ReelShiftRecorders vs
clippers.
Two completely different kinds of tool get called “clipping software”. Here is the line between them, and which side you belong on.
· Published 2026-10-09 · Updated 2026-10-09 · 7 min read
Twitch · YouTube · Kick · TikTok + uploads & URLs on Creator Plus
Short answer: a game recorder like Medal or Outplayed runs on your PC and captures your gameplay, triggered by a hotkey or by an in-game event like a kill or a win. A stream clipper like Eklipse, StreamLadder or ReelShift works on your broadcast instead, and finds moments from what you say, how you say it and how chat reacts. If you play games and never go live, you want a recorder. If you stream, especially if you talk more than you shoot, you want a clipper. Plenty of people use one of each.
What each kind actually does
| Game recorder | Stream clipper | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Medal, Outplayed | Eklipse, StreamLadder, ReelShift |
| What it watches | Your PC | Your broadcast |
| What starts a clip | A hotkey, or a game event | Audio, speech, chat reaction |
| Needs you to be live | No | Yes, or a VOD |
| Sees your chat | No | Yes |
| Works on Just Chatting or IRL | Not really, it is game driven | Yes |
| Runs on your machine | Yes, it is an install | No, it runs in the cloud |
| Costs you CPU while playing | Yes, it is encoding locally | No |
| Typical price | Free, with paid extras | Paid, usually monthly |
Based on each product's own published description, checked 8 October 2026.
When a recorder is the right answer
You play games on PC. You want the clutch round, the ace, the one in a thousand shot. You are not live, or you are live but what you want to keep is the gameplay itself.
A recorder is perfect for this and the good ones are free. Medal says it supports 100% of PC games and records up to 4K at 144fps, with event detection for Fortnite, Valorant, League, Apex and Counter-Strike. Outplayed, which runs on the Overwolf platform, says it supports over 5,000 games and records your best moments automatically.
They also both do more than people assume. Medal auto formats clips to vertical and has an editor for trimming, captions and cropping, then exports straight to TikTok, Shorts and Reels.
When a clipper is the right answer
You go live. The moments worth keeping are not always kills. Somebody says something funny, chat loses it, a guest shows up, a story lands.
A recorder cannot see any of that. It has no idea your chat just exploded, because it is watching your game, not your broadcast. If you stream Just Chatting, IRL, GTA RP or a live podcast, a game recorder will catch almost nothing worth posting, because there is no kill feed to trigger on.
A stream clipper reads the broadcast: audio spikes, emotion in your voice, what is being said, and how fast chat is moving. That works whether or not a game is running.
Plenty of people run both
These are not mutually exclusive and they do not fight each other.
A common setup: a recorder on the PC for pure gameplay clips you want in full quality, and a clipper on the stream for the moments that came out of the room rather than the game. One fills your montage folder, the other fills your TikTok.
The mistake is buying one and expecting it to do the other job. That is where the months get wasted.
One more split: during or after
Inside the clipper category there is a second divide worth knowing about before you pay for anything.
Most stream clippers work from your VOD after you finish. They wait for the recording, process it, and your clips land hours later, long after the moment stopped mattering.
A few work on the live signal and cut while you are still streaming. ReelShift is in that second group: the clip is in your library minutes after the moment, cropped vertical with captions burned in, while people are still talking about it.
Pick your plan.
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial: 1 channel and 5 streaming hours to try it on a real stream. Nothing is charged today, and we email you the day before it ends.
Quick answers.
Is Medal a stream clipper?
No. Medal records gameplay on your PC. It does not connect to your Twitch or Kick broadcast and it cannot see your chat.
Can I use a game recorder if I stream?
Yes, and many streamers do. It just will not catch the moments that come from talking or from chat, because it is triggered by hotkeys and game events.
Which is better for TikTok?
Both can get you there. Medal auto formats to vertical and exports to TikTok. The difference is what gets clipped in the first place: game moments versus stream moments.
Do recorders slow my game down?
They encode video on your machine while you play, so they use CPU or GPU. Medal says it uses 100 to 400MB of RAM. A cloud clipper uses none of your machine.
What about Overwolf, is that a clipper?
No. Overwolf is a platform that hosts in-game apps, 1,500+ games and 113 million monthly users. The clipping app on it is Outplayed.
Last updated 2026-10-09