Have you ever wanted to stream some elements and record others? You can with Streamlabs Selective Recording, a gamechanging feature within Streamlabs Desktop that allows you to pick and choose the sources that appear in the recorded version of your live broadcast.
What is Selective Recording
Selective Recording makes it easy to stream and record two different video outputs. This means that the sources your viewers see when they watch your live stream can be removed from the recorded version of your video-this way you have more freedom to edit or repurpose the video after your broadcast. Similarly, you can add additional sources to a recorded video without having them appear on your live stream.
For example, if you like to upload a montage of highlights from your live stream, you may want to focus solely on the gameplay and remove your alert box from appearing in the recording. With Selective Recording, you'll now be able to customize the alert box to appear in your live stream while being hidden in the video recording.
Why it's Important
Creating polished content, especially when uploading to platforms such as YouTube is key to growing your audience. Selective Recording helps streamline that process. Instead of sifting through full stream footage to edit around overlays or alerts, you can record a clean version of your gameplay or content in real time-saving hours of editing work.
This is especially valuable when repurposing content for platforms like YouTube, where demand for gaming VODs and highlights remains massive. With Selective Recording, creators can meet that demand with smarter workflows and cleaner content.
How to Enable Selective Recording
Enabling Selective Recording is simple. The process has been fine-tuned and optimized so you only have to toggle a few buttons in order to pick and choose which sources appear in your recording.
📝Note: Dual Output can't be displayed-Selective Recording only works with horizontal sources and disables the vertical output scene.
Step 1: From the Streamlabs Desktop editor, navigate to the Sources panel and click on the Selective Recording Icon.
Step 2: Once enabled, new icons will appear next to each of your listed Sources.
Step 3: The below icons indicate which output that source is being displayed on. They default to appear on both the live stream and the recording. Simply click this icon to change the source's destination.
You can also right click on the to choose the option you wish to apply to it.
Testing Your Output
Lastly, make sure your sources are showing up in the correct place. You can easily view your live stream output and your recording output with Streamlabs Desktop projector options by right clicking a source then Projector.
On your journey to become a full-time content creator, it's important to utilize every tool available in order to maximize exposure, reach new viewers, and entertain your viewers along the way.
We hope you'll use Selective Recording to create even better content and help turn your passion for streaming into a profession.