diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index abe9895b9..f063c0a8f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,23 @@ include(ObsHelpers)
 include(ObsCpack)
 include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
+# Must be a string in the format of "x.x.x-rcx"
+if(DEFINED RELEASE_CANDIDATE)
+	set(OBS_VERSION "${RELEASE_CANDIDATE}")
+	string(REPLACE "-rc" "." RC_SPLIT ${RELEASE_CANDIDATE})
+	string(REPLACE "." ";" RC_SPLIT ${RC_SPLIT})
+	message(WARNING "******************************************************************************\nRelease candidate deteced, OBS_VERSION is now: ${OBS_VERSION}\n******************************************************************************")
+	list(GET RC_SPLIT 0 OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR)
+	list(GET RC_SPLIT 1 OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR)
+	list(GET RC_SPLIT 2 OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH)
+	list(GET RC_SPLIT 3 OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE)
+else()
+	set(OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR 0)
+	set(OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR 0)
+	set(OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH 0)
+	set(OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE 0)
+endif()
+
 if(MSVC AND NOT EXISTS "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/ALL_BUILD.vcxproj.user")
 	file(GENERATE
 		OUTPUT "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/ALL_BUILD.vcxproj.user"
diff --git a/libobs/obs-config.h b/libobs/obs-config.h
index 52b95cfd3..d9be86154 100644
--- a/libobs/obs-config.h
+++ b/libobs/obs-config.h
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@
 # define OBS_INSTALL_PREFIX ""
 # define OBS_PLUGIN_DESTINATION "obs-plugins"
 # define OBS_RELATIVE_PREFIX "../../"
+# define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR 0
+# define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR 0
+# define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH 0
+# define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_VER 0
+# define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE 0
 #endif
 
 #define OBS_INSTALL_DATA_PATH OBS_INSTALL_PREFIX OBS_DATA_PATH
diff --git a/libobs/obsconfig.h.in b/libobs/obsconfig.h.in
index c08fa7321..a959f1482 100644
--- a/libobs/obsconfig.h.in
+++ b/libobs/obsconfig.h.in
@@ -22,3 +22,20 @@
 #define LIBOBS_IMAGEMAGICK_DIR_STYLE_6L 6
 #define LIBOBS_IMAGEMAGICK_DIR_STYLE_7GE 7
 #define LIBOBS_IMAGEMAGICK_DIR_STYLE @LIBOBS_IMAGEMAGICK_DIR_STYLE@
+
+/* NOTE: Release candidate version numbers internally are always the previous
+ * main release number!  For example, if the current public release is 21.0 and
+ * the build is 22.0 release candidate 1, internally the build number (defined
+ * by LIBOBS_API_VER/etc) will always be 21.0, despite the OBS_VERSION string
+ * saying "22.0 RC1".
+ *
+ * If the release candidate version number is 0.0.0 and the RC number is 0,
+ * that means it's not a release candidate build. */
+#define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR @OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR@
+#define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR @OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR@
+#define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH @OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH@
+#define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_VER \
+	MAKE_SEMANTIC_VERSION(OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MAJOR, \
+	                      OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MINOR, \
+	                      OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_PATCH)
+#define OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE @OBS_RELEASE_CANDIDATE@