How to Setup Instant Replays on Streamlabs Desktop

We’ve all been there: 30 seconds left in the match, it’s 3 vs 1, your team is watching, your heart is beating, your palms are sweaty, and it's up to you to clutch the game.

Because you’re an MLG Pro, you pull it off, the game is over and the chat is going crazy. You want to relive this moment and relish in the victory. Luckily for you, with Streamlabs Desktop Instant Replay functionality you can bask in sweet victory again and again.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how Instant replay (or Replay Buffer) records your content in the background so it can be replayed at your command.

We’ll cover:

1. How to enable the replay buffer and add an Instant Replay source
2. How to use hotkeys to trigger an Instant Replay with one click

First, open Streamlabs Desktop settings, go to output, and check the box “Enable Replay Buffer”

• Open Streamlabs Desktop settings
• Go to Output
• Check the box for Enable Replay Buffer
• Set the length to your desired time.
• Note: Longer replay buffers require more memory (for this guide we’ll use 20 seconds).

Next, navigate to the general settings and check the box next to “Automatically start replay buffer when streaming”. This will turn on replay buffer as soon as you start streaming. If you are the type of streamer that will be utilizing replays often, this is a handy tool make sure you don’t forget to turn it on and possibly miss out on a cool play.

Now, add a new source to the current scene and choose the one called “Instant Replay”.

Set Your Hotkeys

To seamlessly use Instant Replays while you stream, we recommend configuring your Hotkeys.

For example, you can save a replay, hide or show your instant replay source, and even switch to a scene with the instant replay source in it.

We highly recommend setting a hotkey to save a replay. That way, at any given time you are ready to capture your best moments.

Using this hotkey you can save the last 20 seconds of your stream since that is the duration we set in the settings above.

Other Hotkeys give you additional flexibility on how and when you show your Instant Replay. For example, you set a hotkey to show or hide the source, and if you are really fancy, you can even dedicate a scene specifically for Instant Replays and use a hotkey to switch to the scene.

Now you can close the settings page. To test replay buffer and get comfortable using it before you go live you can click on “Start Replay Buffer” towards the bottom right of Streamlabs Desktop. Remember, Replay Buffer will automatically turn on when you start streaming.

Now your Instant Replay feature is ready. Simply press your chosen hotkey combination, and the last 20 seconds will play as a media source in your editor. You can also resize the source and move it around.

If you have a control device such as a Stream Deck, you can create a hotkey action; Set the hotkey to the same as in Streamlabs Desktop, and then you have the power of instant replay at the press of a button.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.