Do you want to know how to record Twitch streams on a PC? Do you want to record your own broadcasts while you broadcast them? Do you want to record another streamer’s broadcasts so you can watch them later? You can do all of those things and more with a free tool and a little patience. This tutorial shows you how.
Twitch it’s huge. If you’re a gamer, you’ve probably seen someone else’s content on the platform. Twitch has millions of users from all over the world and new users join all the time. You can watch games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, PUBG, Minecraft, Fortnite, and many more. It’s a streaming service that you can watch live, but there’s also an archive feature to watch older streams.
If you don’t want to rely on your favorite streamer to archive their old streams or want to record your own, you can do so. Recording your own stream also means you can upload it to other sites like YouTube or edit it before publishing.
How to set up your Twitch stream
To set up your Twitch stream you will need the help of other software. You can use Twitch Studio, OBS or XSPLIT.
We are using OBS, open Announcer Software for this to happen. There is a version of OBS for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Installing OBS for Twitch Streaming
- Install OBS on your computer.
- Select ‘Next’ on the pages until you reach the page to enter your streaming key. Click ‘Get Streaming Key’.
- Click “Copy” next to your streaming key.
- Click “Next” in OBS after pasting your streaming key.
You have now linked OBS with Twitch and will be able to stream to Twitch once you start. OBS requires a bit of setup, so we need to address that next. We need to configure the sources, i.e. the game and your webcam if you want to be seen while playing. We also need to set the scene, which stream people will see and which includes those sources.
Set up OBS to stream on Twitch
- Open the game you plan to stream.
- Open OBS if you closed it.
- Select the ‘+’ icon below the Fonts box.
- Select Game Capture and give the stream a descriptive name.
- Select ‘Capture any full screen app’ under Mode to have OBS capture gameplay. You can use Windowed if you play in windowed mode here.
- Select the game window to link OBS with it.
- Select OK to save the settings.
- Repeat steps 3 to 7 if you want to use another source, such as a webcam showing your playback. Simply turn on your webcam and then add it as a window source as above.
- Select Start Streaming when you’re ready.
How to record your Twitch streams
You have two options for recording your Twitch stream. You can do it within Twitch or you can set up OBS to do it. They both achieve the same goal, but one copy is saved on Twitch’s servers while the other is saved locally on your PC.
Using OBS to record your Twitch stream
- Open OBS and select Settings.
- Select Stream Settings from the left and File Path.
- Enter the location where you want to save your broadcasts.
- Select “Automatically save the stream to a file” and then OK.
- Start streaming your game.
How to archive Twitch streams
- Sign in to Twitch and select Settings.
- Select Channels & Videos.
- Scroll down to Archive Broadcasts and check the box.
Twitch will save your streams for 14 days before deleting them. You can export directly to YouTube from your Settings menu. If you want to save videos for more than 14 days, you’ll need a Turbo subscription, which saves them for 60 days.
How to watch your Twitch streams
To view or edit your streams, select File and Open Recordings Folder from OBS. Or you can open the file with the video editor of your choice to edit the video before uploading.
OBS requires a bit of setup, but it’s definitely the best way to record Twitch streams. The software is free, full-featured, and once set up, it should continue to work without having to configure it every time. You may need to periodically update your Twitch key, but otherwise it will be set forever. Happy shrinking!
Do you know an easier way to record Twitch streams on a PC? Do you know any software as good and free as OBS? Tell us about them below if you do!
