win-capture.dll is considered a type of Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file. Dynamic Link Library files, like win-capture.dll, are essentially a "guide book" that stores information and instructions for executable (EXE) files - like AppInstaller.exe - to follow. These files were created so that multiple programs (eg. OBS Studio) could share the same win-capture.dll file, saving valuable memory allocation, therefore making your computer run more efficiently.
Unfortunately, what makes DLL files so convenient and efficient, also makes them extremely vulnerable to problems. If something happens to a shared DLL file, either it goes missing or gets corrupted in some way, it can generate a "runtime" error message. Runtime is pretty self-explanatory; it means that these errors are triggered when win-capture.dll is attempted to be loaded either when OBS Studio is starting up, or in some cases already running. Some of the most common win-capture.dll errors include:
- Access Violation at address - win-capture.dll.
- win-capture.dll could not be found.
- Cannot find C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit\win-capture.dll.
- Cannot register win-capture.dll.
- Cannot start OBS Studio. A required component is missing: win-capture.dll. Please install OBS Studio again.
- Failed to load win-capture.dll.
- The application has failed to start because win-capture.dll was not found.
- The file win-capture.dll is missing or corrupt.
- This application failed to start because win-capture.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Your win-capture.dll file could be missing due to accidental deletion, uninstalled as a shared file of another program (shared with OBS Studio), or deleted by a malware infection. Furthermore, win-capture.dll file corruption could be caused from a power outage when loading OBS Studio, system crash while loading win-capture.dll, bad sectors on your storage media (usually your primary hard drive), or quite commonly, a malware infection. Thus, it's critical to make sure your anti-virus is kept up-to-date and scanning regularly.