How to Download a Stream Recording (VOD) and Clips from Kick in 2026

You can download a Kick clip right on the site: open it and click the Download button, and the file is saved as MP4. Stream recordings (VODs) are trickier. The Kick Help Center only describes third-party downloaders, and the first one on its list is the free Kick VOD Downloader from Streams Charts. According to a Kick announcement from September 25, 2026, channel owners can now download their own recordings directly from Creator Dashboard → Studio → VODs. Don't wait: on regular channels a recording is stored for 7 days, and you can have no more than 16 at a time. Verified channels get 30 days and 30 recordings. The most reliable way to lose nothing is to turn on local recording of every stream in OBS.

What Kick stores and for how long

Kick has two kinds of video, and each has its own rules.

What	Length	How long it is stored	How to download
Clip	10 to 180 seconds	No period is given in the Help Center; the channel owner can delete a clip	Download button on the clip page, MP4
Stream recording (VOD), regular channel	The whole stream	7 days, no more than 16 recordings at once	The owner's own button (since September 2026) or a third-party downloader
VOD of a Verified channel	The whole stream	30 days, no more than 30 recordings at once	Same as above
Pinned VOD (Verified and Partner)	The whole stream	No expiry, up to 5	Same as above

Kick states plainly that a recording deleted after its storage period expires cannot be restored. If a stream matters, download it in the first few days, not on the last one.

Deleting VODs by hand to free up space also calls for care. Together with the recording, the stream time disappears from your statistics, and you need that time for verification and the Partner program.

How to download a Kick clip

Any viewer who is logged in can create clips on Kick, and so can the streamer. Anyone watching a clip can download it. The Help Center says exactly that: all clips can be downloaded while viewing.

1. Open the channel and go to the Clips tab, or open the clip from its link.
2. Play the clip.
3. Click the Download button.
4. The file is saved to your device in MP4 format.

You can download your own clip right after publishing it. In the Create clip window click Publish, wait for the clip to process, and three actions appear: download, send to the streamer's chat and copy the link. Sending to chat works only for clips from a live stream, not for clips made from a VOD.

A couple of details that save time. A clip is created with the Clip button or the C key, and you set its length with a slider, up to 3 minutes on both desktop and phone. There is a 60 second pause between clips. If a viewer is banned in the channel's chat, they cannot clip that channel. The Help Center does not state the resolution or bitrate of the file. Most likely, the quality of a clip is no higher than the quality the stream was broadcast in.

How to download a recording of your own stream (VOD)

The built-in button for channel owners

On September 25, 2026, Kick announced on its X account that recordings can now be downloaded straight from the platform. Streams Charts and Upstream wrote about it. According to their description, the button is available only to the channel owner and only for their own recordings:

1. Log in and open Creator Dashboard from the profile menu.
2. Go to Studio → VODs. This is the list of all saved streams.
3. Click the download icon next to the recording you need. It sits right beside the red delete button, so do not mix them up.

Note that the Kick Help Center does not describe this button yet: its article on downloading a VOD still lists only third-party services. The format and quality of the file have not been officially published. If a recording is not in the list, it is most likely still processing. Kick advises waiting 15 to 30 minutes after a short stream and up to an hour after a long one.

The Help Center method: a third-party downloader

In the Help Center article How to download your KICK VOD, Kick names two third-party tools: Kick VOD Downloader from Streams Charts and the Kicklet downloader. These are not Kick products. The Help Center calls them third-party and does not say that the platform vets them or is responsible for them. The procedure is the same for both:

1. Open the recording you need on Kick.
2. Copy the link from the address bar. It looks like kick.com/channel_name/videos/long-identifier.
3. Paste the link into the downloader.
4. Choose a resolution and click Download.

Streams Charts is a well-known stream analytics service, and its downloader is free. It delivers the file as MP4 or TS in resolutions from 160p to 1080p and handles long streams, only it takes longer to process them. It may fail to download private recordings and subscriber-only ones. The Kicklet page did not open when we checked, so we give no details about it.

For those who are not afraid of the command line: yt-dlp

yt-dlp is a free open-source program for Windows, macOS and Linux. Kick is on its list of supported sites: recordings (kick:vod), clips (kick:clips) and live streams (kick:live). The file is downloaded directly from Kick's servers, with no third-party sites in between. The command is simple: yt-dlp and the link to the recording or clip. To merge video and audio you also need ffmpeg installed. The Kick Help Center also describes a manual route: find the link to the master.m3u8 file in the browser's developer tools (F12, Network tab). But you still need a program like yt-dlp or ffmpeg to handle that playlist, so it is simpler to give it the regular link right away.

The most reliable way: record your stream in OBS

All the methods above download an already compressed stream that was sent to Kick at a bitrate of up to 8000 kbps. A local recording in OBS depends neither on storage periods nor on connection drops. By the way, if the connection breaks, Kick may split a stream into several VODs. Another plus: you can make the recording better quality than the broadcast.

1. In OBS open Settings → General and enable automatic recording when the stream starts.
2. In the Output section set the recording path, a folder on a disk with enough free space.
3. Choose the MKV format or hybrid MP4. Both avoid losing the whole file if OBS or the computer crashes in the middle of a stream.
4. If you need a regular MP4 from an MKV, use File → Remux Recordings: quality is not lost, there is no re-encoding.

If you set a separate encoder for recording instead of Same as stream, OBS will use more of your computer's resources. On a weak PC keep Same as stream: you get the same picture your viewers see, but fully in your own hands. For details on profiles, encoders and bitrate, see our article on how to set up OBS for streaming, and the Kick server address and key are covered in the guide how to stream on Kick with OBS.

Pinning recordings: how to keep a VOD forever

If your channel is Verified or is in the Partner program, you can pin up to 5 recordings. A pinned recording is stored with no expiry and shown at the top of the video list. Only the channel owner can pin; moderators do not have this feature.

• You can only pin a recording whose storage period has not yet expired. Pinning does not bring back one that is already deleted.
• The Pin button is in Channel → Home, Channel → Videos and Creator Dashboard → Studio → VODs. It works in a desktop or phone browser; the feature is promised for the mobile app later.
• If a recording is pinned but you no longer want it in view, make it private. It will stay forever, but it will still take up a slot in the limit of 5.
• If you unpin a recording whose storage period has already passed, it disappears from the channel at once and is deleted after 24 hours. During those 24 hours you can get it back by pinning it again.
• Recordings pinned before September 29, 2026 are deleted 24 hours after unpinning, even if their storage period has not expired. Kick shows a warning about this.

Pinning is not a substitute for a copy on your disk: five slots run out quickly. It works well to pin your best streams for new viewers and keep the archive yourself.

How to move a recording to YouTube

The Kick Help Center has no export to YouTube, so people do it by hand: download the file and upload it through YouTube Studio. Mind YouTube's limits. Without phone verification of your account you can upload videos up to 15 minutes long. After verification, up to 12 hours, with a file no larger than 256 GB. Verification is done once, by an SMS code or a call.

Before uploading a long stream, it is worth cutting out pauses, the waiting screen and parts with other people's music, otherwise YouTube may flag the video through Content ID. Kick Partners can multistream, and then a copy of the stream stays on the YouTube channel right away. For everyone else multistreaming on Kick is not available. If you used to stream on Twitch, compare it with how things work there: the article how to download a clip and VOD from Twitch describes their storage periods and built-in buttons.

Copyright and account security

Being technically able to download a video does not give you the right to publish it. Your streams and clips from your channel are your content, and you can do what you like with them. A recording of someone else's stream belongs to its author. You may not re-upload it to your channel, cut it into shorts or monetize it without permission: that is a direct route to a complaint and a ban. If you want to make highlight compilations of other people's streams, agree with the streamer in advance. Many look for clippers themselves. Also remember the music in streams: it is often protected, even if Kick did not punish it.

The second rule is security. A proper downloader needs only the link to the video. If a site asks you to log in with Kick, enter your login and password or a two-factor code, close the tab. Kick says in its Help Center that it never asks for your password, by email or in chat, and advises not to share 2FA codes with anyone. Fake login pages are a common way to steal an account along with its payouts and stream key. Install browser extensions for downloading from Kick only from official stores and with an open reputation, or better yet do without them.

When you need recordings to grow your channel

Recordings and clips are fuel for promotion: highlights in shorts, TikTok and Telegram bring new viewers to your next stream. But to have anything to make clips from, a stream needs live viewers and an active chat. For the first audience, Kick views from stream-promotion.ru help. A new channel looks alive, people are more likely to watch it to the end, and real viewers get a reason to stay. The other services for this platform are collected in the Kick section.

Frequently asked questions

Can I download someone else's VOD from Kick?

According to the launch description, the built-in button is available only to the channel owner for their own recordings. A public recording from someone else can technically be downloaded with the Streams Charts downloader or yt-dlp. Do it for personal viewing, and do not publish it without the author's consent.

Why did my stream recording disappear?

Most often its storage period ran out: 7 days on a regular channel, 30 on a Verified one. It may also have been made private, it may still have been processing, or it may have split into several VODs because of a connection drop. Kick cannot restore a recording deleted after its period expired.

In what format and quality are videos downloaded?

Clips come as MP4, which the Help Center states. Streams Charts delivers recordings as MP4 or TS, from 160p to 1080p. The format and quality of Kick's built-in button have not been officially published. Keep in mind that 1080p does not open for viewers right away: Kick gives a benchmark of about 75 viewers, and until then the maximum is 720p60. So the recording will not be better either.

Can I download a VOD from my phone?

A clip can be downloaded with the Download button from a phone too. For recordings, the Help Center page on the mobile app says nothing about downloading. It is more reliable to open Creator Dashboard or a downloader in a browser on a computer.

How do I keep recordings longer than 7 days without verification?

Only on your own side: enable auto-recording in OBS or download every recording in the first few days after the stream. Pinning becomes available after verification or joining the Partner program and holds 5 recordings.

Do I need to enter my Kick password in a downloader?

No. Legitimate services need only the link to the video. A site that asks for your password or a 2FA code is a reason to leave, not to enter your details.