How to Download Your YouTube Live Stream

If you have a YouTube Channel, live streaming on YouTube is an amazing way to engage with your audience in real-time and build a community around your content, personality, and more. However, once your live stream ends, you might want to download it to repurpose the content for creating highlight reels or simply archiving it for future reference.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the steps to download your YouTube live stream and provide tips on how to make the most of your recorded footage.

How to Download Your YouTube Live Stream

Before downloading your live stream, you must ensure you ended it. Once your live stream is over, YouTube will process the video, which may take a few minutes to a few hours (depending on the length and resolution of your live stream).

Step 1:  Open your web browser and open YouTube Studio.

Step 2: In YouTube Studio, you will find a menu on the left-hand side. Click on Content (play button icon). This will take you to the Videos tab, where all your uploaded and live videos are listed.

Step 3: In the Videos tab, switch to the Live tab to see all your past live streams.

Find the live stream you want to download. You can use the search bar at the top if you have a ton of videos.

Step 4:  Hover over the live stream video you want to download. Click on the empty checkbox next to the video to reveal the more actions menu. Select Download and the video will start downloading to your computer in MP4 format.

FYI, the download time will depend on the video size and your internet speed.

Alternative: Recording While Live Streaming

Using live streaming software like Streamlabs Desktop allows you to record your stream while you’re broadcasting. When recording a live stream, you don’t have to wait for YouTube to process the stream after the fact, plus you can customize your recording with selective recording (more on that later).  

Below is how to set up recording in Streamlabs Desktop. If you’re using a different live stream software, the steps can vary.

Step 1: Open Streamlabs Desktop.

Step 2: Click the Settings cog in the bottom-left corner.

Step 3: In the Output tab, you’ll find the Recording section where you can set your recording path (aka the destination where the recorded videos will be saved).

Step 4: Enable Select Recording from the Sources Panel to choose which sources are shown in your recording. This is useful to remove certain elements from your stream recording (e.g., an alert box from a game live stream).

What to Do with YouTube Live Recordings

Get creative with how you repurpose your live stream recordings. Below are some ideas to get you started.

Create Social Media Clips: Using a tool such as Streamlabs Cross Clip allows you to create short, engaging clips from your live stream footage. Bookmarking in Streamlabs Desktop is a great way to note moments you may want to clip while streaming, saving time post-stream.

Edit Videos for YouTube: Repurposing your live stream into polished YouTube videos can help you reach a broader audience. Try using Streamlabs Videos Editor for a simple solution.

Create Highlights and Compilations:  Highlight reels condense the best parts of a stream into a shorter, more digestible format. Showcase the best moments from your live streams, such as exciting gameplay or funny interactions, to help entice new potential viewers or subscribers and give returning viewers something to reminisce on.

Whether you’re creating highlight reels, social media clips, or polished videos for your YouTube Channel, having access to your live stream footage ensures you can work smarter, not harder. Plus, with tools like Streamlabs Desktop, you can record while streaming and tailor your recordings to your needs.