Using yt-dlp to Backup Twitch Clips & Highlights

Twitch has announced a 100-hour limit on saved highlights , meaning content will be deleted after the limit has been reached. If you're a streamer looking to back up your own clips and highlights, this guide and yt-dlp may be very useful for you.

I am not affiliated with Twitch or yt-dlp, nor do I endorse sharing others' content without explicit permission. This guide is intended for personal use only.

Installing/Downloading yt-dlp

Please read the Installation guide on the official yt-dlp project for installation instructions.

Downloading Twitch Clips and Highlights

1. Getting the Channel's Clips/Highlights URL

2. Downloading Clips and Highlights with yt-dlp

You can download clips or highlights from your channel with a single command:

yt-dlp -f best "YOUR COPIED URL"

The -f best argument makes sure that it will download the best possible option as Twitch may allow multiple options.

Always enclose the URL in double quotes ("your url") to avoid errors or unintended behavior.

This guide will use 'nutty' as our test subject for working examples. If you're copying the commands, make sure to replace it with your own URL..

Custom File names

You can use different arguments with yt-dlp to modify the result, you can for example save it with a custom name with:

yt-dlp -f best -o "%(upload_date)s_%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.twitch.tv/nutty/clips?filter=clips&range=all"

The -o "%(upload_date)s_%(title)s.%(ext)s" argument will format the file names as YYYMMDD_Title.mp4.

As long as you maintain the file names in the format specified in your command, yt-dlp will skip VODs that have already been downloaded.

Download Only Certain Durations

If you only want clips of a certain length, use:

yt-dlp --match-filter "duration < 30" -o "short_clips/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.twitch.tv/nutty/clips?filter=clips&range=all"

This filters out clips longer than 30 seconds and saves them in a short_clips folder.

yt-dlp will automatically create any missing directories for you.

Organizing Downloads by Date

To sort downloads into folders by date:

yt-dlp -o "backups/%(upload_date)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.twitch.tv/nutty/clips?filter=clips&range=all"

This creates folders based on upload date to keep files organized.

Conclusion

I hope you now have a good idea of how to use yt-dlp to back up your highlights.

If you want to go deeper, i can recommend reading the readme of yt-dlp here .