7, 14, Or 60 Days? The TRUTH About How Long Twitch VODs Last In 2025
Are you a Twitch streamer who has ever panicked when a great stream mysteriously vanished? The lifespan of a Twitch Video On Demand (VOD) is one of the most critical, yet frequently misunderstood, policies on the platform. As of December 2025, the duration your past broadcasts are automatically saved depends entirely on your channel's status—whether you are a regular broadcaster, an Affiliate, or a Partner—with a massive difference between the tiers. Don't risk losing your best content: the key durations you need to know are 7 days, 14 days, and a maximum of 60 days.
This comprehensive guide breaks down the current VOD storage rules, explains the crucial difference between a "Past Broadcast" VOD and a "Highlight," and gives you actionable steps to permanently archive your content, ensuring your most viral moments are never lost to the digital ether. The policies are clear, but the difference in storage time between a standard user and a Partner is stark, creating a significant incentive to level up your channel.
The Definitive Twitch VOD Storage Duration By Channel Status
The term VOD, or Video On Demand, is primarily used on Twitch to refer to your "Past Broadcasts"—the full, unedited recording of your entire live stream. Twitch's system automatically saves these broadcasts, but only for a limited time before they are permanently deleted. The storage duration is tiered based on your relationship with the platform.
- Regular Broadcasters (Non-Affiliate/Partner): Your Past Broadcasts (VODs) are automatically saved for 7 days. This is the shortest duration and applies to all new or non-monetized channels.
- Twitch Affiliates: As an Affiliate, your VOD storage duration is doubled to 14 days. This is one of the first perks of achieving monetization status on the platform.
- Twitch Partners: Partners receive the longest storage duration, with their Past Broadcasts saved for a generous 60 days. This extended VOD storage is a major benefit of the Partner Program.
- Twitch Turbo & Prime Gaming Subscribers: Users who subscribe to Twitch Turbo or have an active Amazon Prime Gaming membership also benefit from the 60-day VOD storage, regardless of their Affiliate or Partner status.
It is absolutely essential for content creators to understand these time limits. If you are an Affiliate, you only have two weeks to review, edit, and export your content before it is permanently removed from the Twitch servers. Missing this window means losing the raw footage forever.
The Critical Difference: VODs vs. Highlights and Uploads
Many streamers mistakenly believe that creating a Highlight or an Upload will permanently save their content without limits. While this used to be the case, Twitch implemented a major policy change that introduced a cap on the total amount of archived, non-VOD content.
The 100-Hour Storage Limit Explained
In a significant update to their storage policies, Twitch introduced a 100-hour storage limit for all accounts. This cap applies to two specific types of content: Highlights and Uploads.
- Highlights: These are custom, edited segments of your Past Broadcasts that you create using the Video Producer tool. Previously, creating a Highlight was the standard way to permanently archive a VOD segment.
- Uploads: These are videos you upload directly to your channel (e.g., pre-recorded content, trailers, or exported videos from other platforms).
Once your combined total of Highlights and Uploads reaches 100 hours, you will need to delete older content to make room for new videos. This policy means that simply creating a Highlight is no longer a guaranteed method of permanent archiving on the Twitch platform itself. This is a crucial distinction from the Past Broadcast VODs, which are deleted automatically based on the 7/14/60-day schedule.
Why the 100-Hour Limit Matters for Content Strategy
This storage cap forces content creators to be strategic about their permanent library. Instead of using Highlights as a primary archiving tool, streamers must now prioritize exporting their best content off-platform, typically to a dedicated YouTube channel. The 100 hours should be reserved for only the absolute best, most crucial, or most recent highlights that you want easily accessible on your Twitch channel page.
How to Permanently Archive Your Twitch Content (The 3 Best Methods)
Given the short storage durations for Past Broadcasts and the new 100-hour limit on Highlights, every serious content creator needs a robust strategy for permanent archiving. Relying on Twitch's default auto-archiving feature is a recipe for losing valuable footage.
Method 1: Export Directly to YouTube (The Best Long-Term Solution)
Twitch offers a seamless integration feature that allows you to export your Past Broadcasts or Highlights directly to a linked YouTube channel. This is the most popular and effective way to permanently save your content for several reasons:
- Unlimited Storage: YouTube offers virtually unlimited free storage for video content.
- Monetization: You can monetize your exported content on YouTube, creating a secondary revenue stream.
- SEO & Discovery: YouTube's search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities make it easier for new viewers to discover your content outside of the live streaming environment.
You can manage this process via the 'Video Producer' section of your Twitch dashboard, where you can select a VOD and choose the 'Export' option. This is the recommended action to take within the 7, 14, or 60-day window.
Method 2: Download the VOD to Local Storage
For streamers who prefer to keep their original files or edit their videos using professional software, downloading the VOD to a local hard drive is the best option. This method provides the highest quality raw footage for extensive editing.
- Navigate to your Video Producer.
- Find the Past Broadcast you wish to save.
- Click the three-dot menu next to the video and select Download.
Be aware that these files can be very large (often several gigabytes for a multi-hour stream), so ensure you have sufficient storage space (HDD or SSD) on your computer or an external drive. This is the only way to truly guarantee a permanent, high-quality backup.
Method 3: Enable 'Always Publish VODs'
While this is a setting you must enable, it is not a permanent archiving solution, but a necessary first step. To ensure your Past Broadcasts are saved at all, you must enable the option in your Channel Settings:
- Go to your Creator Dashboard.
- Navigate to Settings > Stream.
- Under the 'VOD Settings' section, ensure the Store Past Broadcasts toggle is switched ON.
If this setting is off, Twitch will not save your VODs at all, and your broadcasts will be lost immediately upon ending the stream. This setting is crucial for the auto-archiving process to begin.
Topical Authority: DMCA and Copyright Considerations
A critical, often overlooked factor that affects VOD longevity is copyright and the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Twitch uses an automated content filtering system to scan all Past Broadcasts for copyrighted music or video content. If the system detects copyrighted material, it will:
- Mute the Audio: The specific segments of the VOD containing the copyrighted music will be muted.
- Delete the VOD: In severe or repeat cases, or if a manual takedown request is filed, Twitch may delete the entire VOD regardless of your 7, 14, or 60-day period.
To prevent this, streamers should use royalty-free music or music specifically licensed for streaming. This practice ensures your valuable VODs remain available for the full duration of the storage policy and can be safely exported to other platforms like YouTube without facing copyright strikes.
In summary, the question of "how long do Twitch VODs last" has a tiered answer: 7, 14, or 60 days, depending on your status. However, the true answer for a professional content creator should be "forever," achieved by proactively downloading and exporting your content to an off-platform archive before the automatic deletion deadline.
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