RipGuide
How do I clip on Twitch?
Updated
In short: open a live stream or a past broadcast, click the clip icon, set the length with the slider (up to 60 seconds), give it a title and press Publish. Twitch saves the clip in landscape and in a portrait version, and the channel owner can download both from the Clips Manager (Twitch help, read 18 October 2026). Twitch's help page doesn't say how far back the clip window opens, so use the slider.
What Twitch says, in one table
Everything below comes from Twitch's own help article, read on 18 October 2026.
| Question | What Twitch states |
|---|---|
| Where can you clip? | On a live stream or a past broadcast, from the clip icon. On mobile, tap the video if the icon doesn't show. |
| How long can a clip be? | Up to 60 seconds, set with the slider under the player. |
| How far back does it start? | Not stated. The article says nothing about the seconds before you click. |
| Who can clip? | Any logged-in viewer or streamer, unless the streamer has turned clips off, limited them to followers or subscribers, or blocked that person. |
| What do you get? | A landscape clip and an automatic portrait version, saved side by side. |
| Can you download it? | Yes: landscape or portrait versions of clips of your channel, and of clips you created. |
How to clip on Twitch
- Open the stream or the VOD. Clips work on a live stream and on a past broadcast. A past broadcast has to be saved first: the streamer needs Store Past Broadcasts switched on.
- Click the clip icon. The Clip Creator opens as a movable overlay, so the stream keeps playing. Its stream audio is muted while you work; unmute it and both play at once.
- Set the length. Drag the slider under the player to the moment you want, up to 60 seconds.
- Check the crop. Twitch suggests a crop that keeps the facecam and the gameplay in frame. Accept it, adjust it, or dismiss it. You can pick any shape from 16:9 to 9:16.
- Add a title and press Publish. A clip needs a title to be saved. Leave the page without saving and Twitch discards it.
- Share or download. Copy the clip link, post it, or download it (see below).
How far back does a Twitch clip go?
Guides on the web give three different answers: 30, 60 or 90 seconds before you click. Twitch's own article gives none of them. It only states that you choose the length, up to 60 seconds, and that you can trim in the Clip Creator. So the 60 you see quoted is the maximum clip length, not a confirmed look-back window. The 90 most likely comes from Twitch's developer documentation, which says a clip made through its API captures up to 90 seconds of the stream and the clip itself is 5 to 60 seconds of that (Twitch developers, read 18 October 2026). Treat the slider, not a number from a blog, as the truth, and check it once on your own stream.
Two details Twitch does state. Making a clip in the first 1:30 of a VOD can cause an error or unpredictable behaviour. And a streamer can say "Twitch, Clip That" out loud during a live broadcast to get a clip made for them.
Many guides also list Alt+X as a shortcut for clipping. Twitch's clips article doesn't mention a keyboard shortcut, so we haven't relied on it. The clip icon always works.
Who can clip a channel
All logged-in viewers can clip any channel unless the streamer has changed the rules. Twitch lists the ways a streamer limits it: clips off for live streams and VODs, clips limited to followers or to subscribers, or a specific person blocked. Streamers set this in their Clips Settings. If you can't clip, Twitch's error text tells you whether the channel can't be clipped at all or you lack permission, for example because of follow duration or subscription status.
The streamer also sees every clip made of their channel. They can time out or ban the person who made it, delete it, edit it, or feature it. Once the streamer edits or features a clip, the viewer who made it can no longer change it.
Where clips are saved and how to download them
Clips are saved in two formats, landscape and portrait. If you own the channel, find them in the Creator Dashboard under Content, then Clips (the Clips Manager). There you can search, trim, change the portrait layout, delete, feature, and share to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, or share a link to X, Facebook and Reddit.
To save a file, use the Download option in the share menu. Channel owners can download landscape or portrait versions of clips of their channel. If a portrait download is missing, that clip has no portrait version yet: open Edit, change the layout, save, and wait a minute for it to render. Viewers who clipped another streamer's channel only get the share options that streamer has allowed.
A clip is a short piece. The full broadcast is a separate thing: past broadcasts (VODs) are kept for 7 days on most channels, 14 days for Affiliates and 60 days for Partners, Prime and Turbo users (Twitch help, read 18 October 2026). Download a VOD from the Video Producer before it expires; Twitch Support can't recover one that wasn't saved.
Twitch's own vertical clips
Twitch makes the portrait version itself. It detects where your camera and gameplay sit in the stream, suggests a crop, and doesn't store face data (Twitch's wording). In the editor you can choose two portrait layouts: Stacked, which splits the screen into two boxes (good for a facecam plus gameplay), or Full, which uses one. Twitch remembers your layout for future clips of your channel. Captions can be added, edited or removed on clips of your channel for 30 days after creation. For IRL or music streams with no standard overlay, Twitch falls back to a centred crop.
Twitch can also post a portrait clip straight to YouTube Shorts, TikTok or Instagram from the share menu. For one moment you remember, that is the fastest route and it costs nothing.
From a Twitch clip to a vertical, captioned post
A clip at 60 seconds is long for most feeds, and a stacked layout isn't always what you want. A short checklist for turning it into a post:
- Trim to the payoff. Start on the moment, end right after the reaction. See how long a clip should be.
- Frame the speaker. If your reaction is the point, keep your face large in the 9:16 frame. More in vertical clips with a facecam.
- Caption it. Captions let people follow with the sound off. See word-by-word captions.
- Post it where it will be seen. Turning a Twitch VOD into TikTok clips covers the whole route.
How to do it in RipClip
If you remember one moment, Twitch's own tool is quicker and free. RipClip is for the other case: you have a two-hour broadcast and don't want to scrub it.
- Copy the link to your past broadcast, a highlight or a clip.
- Paste it into RipClip. It reads the whole video and cuts the moments that stand on their own into 9:16 clips, framed on the speaker and captioned word by word. Clip length "Auto" is 20 to 45 seconds, or you pick.
- Open any clip in the editor to change the cut, the captions or the look.
- Download the clips, or schedule them from the calendar.
RipClip clips a stream after it ends, not while it is live. A 2-hour stream uses 66 HU (Horizon Units), and the Free plan includes 110 HU a month. Posting switches on platform by platform as each platform approves RipClip; until then, download your clips and post them yourself. More in how to clip Twitch streams automatically and on the Twitch clip maker page.