Twitch has revealed intentions to implement a 100-hour storage restriction for all highlights and uploads for every user. This announcement has been met with immediate backlash from speedrunners particularly, who fear that they may lose years’ worth of history.
“Beginning April 19, 2025,” Twitch elaborates in its declaration, “all Highlights and Uploads, whether they are public or private, will contribute to a single 100-hour storage limit. This restriction applies to all Highlights and Uploads on your channel, irrespective of their creation date.” This automatic deletion does not affect VODs or clips, yet clips are fleeting and VODs already have an auto-deletion timeline of between seven and 60 days, depending on the settings of your Twitch account.
“The maintenance of this content incurs expenses,” Twitch clarifies, pointing out that highlights “have not been particularly effective in enhancing discovery or engagement” compared to other features on the platform. “By introducing this 100-hour storage cap, which impacts less than 0.5% of active channels on Twitch and represents less than 0.1% of viewing hours, we can manage resources more effectively, sustain support for Highlights and Uploads, and continue investing in new functionalities and improvements to enhance viewer engagement tools like Clips and the mobile feed.”
We’re instituting a 100-hour storage limit for Highlights & Uploads starting 4/19. This will not apply to Previous Broadcasts (VODs) or clips. Fewer than 0.5% of streamers exceed 100 hrs & this content makes up <0.1% of viewed hours. Users will receive notifications. https://t.co/RoDIAEzBV5 pic.twitter.com/zN7iKHpSqmFebruary 19, 2025
Ultimately, Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon, which is a significant player in the realm of cloud storage, so individual users are not genuinely purchasing the excuse that the platform is struggling for storage space. The proposed auto-deletion presents a genuine concern for the speedrunning community, whose history is largely archived through Twitch highlights.
“Notice to all speedrunners – PLEASE retrieve and upload all highlights to YouTube,” runner and speedrunning documentarian SummoningSalt advises on Bluesky. “A significant portion of speedrunning history will vanish if we do not act. Even if you’re below 100 hours, it’s wise to download. It’s 100 hours for now, but who knows what could happen in the future. Also, it seems that Twitch chat on all these highlights will be lost forever, unless there is some way to archive it? It’s simply a really unfortunate day for speedrunning…”
Streamers have until the April 19 deadline to download or export their videos before they are forcibly reduced to that 100-hour limit. In theory, transferring these videos to a platform like YouTube is somewhat straightforward – but a few…