Your Kick VODs are on a countdown timer, and when it runs out they are gone for good. Kick keeps your stream replays for a limited window, then automatically deletes them — and there is no download button anywhere on the site to save them first. This guide covers exactly how to download and keep your Kick VODs before they expire: which method is genuinely reliable, which ones come with caveats, and the one rule that keeps you on the right side of Kick's terms.
Kick has no native download button, and your replays auto-delete after 7 days if you are non-verified or up to 30 days if you are verified — so the only retention-proof way to keep a VOD is to record it locally in OBS or Streamlabs while you stream, with paste-the-link downloaders as a backup while the VOD still exists (last verified August 2026).
Key takeaways
- Kick has no native download button — its own help article sends you to third-party tools to save a VOD.
- Replays auto-delete after 7 days for non-verified streamers and up to 30 days for verified ones, then there is no recovery path.
- The only method that never depends on Kick keeping your VOD is recording it yourself, locally, in OBS or Streamlabs while you stream.
- Paste-the-link downloaders can grab a VOD that still exists, but they only work before it expires, and some free tiers cap the resolution.
- yt-dlp has a Kick extractor, but Kick's site changes repeatedly break it — treat it as a sometimes-working option, not a reliable one.
Can you actually download a Kick VOD?
Yes, but not with a button on Kick — there is no native "Download VOD" option anywhere on the platform, for regular users or for verified streamers. Kick's own help article on downloading a VOD does not point you at a dashboard button; it tells you to copy the VOD's URL and paste it into third-party tools, then pick a resolution and download. That is the load-bearing fact behind every method below: even the official route is a third-party route.
It is worth stating the negative finding plainly, because a handful of low-quality guides claim a Download button lives in the creator dashboard. We could not confirm one anywhere reliable, and it contradicts the existence of Kick's own third-party-tool help article. Do not go hunting for a button that is not there — the working methods are local recording and external downloaders, in that order of reliability.
How long before Kick deletes your VOD?
Not long — replays stay available for 7 days for non-verified streamers and up to 30 days for verified streamers, then Kick automatically deletes them unless you have downloaded them or saved them elsewhere (last verified August 2026). There is no third retention tier, no partner-specific window, and no documented way to recover a VOD once it is gone. Streamers can also delete a replay early, so the real window can be shorter than the clock suggests.
That countdown is the whole reason this guide exists. If you want the full picture of where your replays live, how the 7-versus-30-day retention works, and why one might go missing early, our companion guide on where Kick VODs go covers the mechanics in detail. Here we focus on the one job that clock creates: getting a copy of anything you want to keep before it disappears.
What is the most reliable way to save your Kick VODs?
Record it yourself, locally, while you stream — that is the only method that never depends on Kick keeping your VOD. Both OBS Studio and Streamlabs can save a full-quality copy of your broadcast to your own hard drive at the same time they push the stream to Kick, so you own the file the moment the stream ends, regardless of the 7-or-30-day clock. Most Kick streamers already broadcast through OBS or Streamlabs anyway, which makes this a one-checkbox habit rather than a new workflow.
In OBS the setting lives under Settings then Output, where you set the recording path and format; then you press Start Recording alongside Start Streaming. If you want your local copy to look its best, it is worth dialing in the encoder and bitrate first — our guide to the best OBS settings for Kick walks through those numbers. Two honest downsides: local recording only captures streams going forward, not VODs you have already published, and full-quality files eat disk space, so keep an eye on your drive.
Which VOD download method should you use?
It depends on whether you are saving a stream going forward or trying to grab a VOD that already exists. Recording locally wins whenever you can plan ahead; the other methods are for rescuing a replay that is already on Kick and ticking toward deletion. Here is the honest ladder, from most to least reliable.
| Method | Effort | Quality | Main caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local recording (OBS / Streamlabs) | Set up once | Full source quality | Only captures streams going forward, not past VODs |
| Paste-the-link downloader | Low | Up to the VOD's stored resolution | Only works while the VOD still exists; some free tiers cap resolution |
| yt-dlp command line | Medium | Up to the VOD's stored resolution | Extractor breaks often when Kick changes its site |
| Screen recording | Low | Lowest — records the screen in real time | Real-time and lossy; a true last resort |
Read that top to bottom. If you have not streamed yet, turn on local recording and you never have to think about this again. If the VOD already exists, reach for a paste-the-link downloader first, try yt-dlp only if its extractor is current, and fall back to screen recording only when nothing else works.
How do third-party downloaders and yt-dlp hold up?
Paste-the-link downloaders are the simplest option for a VOD that still exists: you copy the replay's URL from its page, paste it into the tool, choose a resolution, and download. Kick's own help article names a few — Kicklet.app, a tool called KICK VOD Downloader, and Streams Charts — and others circulate in the wild. They expose the resolutions the VOD was stored in, up to roughly 1080p60, though some free tiers cap what they hand back (Eklipse's free tier, for example, returns 720p). The hard limit on all of them is timing: they can only pull a VOD that is still within its retention window, because once Kick has deleted the file there is nothing left to point the tool at.
yt-dlp, the popular command-line downloader, does ship a Kick extractor — but do not treat it as a stable option. As of mid-2026 its Kick VOD support was broken: Kick changed how VOD URLs are generated, and current builds were failing with 404 and impersonation errors, with the fix still an open issue on the yt-dlp tracker (last verified August 2026). Download tools and Kick play a constant cat-and-mouse game, so yt-dlp works only when its extractor happens to be current. If you rely on it, update to the latest build and check the tracker first — and keep a local recording habit as your real backup, because the command-line route can vanish overnight.
Is it allowed to download Kick VODs?
Downloading your own content is the low-risk lane — the entire premise of this guide is saving streams you made, which is squarely legitimate. The boundary is other people's streams: every frame of a VOD is the streamer's intellectual property, so downloading someone else's replay without permission can infringe their copyright and run afoul of Kick's Terms of Service, and Kick follows DMCA takedown procedures. Personal, offline use of content you have the rights to is fine; re-uploading, monetizing, or clipping another creator's stream without permission is not.
One more myth to retire: clips are not a backup. Kick publishes no clip-expiry window, but clips are not guaranteed permanent either — a streamer can delete them, and viewer clips can disappear when the parent VOD is removed. If you want to keep a highlight, download it rather than trusting the clip to stick around; if you are new to the clip tool, our guide on how to clip on Kick covers the mechanics. The rule of thumb is simple: to keep something, save the file.
The honest bottom line
Kick's retention clock is short and its delete step is automatic, but keeping your work is genuinely easy once you stop looking for a download button that does not exist. Turn on local recording in OBS or Streamlabs and you own every future stream outright; for replays already on the clock, a paste-the-link downloader gets them while they last, with yt-dlp and screen recording as caveated fallbacks. Save your own content, leave other people's alone, and never treat a clip as an archive.
Saving a VOD keeps what you have already made; getting more people to watch you make it live is a different job. Our Kick live viewers service exists for that discovery push, though we will say plainly what we say everywhere: buying viewers goes against Kick's Terms of Service, carries real risk, and does nothing for your VOD retention on its own. What we do and do not promise is spelled out in our FAQ. The archive, though, is on you — and now it takes one checkbox in OBS.
Frequently asked questions
Can you download a Kick VOD to your computer?
Yes, but not through Kick itself — there is no native download button on the platform. You either record the stream locally in OBS or Streamlabs while you broadcast, or, for a VOD that already exists, copy its URL into a third-party downloader and choose a resolution. Local recording is the only method that does not depend on Kick keeping the VOD, which is why it is the one we recommend.
Why is there no download button inside Kick?
Kick simply does not provide one, for regular users or verified streamers. Its own help article on saving a VOD skips any dashboard button and instead tells you to copy the replay URL into third-party tools, so even the official route is an external one. A few guides claim a Download button lives in the dashboard, but that could not be confirmed and contradicts Kick's own documentation, so do not go looking for it.
What is the best way to save your Kick VODs?
Record them yourself, locally, while you stream. Both OBS Studio and Streamlabs can save a full-quality copy of your broadcast to your own drive at the same time they push it to Kick, so you own the file the instant the stream ends, no matter what Kick's retention clock does. The trade-off is that it only captures streams going forward, not replays you have already published, and the files take up disk space.
How many days do you have before Kick deletes a VOD?
Seven days if you are a non-verified streamer, and up to 30 days if you are verified, after which Kick automatically deletes the replay unless you have already saved it elsewhere. There is no partner tier that extends this and no documented way to recover a VOD once it is gone. Streamers can also delete their own replays early, so treat the countdown as a maximum, not a guarantee.
Can you use yt-dlp to download Kick VODs?
Sometimes. yt-dlp ships a Kick extractor, but it breaks whenever Kick changes how its site generates VOD URLs, and as of mid-2026 it was failing with 404 and impersonation errors while a fix stayed open on the tracker. It works only when the extractor is current, so update to the latest build and check the yt-dlp issue tracker before relying on it — and keep a local recording as your real backup.
Is downloading your own Kick VODs against the rules?
Downloading content you created for your own offline use is the low-risk lane and is not the problem. The line you should not cross is other people's streams: every frame of a VOD is that streamer's intellectual property, so downloading someone else's replay without permission can infringe copyright and violate Kick's Terms of Service. Save your own work, and leave other creators' content alone unless you have their permission.