutdown source when not visible" unloads the page in the same way whenever the source is hidden.

How to capture the wheel window

To capture the wheel window, open the wheel in your browser and add that window to OBS as a Window Capture source.

1. Open your wheel at wheelspinning.net in its own browser window. Your autosaved list loads as you left it.
2. In OBS, add a Window Capture source and pick that browser window. On macOS 13 or later, use the macOS Screen Capture source instead.
3. Crop the capture to the wheel, or resize the browser window so the wheel fills most of it.
4. Spin by clicking the wheel or pressing Space in the browser.

The OBS Project's Window Capture documentation notes that the source performs less well on macOS than on other systems. With 2 monitors, put the browser on the second screen and press Full screen on the wheel, so only the wheel and the Spin button show. With 1 monitor, Full screen covers OBS, so a cropped window is easier.

Make the wheel easy to read on stream

Viewers often watch on small screens, so give the wheel large labels, strong contrast and a spin long enough to follow.

Run a fair viewer giveaway

A stream giveaway is fair when viewers see the entry list, the odds and the spin. The stream recording keeps proof of all 3.

1. Announce the rules on stream and in writing: who can enter, how, the closing time and the prize.
2. Start the Timer for the entry window, with presets from 15 seconds to 5 minutes.
3. Close entries and paste the entrant names into the wheel, one per line. Press Remove duplicates if each viewer gets 1 entry.
4. Show the full list on stream, plus the weights table if anyone has extra entries.
5. Turn on "Remove the winner automatically" when there are several prizes. Choose "Every copy" when a name can appear on more than one line, so nobody wins twice.
6. Spin on stream and read the winner from the popup.
7. Export the Results history as CSV, with a time for every pick, and keep the stream replay.

The prize wheel adds an odds table, an entrant import and a winner log with CSV export. The fair giveaway guide covers rules, contacting winners and platform promotion policies.

Use blind mode for suspense

Blind mode hides the names while the wheel spins, so viewers learn the winner only when it stops. Turn it on in Customize, under Spinning.

The winner is already drawn when the spin starts, so blind mode changes the show, not the odds. Pair it with a longer spin of 15 to 30 seconds and a winner sound. Show the full entry list before the spin, because viewers can't read names during it.

Chat commands and integrations

Wheel Spinning has no Twitch or YouTube integration, so it can't read chat, add entries from chat commands or spin on a viewer's command.

3 workflows still work without an integration:

• Copy names from chat into the wheel when entries close, for small giveaways.
• Paste an entry list from a chat bot you already use, for larger ones.
• Collect entries through a form, then import the CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file.

Developers can go further. The embedded wheel accepts spin and setEntries messages from the page around it and reports each result back. Building a bot or an overlay on that needs your own code, and the embed page is the starting point.

Can viewers trust the wheel?

Yes. Every result is drawn with the browser's crypto.getRandomValues before the wheel moves, and the animation only shows it. Pressing Stop, the spin time and blind mode don't change who wins. Weights are the only way to change the odds, and the weights table shows each chance as a percentage. The randomness test runs 10,000 picks on a list you paste in, so anyone can see the spread.

Questions streamers ask