Clip with the
OBS Replay Buffer.

Set it up once

1. Open Settings, then Output. Find the Replay Buffer options and tick Enable Replay Buffer. The OBS Studio overview guide on obsproject.com lists this under the Output settings.
2. Set Maximum Replay Time. This is how many seconds each saved replay holds. 30 to 60 seconds is plenty for most moments.
3. Check memory. The buffer lives in your computer's memory. OBS shows an estimated memory use and warns you if it is too big. In some setups you also set a Maximum Memory limit.
4. Note your Recording Path in the same Output page. Replays are saved as files, with a Replay Buffer Filename Prefix and suffix you can change.
5. Open Settings, then Hotkeys. Find Save Replay and press the key you want. OBS's guide says the save hotkey must be set here. You can add Start and Stop Replay Buffer keys too.

Use it while you stream

1. Click Start Replay Buffer in OBS. It now keeps a rolling copy of the last few seconds.
2. Press your Save Replay key right after something good happens. OBS shows "Replay buffer saved to" and the file path at the bottom.
3. Stop it when you are done with Stop Replay Buffer.

Two options in Settings, General save you a click: Automatically start replay buffer when streaming, and Keep replay buffer active when stream stops.

Habits that save clips

• Test it before you go live. Start the buffer, wait a minute, press your key and open the file. Better to find a problem now than after your best moment.
• Pick a key your game doesn't use, so pressing it never does something in game.
• Press late, not early. The replay holds the seconds before you press. Wait for the reaction to finish, then save.
• Keep the folder tidy. Change the filename prefix so replays are easy to spot next to full recordings, and clear out old ones after each stream.
• Write down the moment. A quick note of what happened makes titling the clips later much faster.

Things that stop it working

OBS's own messages list a few cases:

• Lossless recording quality: OBS says the Replay Buffer is unavailable with it.
• Custom Output (FFmpeg) as the recording type: the Replay Buffer can't be used.
• Paused recording: replays can't be saved while a recording is paused.
• Not started: pressing Save Replay does nothing until the buffer is running.

After you save

The replay is a normal video file of your whole OBS canvas, usually wide. To post it on TikTok, Shorts or Reels you still need to:

• Trim it to the moment.
• Make it vertical 9:16. See how to make clips vertical.
• Add captions. See how to add captions to clips.

Other ways to save the last few seconds on a PC, like NVIDIA and AMD Instant Replay, are in how to clip on PC.

Where ReelShift fits

The Replay Buffer only saves what you remember to save, and every file still needs editing. ReelShift works from your public stream on Twitch, Kick, YouTube or TikTok LIVE, with nothing to add to OBS. Say "clip that" and it saves the last 60 seconds, like a replay key you don't have to press, and it also catches moments on its own. Clips arrive vertical with captions. See Clip that.