Twitch Caps Users’ Uploads and Highlights at 100 Hours

Streaming platform Twitch plans to cap users’ Highlights and Uploads to 100 hours starting from April 19, 2025 onwards.

Users will need to act soon if they want to preserve their content, channels still over the storage limit after the cut-off date will risk having their Highlights and Uploads automatically deleted. The new policy is set to apply whether or not the Highlights and Uploads are published or unpublished, regardless of when they were created. And if you haven’t already reached the 10‑hour storage limit, you will be automatically blocked from exceeding it.

Twitch said they were enforcing the cap as “Highlights haven’t been very effective in driving discovery or engagement with viewers compared to features like Clips, Tags, and the Mobile Discovery Feed.”

The streaming platform pointed towards the high cost of storage as one reason for the move, despite Twitch’s parent company Amazon currently owning the world’s largest cloud storage company Amazon Web Services (AWS.)

To avoid confusion, the new limit does not apply to the storage of Past Broadcasts (VODs), which are complete copies of past streams that are deleted after 7 days automatically, except for Twitch’s Partners or its premium subscribers, who have a 60-day cut-off. It also doesn’t apply to Twitch’s Clips feature, although these are capped at 60 seconds in length anyway.

Many aren’t pleased with Twitch’s decision. It’s been heavily criticized by some in the gaming community, particularly in the world of “speedrunning”—where gamers try and complete games as quickly as possible while on-stream and often breaking records in the process.

One community manager at Speedrun.com called the move “frustrating” and said that “Twitch’s changes put years of history at risk.” If you really can’t let go of your Twitch Highlights, you still have the option of downloading your content and uploading it onto another platform like YouTube. If you are unsure about how to delete content you’ve uploaded on Twitch, head here for a guide.

Earlier this week, Facebook made a similar decision to limit the amount of video that users can store on the platform. Users’ Live videos will no longer be stored indefinitely but will be automatically deleted after 30 days (though Facebook offers a tool to let users download their videos).

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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