Where Does Streamlabs Save Recordings? (2024 Guide)

Where Does Streamlabs OBS Save Your Recordings By Default?

Streamlabs OBS (SLOBS) is a popular free streaming software that allows gamers, artists, musicians, and other creators to easily broadcast their content on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and more. One of the handy features SLOBS offers is the ability to record your broadcasts locally to your PC, allowing you to edit highlights or even upload full streams after the fact.

But a common question many new SLOBS users have is – where exactly does SLOBS save these recordings on your computer?

By default, Streamlabs OBS saves all of your recordings to a folder location that looks like this:

C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Documents\Streamlabs\Recordings

So for example, if your Windows username was "StreamerJoe", your default SLOBS recording save folder would be:

C:\Users\StreamerJoe\Documents\Streamlabs\Recordings

Inside this folder, SLOBS creates a new subfolder for each recording session, named by date and time. So you might see folders like:

2023-02-15 18-05-41 SLOBS Recording Session

And inside each of those session folders is where your actual video recordings are saved after you finish streaming and recording with SLOBS.

The location inside your Windows User‘s Documents folder was chosen by the developers of Streamlabs OBS to ensure that standard user accounts always have permission to read and write files to this location by default in Windows.

However, if you would like to customize where your SLOBS recordings are saved instead of the default location, it‘s easy to change, which we‘ll cover next.

How to Change Where Streamlabs OBS Saves Your Recordings

If you want to set a different save location for your Streamlabs OBS recordings, such as to an external hard drive with more storage capacity or to organize recordings on a drive just for video projects, you simply need to update one setting within SLOBS.

Here is how to change the recording save location in Streamlabs OBS:

1. Open Streamlabs OBS
2. Click the Settings "gear" icon in the lower right corner
3. Select Output from the left sidebar menu
4. Scroll down to the Recording section
5. Next to the Recording Path field, click the Browse button
6. A Windows file explorer window will open – navigate to the folder you want to use to store recordings going forward
7. Select the new location and click OK
8. Finally click Save to confirm the new recording path in SLOBS

And that‘s it! From now on any new recordings you make in Streamlabs OBS will be saved to your newly defined custom location instead of the default spot.

A few things to keep in mind when selecting a custom recording storage location:

• Choose a folder with ample free disk space – video recordings eat up storage fast!
• Ideally pick a local or external drive rather than a network share, for maximum data transfer speed and reliability
• Make sure the user account you run SLOBS under has full read/write permissions to the new location

Recording Options Available Within Streamlabs

In addition to recording a full stream session within Streamlabs OBS, there are a couple other handy recording tools it includes:

Streamlabs Desktop Highlighter

Highlighter allows you to easily snip video highlights from your live streams, edit them, and instantly upload to YouTube – without ever leaving the Streamlabs interface.

To use Highlighter:

1. Start streaming and enable recording as usual in SLOBS
2. During your stream, click the Highlighter button when something cool happens that you want to clip
3. A window will open showing you the last portion of your stream
4. Select the start/end points for your highlight using the timeline editor
5. Add any text, images or effects you want
6. Click the YouTube icon to export the edited clip straight to your connected YouTube account

It‘s a very fast way to cut 10-60 second highlights from your live streams and upload them instantly while still live for your viewers to see after your stream ends.

Streamlabs Replay Buffer

Replay buffer is another handy recording option built into Streamlabs that automatically caches the last X minutes of your stream, configurable up to the last 60 minutes.

You can then save these temporary recordings to disk if anything particularly cool, funny or important happens in your stream that you or viewers want to replay or rewatch later.

Enabling replay buffer is done through the SLOBS editor rather than directly through the Streamlabs site or apps. Here is how to set it up:

1. In editor select Add > Display Capture > Replay Buffer
2. Configure how long you want the buffer to be from 30 sec up to 60 min
3. Click Save Replay Buffer below the main editor window whenever you want to save the temporary cached footage to disk

This allows you to essentially "go back in time" up to an hour during your streams, and permanently save exciting moments to view or share later. Replays are saved separately from your main recording archives.

Saving Recordings Without Actively Streaming

Importantly, you can leverage Streamlabs OBS to record your gaming, art, music sessions etc without actually streaming live to Twitch or other services too.

This allows you to use SLOBS essentially as a "local" screen recorder and video editor to archive your sessions, practice your commentary, test layouts and alerts, and experiment without worries of live viewers seeing a raw feed.

To start recording locally without streaming in Streamlabs OBS:

1. On the bottom right area of the editor, click the Record button (red circle)
2. A standard Windows file explorer will pop up, choose where you want this test recording saved
3. Click Confirm and then OK to begin a local-only recording
4. When done, press Record again to end and save the recording to your chosen destination

You‘ll now have a local MP4 or FLV video file containing your session that you can watch back and critique or edit using video editing software later on if desired.

Troubleshooting: Streamlabs Not Saving Recordings Properly

In some cases, you may run into issues with Streamlabs OBS either not recording at all, or recordings getting corrupted/lost before they fully save.

Here are a few tips to troubleshoot recordings not saving properly in Streamlabs OBS:

Ensure Ample Disk Space

First, check that the drive you have configured SLOBS to save recordings to has enough free disk space left. Video files are large, so if the target location is almost full, that could easily prevent recordings from successfully completing. Try setting the save location to a drive with at least 10-20GB free to start.

Run Streamlabs OBS As Administrator

Sometimes permission issues with system folders like Documents or Program Files may prevent recordings from fully saving properly. Try running the SLOBS app "As Administrator" from the Windows start menu which can resolve these permission problems.

Disable Antivirus Scans During Streams

Some antivirus or security suites can interfere with SLOBS during the recording process. Try adding an exclusion for the Streamlabs OBS folder and disable any active scanning on the recordings save location while streaming.

Check Task Manager During Issues

Open Windows task manager the next time you try to record but it fails to fully save. Check there are no spike in CPU, RAM, or drive usage indicating a performance bottleneck causing premature termination of recordings.

Addressing the above troubleshooting tips should resolve most cases of recordings issues in Streamlabs OBS.

Alternative Recording Options

While Streamlabs OBS is a popular free streaming solution, regular OBS Studio is another option that may provide more recording stability for some systems.

You can also look at dedicated screen recording tools like Windows 10‘s built-in Game Bar (Winkey + G), Nvidia ShadowPlay for compatible GPUs, or paid solutions like Bandicam and Action! Screen Recorder.

It‘s always a good idea to test different recording programs to find which one works most reliably on your specific hardware. Many streamers actually leverage OBS just to stream, but preferred third-party screen recording apps to save local archives of their sessions.

So if you find SLOBS unreliable for recordings, definitely experiment with some alternatives rather than relying solely on Streamlabs‘ tools.

Conclusion

To wrap up, hopefully this overview gives you a clear understanding of all aspects regarding recordings with Streamlabs OBS, including:

• Where Streamlabs saves recordings by default (Documents > Streamlabs > Recordings)
• How to customize the recording storage location
• Special recording options like Highlighter and Replay Buffer
• Capturing local sessions without streaming
• Troubleshooting tips for recordings issues
• Trying alternate programs like OBS Studio or dedicated screen recorders

Knowing exactly where your hard-earned recordings are saved and having full control over that destination is crucial to building up an engaging content library from your streams and gaming time.

So review the steps outlined above to take full advantage of Streamlabs‘ recording capabilities or resolve any current problems you may be experiencing. This will ensure you never lose that perfect highlight, funny fail or creative effort again due to recording mishaps!