On Twitch, a Clip is a snippet of video cut from a longer Twitch stream, video-on-demand (VOD) or Highlight. A viewer or streamer might clip an exciting gaming moment or a hilarious flub. Either way, Twitch Clips serve up crisp nuggets of entertainment.
While Clips offer an easy way for viewers to capture and share their favorite streaming moments, these shareable Clips can also serve as an excellent marketing tool for creators. Let’s take a look at how to make a Clip on Twitch, as well as the limitations of clipping and how to best use Clips to promote your channel.
How to create a Clip on Twitch
Creating a Clip on Twitch is easy and takes only a few steps:
Accessing the Clip menu
- On a computer:
- While watching a Twitch Stream, VOD or Highlight, hover over the video player to reveal the player menu. Then, click on the Clip icon. It looks like a film production slate.
- Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut: Alt+xX.
- The Clip creation page will open in a new tab.
- While watching a Twitch Stream, VOD or Highlight, hover over the video player to reveal the player menu. Then, click on the Clip icon. It looks like a film production slate.
- On iOS:
- Tap the screen while watching a Stream, VOD or Highlight to bring up the video options.
- Tap share, then Create Clip.
- On Android:
- Tap the screen while watching a Stream, VOD or Highlight to bring up the video options.
- Tap the Create Clip button on the video player.
Creating a clip
- Once you’ve accessed the Clip creation page, select the portion you want to clip and clip it:
- Use the slider below the video to select the video segment you want to clip.
- Click Publish once you are satisfied.
- Note: Twitch generates the Clip even if you don’t hit ‘publish,’ so make sure to find unwanted Clips in the Videos tab if needed.
- Use the sharing link to share your clip on your social media platform of choice.
How to find a Twitch Clip
Clips for a specific channel can be found under that channel’s ‘Videos’ tab. There, use the drop-down menu to filter by clips to see clips from both the streamer and fellow viewers.
You can also view Clips by category within Twitch’s ‘Browse’ section.
Who can make Twitch Clips?
By default, both viewers and streamers can create Clips on Twitch. However, streamers have the power to limit who can clip their channel in the ‘Clip Settings’. For instance, streamers can give followers or subscribers exclusive access to Clip creation. Or, they can turn off viewer-made Clips entirely.
Streamers can also choose to allow Clipping only on streams in certain categories. For example, you could allow clipping on your Minecraft streams but not on streams in the Just Chatting category. This gives streamers lots of control over what gets clipped and shared. Twitch even lets you set clipping permissions according to how long a viewer has followed your channel.
Managing existing Clips
Beyond controlling if and when viewers can make clips, streamers can also manage existing clips of their channel. Streamers can delete or share viewer-made clips, or even save the Clip as a Highlight.
Twitch also provides clip moderation tools like user timeouts and bans to stop viewers from abusing the Clip function. Streamers can also turn on follower-only and subscriber-only modes, and they can delete all Clips from a given stream at once if needed.
Other limitations
Like all other content-sharing platforms, Twitch enforces certain rules to prevent copyright infringement. Streamers are only allowed to stream content to which they have the rights, and as always, that includes copyrighted music.
Sometimes, streamers get away with having unlicensed background music in their streams. However, Twitch’s automated content moderation system may later mute or delete VODs and Clips from that stream if they include that unlicensed music.
Streamers can avoid having their videos taken down or muted by following the Twitch Music Guidelines. Generally, you’ll need to own or license any music that can be heard in your streams, though creators can also use anything from the Soundtrack by Twitch library.
Making the most of your Twitch Clips
Clips give viewers a chance to share and relive their favorite stream moments, but streamers have even more to gain from this convenient Twitch feature. It can be tough to get discovered on Twitch, but Twitch Clips provide an easy way to introduce new viewers to your content.
As a streamer, requesting Clips from your viewers can be a great way to boost engagement and make viewers feel more involved. Then, you can use your favorite Clips to promote your stream on other social media platforms. Think YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or Discord. You can also save Clips to your Highlights or include your best Clips in your channel trailer.
Whatever you do, don’t let your Clips on Twitch go to waste. These are your best streaming moments; use them to grow your audience.
