How to Record a Live Stream (and Keep It)

A live stream disappears faster than most people expect. Facebook removes live videos after 30 days, Twitch drops past broadcasts after a week for most channels, and YouTube may not archive a stream that runs past 12 hours. If you want a copy for editing, clips, a replay, or your own records, you need to record the live stream deliberately.

There are three ways to do it, and the most reliable setups use two of them: record locally in OBS, rely on the platform's archive and download it in time, or record in the cloud with your streaming service. This guide covers all three, plus how to record a stream you are watching rather than broadcasting.

Three Ways to Record a Live Stream

Local recording gives you the best master file. Cloud recording protects you when your computer fails. Platform archives are a convenience, not a backup.

How to Record a Live Stream in OBS

OBS Studio records and streams at the same time from the same scenes. The settings live in Settings, Output.

1. Open Settings, Output and set Output Mode to Simple or Advanced.
2. Under Recording, choose a Recording Path on a drive with plenty of free space.
3. Pick a Recording Format (see the next section).
4. Choose the encoder. In Advanced mode, the default is to share the stream's encoder, which adds almost no load. A separate encoder lets you record at a higher bitrate or resolution than you stream, at the cost of extra CPU or GPU work.
5. Click Apply, then use Start Recording in the Controls dock alongside Start Streaming.

Want both started automatically? Tick Automatically record when streaming under Settings, General. If you are new to OBS, our OBS Studio beginner guide explains scenes, sources, and the Controls dock first.

Choose a recording format that survives crashes

A plain MP4 file is only finished when recording stops cleanly. If OBS, the PC, or the power fails mid-stream, a plain MP4 can be unreadable. Two safer options:

• Hybrid MP4. Added in OBS 30.2, it writes the file in a fragmented form that stays recoverable if recording is aborted, then finalises it as a normal MP4 when you stop. Chapter markers are written at the end, so those are lost on a crash, but the video is not.
• MKV. OBS's long-standing recommendation, because an MKV file is not corrupted if the recording is cut off. When you need an MP4 for editing, use File, Remux Recordings, or tick Automatically remux to MP4 in Advanced settings so it happens when you stop.

Recording quality: match the stream or go higher

Sharing the stream encoder means your recording has exactly the bitrate you stream at, perhaps 6,000 kbps at 1080p. That is fine for archiving and clipping. If you plan to edit the footage into a polished video, a separate recording encoder at a higher bitrate gives the editor more to work with. Check the load first: if your stream starts dropping frames, go back to the shared encoder. Our 1080p OBS settings guide and video bitrate guide help you pick numbers.

Save highlights with the replay buffer

The Replay Buffer keeps the last few seconds or minutes in memory and saves them to disk when you press a hotkey. It is the easiest way to capture a great moment for a clip without recording hours of footage. Enable it under Settings, Output, then assign a save hotkey under Settings, Hotkeys.

What Each Platform Keeps, and for How Long

Platform archives are useful, but each one has limits worth knowing before you rely on it.

YouTube

YouTube says that if your live stream is shorter than 12 hours, it can archive it automatically, including 1440p and 2160p streams. Longer streams "may not be captured at all," and YouTube itself recommends keeping a local backup. Archived streams appear in YouTube Studio under Content, Live, where you can change visibility or delete them.

You can download your own videos from YouTube Studio as MP4, but only at 720p or 360p. If you streamed at 1080p or 4K and need the full-quality file, it has to come from your own recording.

Twitch

Twitch only keeps past broadcasts if Store Past Broadcasts is turned on in your Stream Settings, and it can only be switched on in the Creator Dashboard on the web. If it was off when you went live, the broadcast was never saved and Twitch Support cannot recover it. Once it is on, past broadcasts (VODs) last 7 days for most streamers, 14 days for Affiliates, and 60 days for Partners, Prime, and Turbo users. If you stream in 2K or Dual Format, the 2K or vertical version expires after 7 days and the 1080p or horizontal version stays for the rest of your retention period.

To keep a broadcast, download it from the Video Producer (one video at a time; Twitch has no bulk download), export it to a connected YouTube account, or turn the best parts into Highlights. Highlights and uploads are stored indefinitely, but since April 2025 they share a 100-hour storage limit per channel, and you have to delete items to free space. Past broadcasts and clips do not count towards the cap. Our Twitch stream key guide covers the rest of the Twitch dashboard.

Facebook

Facebook changed its policy in February 2025. Live broadcasts started on or after February 19, 2025 can be replayed, downloaded, or shared from your Page or profile for 30 days. Facebook's help centre says live video that is not saved, downloaded, or converted to reels within those 30 days is deleted automatically. You can download the full live video at any time within the window, or use Facebook's highlight tools to turn key moments into reels.

For anything you stream to Facebook regularly, such as church services, classes, or events, treat the 30 days as a download deadline, or record somewhere else. If you stream to Facebook from OBS, our Facebook Live from OBS guide covers the setup.

Record in the Cloud With Livepush

A local recording depends on your computer surviving the whole stream. A cloud recording does not.

When you stream through Livepush, recording starts automatically the moment you go live; there is no toggle to forget. Livepush records the stream it receives as a standard MP4, without extra compression, and lists it in your dashboard where you or any team member with access can download it, usually within minutes of the stream ending. Recordings are included on every paid plan, starting with Pro:

Because the recording is made from Livepush's copy, it does not matter if your PC crashes after the stream or if you were multistreaming to several platforms at once: one stream, one recording. You can also send a recording straight into the pre-recorded live scheduler to re-air it as a live stream, with chat, on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and 40+ other platforms. See livestream recordings for the details.

How to Record a Live Stream You Are Watching

Sometimes you want to record a stream you are not broadcasting: a webinar, a class, your own stream on another device. Options:

• OBS. Add a Window Capture or Display Capture source showing the player, plus desktop audio, and click Start Recording. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• macOS. Press Command, Shift, 5 to open the screenshot toolbar and choose a screen or portion recording.
• Windows 11. The Snipping Tool records a video snip of any rectangle of the screen, and the Xbox Game Bar (Windows, Alt, R) records the active app or game.
• The platform's own download. If the stream is yours, downloading the VOD from YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook avoids a second encode.

A word on rights: recording your own broadcast, or one you have permission for, is fine. Re-uploading or restreaming someone else's live stream without permission usually breaks copyright law and the platform's terms, and the rules on private recording vary by country.

A Simple Setup That Never Loses a Stream

1. Record locally in OBS in Hybrid MP4 or MKV, on a drive with space for the full session.
2. Stream through a service that records in the cloud, so a crash on your PC does not cost you the session.
3. Turn on platform archives (Store past broadcasts on Twitch, archiving on YouTube) as a third copy for viewers.
4. Download anything that expires, especially Facebook lives within 30 days and Twitch VODs within your retention window.
5. Clip and re-use quickly. A recording is most valuable in the first few days, as highlights, shorts, or a scheduled replay.

Summary

To record a live stream reliably, record locally in OBS using Hybrid MP4 or MKV, and keep a second copy in the cloud. Do not treat platform archives as a backup: YouTube may not keep streams longer than 12 hours and only offers 720p downloads, Twitch past broadcasts expire after 7 to 60 days, and Facebook removes live videos after 30 days. Livepush records every stream on paid plans automatically, so the copy is there even when your computer is not.