How to turn a Twitch VOD into a YouTube video.

1. Check how long Twitch will keep the VOD

   Twitch deletes past broadcasts on a schedule: after 7 days for most streamers, 14 days for Affiliates, and 60 days for Partners, Prime, and Turbo users. If you stream in 2K or in a vertical format, that version expires after 7 days whatever your account type.

   A broadcast is only saved if Store Past Broadcasts was turned on in your Stream Settings before you went live. Twitch cannot recover a VOD that was not saved or has expired.

2. Download the VOD, or export it straight to YouTube

   In your Creator Dashboard, open Content, then Video Producer. Click the three-dot menu next to the broadcast.

   Download saves the file to your computer, which is what you need if you plan to edit it. Long videos can take a while to start downloading, and Twitch has no bulk download.

   Export sends the video to YouTube without downloading it. Connect your YouTube account on your Twitch Connections page first. Export posts the VOD as it is, with no edit, so it suits an archive channel more than a main-channel upload.

   If Twitch muted part of the VOD for copyrighted audio, the download is muted too. A local recording from OBS keeps the original audio, so use that as your source when you have one.

3. Decide what the YouTube video is about

   A stream runs for hours; a YouTube video needs one reason to watch. Write a single sentence about what changes in the session, such as “We kept losing until we changed our strategy.” Then note the timestamps of the goal, the turning point, and the payoff.

   The gaming VOD planning guide has a keep-or-trim checklist and a brief template for this step.

4. Edit the recording

   Open the file in an editor such as DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro. Cut the waiting screen, queues, breaks, and attempts that repeat what the viewer already knows. Keep the setup each payoff depends on: a comeback needs the earlier loss, and a running joke needs its first telling.

   Then add captions where speech is hard to follow, and check that game audio does not bury your voice. See how to remove dead air without losing the story for worked keep-or-cut examples.

5. Upload to YouTube

   By default YouTube accepts videos up to 15 minutes long. Verify your account to upload longer ones; the ceiling is 256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less. Give the video a title and thumbnail that promise the story you cut, and check that the opening delivers on them.

AquaEdits is an AI VOD editor for long-form gaming videos. It reads a whole section of the stream, finds the story, and cuts it into one video, so you skip the hours of scrubbing in step 4.

1. Upload the downloaded VOD

   Upload the file from step 2, up to 50 GiB, and mark the section to edit with in and out points, up to five hours.

2. Give it a title, a length, and a brief

   Use the sentence from step 3. Name the moments that must stay and the sections to skip, such as “Make the comeback the main story, and spend less time on the opening rounds.”

3. Download the result

   Take a finished MP4 with effects and captions and upload it to YouTube, or choose the editable project and finish the cut yourself.

Your first video is free on a 7-day trial. After that, Creator is $50 a month for 5 videos and Professional is $80 a month for 10. See pricing.