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How To Enable VOD On Twitch?

You just had a KILLER stream! But sadly it’s over 🙁 Lucky for you though your viewers can watch or re-watch your streams through VOD (video on demand) on Twitch.

How to Enable VOD on Twitch:

  1. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner of Twitch.
  2. Now click on “Creator Dashboard”.
  3. Click on “Settings” on the left hand side and then click “Stream”.
  4. Go to the section titled “VOD Settings” and toggle on “Store Past Broadcasts”.
  5. A purple check will appear confirming that it is enabled.

If you ever want to stop Twitch from saving your past broadcasts or VODs just toggle that button off.

Here are some images to help walk you through it.

Profile Icon To Creator Dashboard
Settings To Stream
Settings > Stream > Vod Settings > Store Past Broadcasts

How Long do Your Saved Broadcasts Last on Twitch?

According to Twitch, if you have Twitch Prime, if you are a Twitch Partner, or if you are a Twitch Turbo user then your past broadcasts will be saved automatically for 60 days before being deleted.

If you are NOT connected by Twitch Prime, Twitch Turbo or you are not a Twitch Partner then your past broadcasts will only be saved for 14 days before they are deleted.

If you want to hold onto your VOD for even longer then you can download your VOD to your computer. If you are going to start downloading your VODS then I highly recommend getting an external hard drive like the Seagate which you can get here on Amazon, to store your VODS on.

Having a lot of VODS can take up space on your computer quickly and so having an external hard drive to store your videos helps free a lot of space on your computer. I use an external heard drive and it helps me out a ton in storing my content.

There is also a way to make portions of the past broadcasts last forever, or until you decide to delete them, and that is through making highlights from your past broadcasts. I’ll explain how to make highlights and why you should make them further down.

Why Should You Enable VODs on Twitch?

Enabling VODs on Twitch allows people who were not able to view your stream live the opportunity to go back and watch what they missed out on. For some subs and viewers your streams are like a TV show and nobody wants to miss an episode of their favorite TV show right?

Having VODs saved on your channel can also be an extra incentive for people to subscribe to your channel. If a person enjoys your channel, but is not subscribed, you can adjust your settings so that only subs can view your VODs or past broadcasts. So if someone comes along and wants to see something you have saved then they better hit that sub button fool!

Saving past broadcast also allows you to go back and pick apart different parts of the stream that you liked and save them onto your computer. You can then use these saved clips or segments to make some pretty sweet YouTube and social media videos.

If you want to know how to clip on Twitch check out my video here:

With that being said, remember that the time you have to go back and pick apart the saved streams is limited so don’t wait around too long or they will be gone forever!

Here is how you would make your VODs sub only on Twitch.

How to Turn On/Off Sub-Only Mode for VODS on Twitch

  1. Click on your profile icon and go to your creator dashboard.
  2. On the left side click on “Settings” and then “Affiliate”.
  3. Scroll down to the “Subscriptions” section.
  4. Toggle on/off “Subscriber-only archives”.

Now if you do decide to go back and choose highlights from saved broadcasts, here’s how you do it.

How to Make Highlights on Twitch

  1. Login to Twitch and go to your dashboard.
  2. Next, go to the left side of the screen and scroll down until you see the “videos” heading and click “video producer”.
  3. Once you click “video producer”, a list of your past broadcasts and other videos you have created will appear. Find the past broadcast you want to highlight and click the “highlight” button next to it.
  4. You will taken to a new tab where you will be able to begin highlighting different sections of your video.
  5. Lastly, once you have selected the parts of the video you want to highlight (at the bottom of the page you can input or select the different times of the video that you would like to highlight) then click the “create highlights” button and your highlights are complete.

Creating highlights is simple and can be done within a few minutes. Try your best to keep the highlights short and to the point. Remember, they are highlights and not repeats of your old broadcasts.

Why Should You Make Highlights on Twitch?

Highlights give viewers a quick preview of what you and your channel are all about without you having to be online live streaming. Having highlights of your past streams allows viewers access to your content, even when you are offline.

Having highlights available also gives viewers access to your best moments. If someone is scrolling through Twitch and finds your channel, don’t you want them to see your best moments and not you fixing your camera for five minutes?

Not to mention the fact that people who are casually scrolling through Twitch looking for new channels are not going to want to watch a four hour stream to see if they like you as a streamer.

Saving past broadcasts is mainly to keep your subs and followers up to date, not necessarily to attract new comers.

When making your highlights try to keep them to around a minute long, and do not let them be longer than two minutes. Highlights are meant to grab the attention of those who visit your stream to possibly persuade them to visit your stream when you are live.

Another way to gain the attention of potential viewers is to export your saved highlights to other media outlets such as YouTube or Instagram

How to Export Your Twitch Highlights to Youtube

  1. You must first connect your Twitch account to your YouTube account by going to your profile and clicking settings.
  2. From the settings menu click on the connections tab and scroll down to the YouTube section. Click “connect”. (You may be asked to sign into google or YouTube for it to connect).
  3. Next, go to your dashboard.
  4. Now go to the left side and scroll down to the “videos” section. Under the “video” section click “video producer”.
  5. A list of your videos will appear. Click the three dot menu to the right of the video you want to export and click the “export” button from the drop down menu that appears.
  6. From here you can change the title, description and tags. When you are done click the “start export” button at the bottom of the box and it will begin exporting to YouTube.

How to Export Your Twitch  Highlights to Instagram, Facebook and Others

The way to export your videos to other social media outlets besides YouTube will vary. For this reason the best way to have the video available for all social media outlets is to download it to your computer. To download a Twitch video to your computer:

  1. Go to your dashboard.
  2. From your dashboard go to the left hand side of the screen and scroll down to the “videos” section.
  3. Click the “video producer” tab and a list of your past videos will appear. Find the video you would like to download and click the three dot menu to the right of that video.
  4. A drop down menu will appear and click the button that says “download”. The video will immediately begin downloading to your computer.

Once you download the video to your computer it is saved and can be used where and when you choose to use it.

You can even connect your Twitter account to your Twitch account to make sharing your content even easier. Here is a video on how to do that:

Why is it Important to Post Twitch Highlights on Multiple Social Media Outlets?

Posting your Twitch highlights on multiple media outlets i.e. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. allows you to reach more people than you would if you just posted to a single media outlet.

Certain people are more active on YouTube, others are more active on Instagram and so posting on multiple outlets makes sure you are reaching the largest amount of people as possible.

When posting on different media outlets it is important to remember to always invite people check out your Twitch channel.

These different media outlets should be used as a way to advertise the things that are happening on your live streams.

As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!



For even more streaming tips and how-to content check out my Youtube channel here. And if you want to check out my streams then stop by my Twitch channel here.

Having VODs on Twitch can be an excellent way to advertise the cool things that are happening in your stream. Even if you don’t plan on creating highlights for any of your past streams it still is smart to save them just in case you change your mind.

Creating Twitch highlights is quick and easy and should be used by all streamers to encourage others to come and view their streams so others can see them out there kicking some tail!

👋 Hey There, I'm Eric!

Since 2018, I've been making streams come true.

I like gaming, streaming and watching other people stream. I created this website to help streamers, viewers, and gamers answer questions they have regarding live streaming, gaming, and PCs. I am a Twitch affiliate and currently stream on Twitch 3 days a week. I also have a Youtube channel where I make videos about streaming. I hope you find my content helpful. Feel free to stop by one of my streams to say hi.