Last updated: 2026-01-20

For most live presentations and webinars, start with a browser-based studio like StreamYard that lets you upload slides or share your screen without installs. Choose a desktop encoder like OBS or Streamlabs when you specifically need deep scene control and are comfortable with technical setup.

Summary

• A presentation sharing tool lets you show slides, demos, and screens during live sessions or recordings.
• StreamYard offers uploads for Google Slides, PowerPoint, and PDFs, plus flexible screen sharing from any desktop app.(StreamYard blog)
• Browser-based studios prioritize ease of use, guest-friendly links, and fast setup; desktop encoders prioritize granular control.
• For most business talks, webinars, and interviews in the U.S., StreamYard balances quality, control, and simplicity better than more technical tools.

What is a presentation sharing tool, really?

When people in the U.S. search for a "presentation sharing tool," they usually want a simple way to:

• Show slides (PowerPoint, Google Slides, PDFs) while they talk.
• Switch between slides, camera, and maybe a live demo.
• Bring in a guest or co-presenter without tech drama.
• Record everything in good quality for later.

You can do this in two basic ways:

1. Browser-based studios – Everything runs in the cloud. You join from Chrome/Edge, upload slides or share your screen, invite guests with a link, and go live or record.
2. Desktop encoders – You install software on your computer, wire up screen sources and audio routing, and then stream to platforms like YouTube or a meeting app.

Most non-technical presenters, marketers, teachers, and small teams fit better into the first camp.

How does StreamYard handle slide and screen sharing?

If your main question is, "How do I show my deck without breaking the flow?", StreamYard is designed around that.

There are two primary workflows:

1. Upload slides directly
   In the StreamYard studio, you can upload Google Slides, PowerPoint files, or PDFs, then advance them inside the studio.(StreamYard blog) This keeps your desktop clean and lets you control layout (full-screen slides, picture-in-picture with your camera, side-by-side with guests, and so on).

2. Share your screen
   You or your guests can share an entire screen, a specific window (like PowerPoint or Keynote), or a browser tab during a live stream or recording.(StreamYard support) That means you can walk through demos, dashboards, or any app, not just slides.

A few nuances worth knowing:

• For slide uploads, fancy transitions, embedded video, and audio tracks from the file itself do not play; if you need those, you should use screen share instead.(StreamYard blog)
• Screen sharing is desktop-only; phones and tablets can still join, but they can't share screens.(StreamYard support)

In practice, many teams use uploads for clean keynotes and screen share for anything interactive or multimedia-heavy.

How does StreamYard compare to OBS and Streamlabs for presentations?

OBS and Streamlabs Desktop are powerful desktop options. They give you detailed control over scenes, sources, filters, and audio routing. But that power comes with trade-offs.

OBS and Streamlabs strengths for presentations

• In OBS, you can add a Display Capture source to grab your whole monitor, or Window Capture to grab only your slide deck.(OBS docs)
• Window Capture is useful when you want clean slides without showing your taskbar or notifications, and OBS documents it as the way to focus on a single application window.(OBS docs)
• Streamlabs Desktop builds on the OBS engine and adds overlays, alerts, and monetization tools for creators.(Streamlabs GitHub)

Where StreamYard is usually the better fit for slide-based talks

• Setup time – OBS and Streamlabs require installing software, configuring scenes and audio, and checking system requirements.(Streamlabs support) With StreamYard, you open a browser, pick your camera and mic, upload slides or share your screen, and invite a guest.
• Guest experience – In OBS/Streamlabs, guests usually connect through separate meeting tools or more complex workflows. In StreamYard, guests get a link, join in their browser, and can share their own screen.
• Hardware load – OBS and Streamlabs encode everything on your machine and publish minimum/recommended specs.(Streamlabs support) StreamYard offloads the heavy lifting to the cloud, so everyday laptops that struggle with encoder load often do fine.

If you love tinkering with layers, transitions, and manual routing, a desktop encoder might be worth the extra effort. If you just want a reliable live presentation with guests and solid recording, StreamYard usually gives you a smoother path.

What makes a great presentation sharing experience for real audiences?

When you’re presenting to customers, your team, or your community, the tech is supposed to disappear. From user feedback and mainstream use cases, a strong presentation sharing tool should make it easy to:

• Get from idea to live session quickly.
• Bring guests in without explaining settings for 20 minutes.
• Keep audio clear (voice, system, and clip playback under control).
• Apply simple branding so it looks like your event, not just another meeting.
• Capture recordings you can repurpose later.

At StreamYard, we build around those needs:

• Easy, browser-based joining for you and your guests—no installs.
• Independent control of your mic and system audio so you can, for example, narrate while playing a video.
• Local multi-track recordings suitable for editing into podcasts, clips, and on-demand trainings.
• Multi-participant screen sharing so co-hosts can present their own slides or demos.
• Support for both landscape and portrait outputs from the same studio session, which is useful when you want a webinar look on desktop and a mobile-first look on vertical platforms.

The result is less time fiddling with knobs and more time thinking about your story.

When should you care about advanced desktop workflows instead?

There are moments when a desktop encoder like OBS or Streamlabs deserves a look:

• You’re producing a heavily animated, scene-rich show where every pixel layout is hand-crafted.
• You want to integrate niche hardware or custom plugins not available in browser-based tools.
• You’re comfortable managing drivers, encoders, and CPU/GPU load.

OBS, for example, supports a wide range of protocols (including RTMP and others) and multiple encoder options like x264 and hardware encoders, giving technical users more control over how video is processed and delivered.(OBS Wikipedia)

For a typical marketing webinar, customer town hall, course module, or podcast-style show, those gains are usually marginal compared with the extra complexity. Many teams prefer to trade a bit of hyper-customization for simpler, more repeatable workflows.

How do presentation limits and file handling differ across tools?

If you present a lot, file limits and handling details matter more than you think.

• In StreamYard, slide upload supports Google Slides, PowerPoint, and PDFs today.(StreamYard blog) The studio treats slides as individual images, which keeps navigation snappy but means animations and embedded audio/video don’t run.
• Some browser-based alternatives, like Streamlabs Talk Studio, also support slide uploads (pdf, ppt, pptx) alongside screen sharing and note that slides and media are presented as part of the screen-share options.(Streamlabs support)
• OBS, by design, doesn’t "import" slide files at all—you always present via Display or Window Capture sources, which gives you control but leaves slide transitions entirely up to PowerPoint, Keynote, or your browser.(OBS docs)

The win with StreamYard is that you can choose per session: upload slides when you want reliability and layout control, or share your screen when you need animations, audio, and live demos.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard if you want the fastest path to confident live presentations, webinars, and recordings with guests, plus flexible slide and screen sharing from the browser.
• Use screen share in StreamYard when your presentation relies on transitions, embedded media, or live product demos.
• Consider OBS or Streamlabs only if you explicitly need advanced scene design and you’re comfortable investing time in setup and hardware.
• Whichever tool you choose, favor workflows that keep your focus on the story you’re telling, not the software running in the background.