on february 20th, 2025, twitch announced that they would be implementing a 100 hour storage limit for highlights and uploads.
on storage:
this decision from twitch is a great reminder of why itās important to:
- take responsibility over your data and files. do not rely on a corporation to be the sole host of your files, as you cannot guarantee that they have the same interests and values as you. neglecting to back up your files incurs the risk of losing it forever.
- never assume that things will continue existing as they are today for all eternity. my VODs have been on twitch for a very long time because i naively assumed that this option would always be available to me.
remember, convenience does not equal freedom. while it can be a pain in the ass to go out of your way to do things that are a little more time consuming/requires more resources, it is very empowering to take responsibility for the choices you make. in the case of backing up your files and VODs specifically, you get the security of knowing your files are safe, and the freedom to move them wherever you like. and thatās a wonderful thing!
my initial reaction
when i heard about this, i reflected about it on bluesky:
click for a transcript of the screenshot:
lizz video editing stocks are looking upā¦ since twitch is introducing a new storage limit for highlights and uploads, iām thinking it might be fun to make a compilation of some of my favorite moments just to honor the person i was back then and say hi to themā¦
if you exist on the internet in any capacityā¦ there is always the potential of the the services you use ceasing to existā¦ itās unfortunate, but i like to think of it as a reminder to cherish things while they last. i try to not let it deter me from being kind to others or having a fun time!
i think the storage limit will suck in terms of losing access to other bodies of work and history that arenāt archived elsewhere (thinking about speedruns, competitive scenes, etc)ā¦ but for my own videos? i think it shall be fineā¦ iām mostly past that phase of my life anywaysā¦
the lizz who used to stream every week onā¦ tuesdays? thursdays? (i forget what day of the week i streamed on) is no longer reflective of who i am these days, but iām still very fond of that period of my life, it brought me a lot of close friendships and laughs when i was figuring out who i was :3
from 2018 to 2025, i streamed for a total of 993 hours and 29 minutes (equivalent to 41 days). of those, i had 620 hours and 20 minutes of highlights. for a very long time, i saved my VODs using the highlight feature because of convenience. (TRANSLATION: i didnāt feel like storing all of that on my computer.)
to comply with the 100 hour limit, i would need to download and delete at least 520 hours of footage. and that intimidated me (anyone who works in video knows that it takes up a LOT of space). when the announcement was made, i was in the middle of finishing up my friendās website, and a 7-week course on color and light. since i was busy at the time, i made peace with losing these VODs to the sands of time.
(on the day of the announcement, i downloaded one VOD, and then promptly forgot about downloading the other videos i hadā¦)
actually wait, i changed my mind
after i finished my friendās website and my class, my opinion on saving the VODs changed. these two experiences were very transformative and iām super grateful to have been a part of both of those!!! but also, they also took up most of my waking hours and resources.
with significantly less things to do on my plate, i had a moment of clarity and realized, āhey, even if i am past my streaming era, i still want to try and save the artifacts of my past self while i have the chance.ā
am i embarking on a foolās errand because of the sheer amount of footage? perhaps. but i donāt think itās foolish to want to save and protect the things that are important to you.
when it comes to having things, i usually prefer the approach of āless is more.ā the exception to this, to me, are things that are irreplaceable, and imbued with your own unique touch. twitch VODs are exactly that, which is why iām keen on preserving them while i can.
the person that i used to be
i remember streaming once a week on thursdays (or tuesday) from december 2020 to july 2022.
i originally started streaming because i needed something to help me start and finish persona 5 royal (P5R). at this point of my life, i was very much a workaholic; iād always be darting between schoolwork and fanart with no time for games. because of this, the only way i could see myself finishing P5R was toā¦ turn it into something my brain perceived as āproductive work,ā AKA streaming. (and donāt worry!!! these days i understand the dangers of this mentality and iām trying my best to unlearn itā¦)
the average P5R stream would last for ten hours. i think this metric alone speaks volumes about how obsessed i was with persona 5, lol.
i really loved the characters of persona 5, and my twitch chat did too. over time, i ended up fostering a community of people who liked pingponging headcanons at each other non-stop. at the time, i really loved being a part of these type of discussions and it really furthered my appreciation of the characters.
i also remember eating mcdonalds happy meals on nearly every stream because it was fast to eat and gave me energy to continue streaming. typing this sentence out makes me realize, āwow, i really only cared about efficiency, huh.ā (i have not had mcdonaldās sinceā¦ late 2023 because of the boycott, but also, i really donāt need to be putting that kind of thing in my body.)
P5R (and by extension, the streams), consumed me whole, and was my entire world. i distinctly remember thinking, āwow, i never want this feeling of excitement to go away. i love the community i have and how creative everyone is. iām so happy that we can all bond over goro akechi and akira kurusu.ā looking back, i feel that this desire for P5R to last for all eternity can be likened to experiencing love for the first timeā¦
while P5R was what kickstarted my weekly stream routine, i kept playing games on the internet because i loved talking with my community. i did playthroughs of mario odyssey, persona 5 strikers, IB, pokemon shining pearl, persona 3 dancing, sonic colors, xenoblade x, and super mario galaxy 2, up until july 2022. all of which, had some discussion of persona in the chat, even though it had literally nothing to do with what i was playing.š but it made me very happy at that timeā¦
as i reminisce on these experiences, it is very clear to me that i will probably never be that person ever again. even though the weekly streams were very near and dear to my heart, the mere thought of doing that nowadays exhausts me. iām glad that these days, i know myself well enough to approach streaming in a more fulfilling and sustainable way. nevertheless, i cannot deny that my experiences with my community were very formative in how i carry myself todayā¦ i wouldnāt be the same person without them! š„ŗ
it is because i want to honor my past selves and the people i met along the way that i am taking on this endeavor to preserve the VODs that i can. iāve only been working on this for a few days, but itās given me so much appreciation and compassion for what iāve done so far. iām really happy to be doing thisā¦! (itās also prompted me to start backing up and reorganizing the rest of the files on my computer as wellā¦)
how iām downloading and organizing my VODs
now that iāve gotten most of my sentimental/mushy feelings out thereā¦ i can actually start talking about the actual process. YIPPEE!!!
downloading methods
i am downloading my VODs through the video producer tab on twitch! admittedly, itās a little slow; you have to wait for twitch to prepare the VOD for download, and then actually download itā¦ and while itās downloading, you have to babysit it to make sure that the download doesnāt pause or fail midway through.
i will probably continue using this because itās the easiest for me to understandā¦
HOWEVER! i did find some other tools that people use for downloading VODs after digging through a few reddit posts. i think they let you download VODs even if youāre not the original uploader, which is great if youāre an editor for someoneās streamā¦
tools for downloading VODs (even if youāre not the original uploader):
- GitHub - schneidermanuel/TwitchLeecher-Dx: Twitch Leecher DX - The Broadcast Downloader a continuation of the original Twitch Leecher!
- GitHub - lay295/TwitchDownloader: Twitch VOD/Clip Downloader - Chat Download/Render/Replay
- GitHub - yt-dlp/yt-dlp: A feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader
keeping track of what i need to download
because this is an endeavor that will take several days, i decided to take the time to make a spreadsheet for my VODs. (I LOVE SPREADSHEETS!!! MY BELOVED!!!)
usually iād use Google Sheets for this, but this time i decided to use Microsoft excel for a few reasons:
- twitch enforcing a storage limit makes me more keen on saving my files locally
- iām a little sick of Googleās push for AI (understatement) and the amount of data they collect (also an understatement).
- microsoft excel at least lets you turn off AI training
as a side note, if you donāt want to use the Google and Microsoft suites, LibreOffice is an open source alternative! iāve heard from a friend that the excel equivalent is a little cumbersome to work with, which is unfortunate, but maybe someday iāll learn the ins and outs of the suite.
i have four sheets on the .xlsx file:
- VOD LIST: this catalogs all of the VODs on my twitch channel. it includes information like:
- the date of the original stream,
- the title of the stream
- the category
- the duration of the stream
- and an indicator of whether or not it was saved on my computer
- PRIORITY: this is a sheet that i made to help get my priorities straight. it lists the categories i streamed, and how much time each VOD cumulatively takes up. it helped me ask questions like:
- which series do i want to keep on twitch (within the 100 hour limit)?
- which series do i care the most about downloading?
- STORAGE: this sheet is used to track how much GB each category/series takes on my hard drive, relative to the length of the total VODs + the resolutions theyāre streamed at. this data helps me properly assess how much storage i need by allowing me to make predictions on how much space a given series will take.
- PROGRESS LOG: a sheet logging down which VODs i downloaded (using the same metrics from VOD LIST) and when. itās great for keeping track of my pace and seeing the total hours downloaded.
of these four sheets, i start with looking at the PRIORITY sheet to figure out which series i should be downloading firstā¦ (pictured below)
so far, iāve started downloading the more āseriesā type of videos (as i am typing this iāve been downloading the vods for pokemon BDSP!) earlier on in the day, and as it gets later, iāll download some one-off, smaller VODsā¦
then, i cycle between VOD LIST and PROGRESS LOG to log down which VODs are being downloadedā¦ the filters on VOD list are helpful because it lets me resort by category, and any other criteriaā¦!
and once any given series is finished downloading, iāll go over to STORAGE and note down the final size of the batch of vods!
maintaining pace
at the end of a download session, i run some calculations to figure out how many videos i need to download each day to make sure i meet the deadlineā¦ the formula is something like:
the formula:
(174 - x - y) / z
in which:
- 174 is the number of videos i started with
- x is the number videos downloaded so far (based on PROGRESS LOG sheet)
- y is the number of videos that i plan on keeping on twitch. currently itās 35, but it may change over timeā¦
- z is the number of days until April 17th, my self-imposed deadline (to account for any timezone differences. april 17th is included in this number.)
and in practice, using todayās download session as an exampleā¦
march 26th downloads:
- (174 - 34 - 35)/22
- 105/22
- 4.7~ videos a day
iām happy with this number, since it was at 7 at the start of yesterdayā¦!!! since iāve started, iāve been downloading well over the recommended amount, which is nice because:
- itās entirely possible iāll finish earlier than expected, which iād be happy with!
- it gives me buffers on days i am not able to download VODs for whatever reason
(and yes, iām fully aware that my enthusiasm for this can fade over time. but thats OK because iāve been prioritizing the most important VODs first rather than doing this aimlessly!)
honestly, downloading has been a very chill and cozy process! i kind of wish i started this earlier, but i understand why i didnātā¦ i was busy, but also, itās hard to stay motivated without a proper structure.
and thatās exactly why the spreadsheet is so important: it acts as a measurable goalpost that doesnāt move. measurable goals are the key to success, and for me, spreadsheets are the perfect way of helping me visualize and document my progress. theyāre easy to sort and comprehend, whatās not to love?
(ā¦okay but something i do miss about google sheets is being able to easily rearrange columns at my whimā¦ i need to reread the documentation for excel because i donāt understand how to do it LOL)
what i do while waiting for the VODs to download
since iām downloading several batches of 2-4 hour videos (sometimes even longer!), itās important for me to keep my braind + hands active or iāll start losing my mindā¦
anything that requires heavy internet usage (watching streams, playing online games), are immediately out of the question, but honestly? i welcome that.
normally, if i had a long stretch of time and i wanted to fill it, i would drawā¦ BUT!!! iāve recently decided to take a break from art for the entirety of april! i wonāt go into the details in this specific note, but the general rundown is:
- i want to give my hands a break,
- i need to attend to other parts of my life iāve neglected in favor of art
- i feel that time away will help me figure out what kinds of art is most meaningful to me (this is definitely a post for another time haha, iām so excited to see what insights iāll get from this break.)
so because drawing + splatoon isnāt an option (aka my usual go-tos)ā¦ iāve had to do other things! hereās a list of things iāve done to help pass the timeā¦
- sort & delete files on my computer (i am probably going to write a post about reorganizing my computer files at a later date)
- write things on my quartz (the download times for pokemon BDSP is literally how iām getting this post done LMAO)
- delete old tweets (i donāt really want my data to be on there anymoreā¦ eugh!!!)
iām sure this list of āthings i did while waiting for VODs to downloadā will grow over time (i can already see myself reading a book one of these days), but iām pretty happy with the activity rotation. cleaning up my digital footprint has been something iāve needed to do for awhile, so iām happy that the VODs have prompted me to begin this journey.
the future of streaming on twitch (for me)
given the nature of this endeavorā¦ it really prompted me to think about whether or not i want to continue streaming on twitch, and if i do, how i want to go about it.
after i said goodbye to the weekly schedule of streams in july 2022, i would only stream whenever i felt like it. and i will continue to approach streams in this manner. given my shift in priorities, i think itās very unlikely for me to stream. itās not impossible for me to do a stream (as i do tend to cycle around to old hobbies every now and again), but i canāt really see them being a priority like it was in 2020-2022.
as i get older, i find that i really enjoy having time away from the internet, especially the public-facing parts of it. if the pandemic taught me anything, itās that being plugged into the internet 24/7 is a great way to make yourself feel mentally exhausted. even if you curate your feeds of information to be aligned with your values, itās still really important to have something that grounds you in three-dimensional space, yāknow?
being able to draw a clear boundary between the public and private aspects of your life is a really important thing to practice, especially on the internet. i find this difficult sometimes, because the internet brings out my more extroverted tendencies, but that makes time offline all the more important. i hope that everyone remembers that you can still show up to conversations on the internet and be kind to others, while protecting your own privacy (and mental sanity). i strongly encourage you to find a balance that works for you.
what iād like to do with the VODsā¦
if itās not readily apparent, downloading these VODs has been a personal endeavor first and foremost. iām not really interested in preserving them for the publicās consumption and reuploading them elsewhere. and i feel that any future streams i do will be like that too; you either saw it or you didnāt.
i donāt know why, but thereās something appealing to me about the VODs fading sands of time. maybe being on the internet for so much of my life, where thereās receipts and documents of every conversation ever, has made me seek out pockets of time that are fleeting, and transient. to put it in other words, my thought process is, āwell, if this isnāt going to be around forever, i want to try my best to appreciate the moment while it lasts.ā
as iāve been downloading my VODs, i realized something very ironic: making these full-length playthroughs available to visit at āany point in the futureā made it harder for me to commit the experiences to memory. this could have been caused from streaming so much, without ever stopping to look back and properly appreciate what i did. or maybe itās because streaming demands that you multitask, and itās very easy for your attention span to be diluted. or both, who knows!
that said, i have found out in the past year or two that:
- i enjoy editing down long hours of footage in highlight reels, andā¦
- i generally find those easier to revisit than a whole playthrough (which i will only really watch once and then never again)
something about video editing in this manner scratches an itch in my brain the same way journaling doesā¦ i think itās because both hobbies force you to be selective about what you feel is most important to remember and look back on. limitations can breed creativity!
disclaimer:
while video editing can allow you to make cool artifacts and memoirs, itās important to do it selectively. if you arenāt selective about what you edit, and spend all of your time editing videos of past experiences, it takes away opportunities to live in the present. you cannot do everything and should not strive to do that, and this is especially pronounced with video editing because itās insanely easy to accumulate a backlog of long hours of footage.
i write this disclaimer because of my personal experiences. in my experience, trying to save the details of anything and everything at all times will do more harm than good. if everything is important, nothing is important. while it sounds nice on paper to give your 100% in every pursuit of your life, this can very easily lead to burnout. i wish i could tell my past self, āyou can still put your best foot forward without having to go ham on everything. please give your mind and body time to replenish itās well of energy..ā
this entire document is very rambly, butā¦!!! downloading twitch VODs really got me existential, haha. itās prompted me to reevaluate so many of my habits, both in regards to keeping my files backed up, and living in the present moment. maybe i donāt need to constantly be striving for more, or moving on from one project to the next. itās OK to take moments of pause from my craftsā¦!!!
maybe in the future, after i get all the VODs downloaded, iāll edit down some of the series i really enjoyed streaming into a highlight reelā¦ or notā¦! and thatās OK with me, because iām just happy to have the footage in some capacity (even if it makes my storage cry LOL). i donāt need to make anything grand out of my VOD footage for it to be worth saving.
as a side note, this entire āGO DOWNLOAD YOUR VODS BY APRIL 19THā has made me feel like i caught a glimpse into the lifestyle of a Twitch streamer and/or YouTuber and what kinds of things they struggle withā¦ i always understood that editing does take a lot of time and work, but when faced with how many hours of footage i had, it really hammered home why people hire additional editorsā¦ (not to mention the whole storage and preservation of contentā¦!!!) i am not cut out for that lifestyle and iām happy i have the wisdom to realize that, LOL.
um!!! anyways!!! if youāve made it this far, thank you for reading! big love to anyone who has attended my streams, whether if it was as a lurker, or as a chatter. even if streaming is not really my style anymore, iāll always be grateful for the kindness that people have shown me on twitch and the little moments of conversation and funā¦!!!
letās meet again soon, lizz! š