12 Best Clipping Software for Gaming [2025]

Why I picked it: a quick and easy game recording suite that provides the basics of editing plus automatic recording features that make it a great background program.

OS: Windows, iOS, Android

Medal.tv is another video game recording suite that gets a lot of attention online. This program has earned the patronage of a broad user base because it works mainly in the background, allowing you to play your game without the need to constantly fiddle around with your recording suite.

It has an auto detection feature that works with certain games, allowing the program to record your gameplay as soon as you start with no need for gamer intervention. I also like that it comes with a hot keys feature and an automatic link generation so you can share your recordings on YouTube. The program also has a mobile counterpart that gives you some of its features through your phone.

I like that Medal wasn't heavy on my system, but it still depends on the kind of rig you run. In their most recent update, they updated their UI for a more seamless and intuitive user experience, and also added support for a bunch of new games.

Why I picked it: Bandicam is a streamlined recording and game clipping software with minimal performance impact ideal for low to mid-range systems.

OS: Windows

Bandicam is one of the video recording and editing programs that I always keep in handy mainly because it's small and simple. The program takes up no more than 1GB of hard disk space and requires a measly 512MB of RAM to operate. But even then, it provides sufficient functionality as a recording and clipping software for gaming.

The program lets you set a hotkey that starts and stops screen recording when a moment happens. I also like its pre-recording mode that lets you capture a few seconds before you press the hotkey so you don't end up missing the moments leading up to the highlight. The software's auto-complete recording feature was also a nice touch, allowing the software to automatically stop, save, and start a new recording based on my set limits so I don't end up with one huge file that's tedious to scrub through.

While it records up to 4K resolution at 120 FPS, Bandicam's output is often relatively small because it uses efficient codecs. Bandicam's newest updates improved audio recording features including audio device capture buffer so you get video and audio for pre-recordings.

Why I picked it: an elaborate streaming and recording software that gives greater control over clip quality for lossless or near-lossless results.

OS: macOS, Windows, Linux

I've had some experience with OBS Studio in the past, so I thought I'd tinker around with its functions and see how it would fare as a clipping software for gaming. I'll say that right off of the bat, OBS felt a lot more complicated than other options since it doesn't natively support clipping. But even then, you can tweak its settings so that it works the same way as other clipping programs.

OBS has a replay buffer function that you can enable in its settings which lets you press a hotkey of your choice so that the program saves the last few seconds or minutes of your gameplay. What I like the most about the program is that it lets you customize things like bitrate, resolution, and file format for higher quality output overall.

The trade-off is that OBS Studio tends to be more hardware intensive, so low-spec rigs may experience some lagging and even occasional crashing. OBS's latest update fixed hotkey bugs so users can set in-game shortcuts more efficiently.

Why I picked it: a complete game recording and streaming solution with in-suite clipping features that maximize your NVIDIA-powered system.

OS: Windows

NVIDIA App (formerly GeForce Experience) is NVIDIA’s solution to let their users stream, record, and share their gaming moments without the need for a third-party program. This software benefits from hardware acceleration since it uses NVIDIA’s NVENC encoder. For most mid to high-spec systems, this means a lower capture overhead.

The program also features DVR-style instant replay mode that keeps a rolling buffer so you can save the last few minutes of your game. While the program supports 4K at 60 FPS, it can also record up to 8k HDR in newer rigs with compatible GPUs.

The NVIDIA App was only recently rolled out in November of 2024, integrating NVIDIA GPU management tools into a single, more efficient suite. Aside from bug fixes, the program's recent update expanded its list of supported games.

Why I picked it: despite its minimal system requirements, PlayClaw supports up to 200 FPS recording which produces remarkably smooth video game capture that's great for creators.

OS: Windows

I admit that PlayClaw doesn't look quite as modern as other programs available. This recording and clipping software's dated UI may make it feel a little less intuitive, but those who are willing to see beyond its legacy UI may find it to be a capable clipping tool.

PlayClaw features a time-shift function that works like a pre-recording feature, enabling the program to capture a few seconds (depending on how long you set it) prior to you pressing the record hotkey. Its overlays and rich capture sources also hit all the right notes with me, letting me create short, exciting clips that featured more than just my game.

What really stands out with PlayClaw is that it's capable of up to 200 FPS recording, depending on your hardware and settings. With hardware acceleration support, the program reduces the workload on your CPU to reduce lagging and freezing. Their recent release launched their separate webcam file recording even when your webcam overlay is turned off.

Why I picked it: Outplayed under Overwolf is a set-it-and-forget-it type of app that automates a lot of the video capture process so you can play with confidence that your highlights are being recorded and stored.

OS: Windows

Overwolf is a desktop platform that gives developers an ecosystem to create in-game apps. One of those is Outplayed. The app automatically captures your best moments and biggest plays. But it also offers on-demand recording by way of hotkey settings.

With support for over 5,000 games, Outplayed automatically detects highlights and records in the background without any need for gamer interaction. It then saves your clips to a library where you can go through matches, choose highlights, and share or export your clips.

What's nice about Outplayed is that you can tweak your settings and basically forget the program. As long as Overwolf runs in the background, Outplayed will automatically record highlights as you play. This well-maintained software gets regular updates, including a recent improvement that fine-tuned detection functions for more precise automatic recording timing.

Why I picked it: although designed mainly for recording and streaming, XSplit Broadcaster does provide features that make it a suitable clipping software with more comprehensive editing options in-suite.

OS: Windows

XSplit Broadcaster is a streaming and recording tool that brings together game capture and overlay capture for more dynamic clips. I tinkered around with its clipping workflows and found that I could set instant replay by setting my own hotkeys, similar to dedicated clipping software.

What stood out to me with XSplit is that it lets you edit, add, and layer different sources like webcam, images, text, and your game to create dynamic captures that feature more than just your gameplay. The intuitive interface lets you reposition, resize, and crop sources directly from the preview before you start a recording.

XSplit Broadcaster also supports editing functions like color correction, chroma key, and transitions between scenes which makes it especially flexible as an all-in-one recording suite. Since it's mainly a streaming program, its latest updates focused more on improving its streaming capabilities. But they also introduced under-the-hood improvements that smoothened out its performance overall.

Why I picked it: Streamlabs Desktop offers an AI Game Highlighter that automates the highlight selection process, automatically producing share-ready clips from supported games.

OS: Windows, macOS

Streamlabs Desktop's AI Game Highlighter is what really lured me in. This feature automatically chooses key moments from your recordings and then produces highlight clips that you can share directly to your socials and other websites. For greater control over your output, the program also has a highlighter tool that's essentially a built-in editor that lets you import clips, trim, reorder, add transitions and background music, and export or share.

Because it's primarily a streaming tool, it does allow the use of overlays like webcam and text. But it also offers a selective recording feature so that your clips include only the sources that you want versus what you include in your live stream. I found that this works great for creating cleaner highlight reels.

For better compatibility with mobile, the program supports both horizontal and vertical formats so you can share your content directly to TikTok and similar apps without worrying about orientation. They recently updated their highlighter, making the workflow much more efficient and beginner-friendly.

Why I picked it: a simplified tool that provides the basics of clipping for video games. It works right out of the box and comes pre-installed on Windows computer systems.

OS: Windows

The XBox Game Bar is a program that came with my Windows 11 computer as pre-installed software, but I never really looked into it until I started my gaming channel. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it provides the most essential functions of a clipping software. The background recording feature works like a buffer and allows you to hit your hotkeys to save the last few seconds of gameplay in case something exciting happens.

Manual recording is also available with the option to capture other programs on your active screen and not just video games. Clipping options let you configure things like video quality, frame rate, and resolution so you have some control over the quality of your clip.

Although it doesn't have an extensive video editing suite, it does have a trim feature. You can also rename and tag clips before sharing them directly to Xbox Network, Discord, and various other socials. Their fresh UI from their latest update streamlines the user experience and makes finding settings even more intuitive.

Why I picked it: an ideal clipping app for AMD-powered systems, providing all of the essentials of clipping within a GPU management system.

OS: Windows

ReLive is a feature within the AMD Adrenalin suite that provides the features of clipping and recording for AMD systems. It supports replay buffer, manual recording, webcam and overlay sources, and streaming integration for a more comprehensive gameplay recording and sharing experience.

I like that you can tweak video recording settings like resolution, frame rate, bitrate, and codec, which makes it slightly more customizable than other programs. And because it's built for AMD systems, it touts low performance impact and reliable stability especially for Radeon optimized cards.

The program constantly gets updates especially with the ever changing gaming landscape. Just recently, they rolled out support for games like Battlefield 6 and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

Why I picked it: compact, stylish, and user-friendly – Action! is a good game clipper that brings straightforward functionality for quick captures and easy distribution.

OS: Windows

The first thing that I noticed when I launched Action! is that it's the kind of program you could figure out at a glance. The compact software requires just a minimum of 512 MB of RAM and works even with low-spec systems that come with Intel Celeron processors.

While it's more of a recording program, Action! can also work as a clipping software with its Time-Shift function that lets you save the last few seconds of your gameplay depending on your duration settings. It also has basic trimming functions that let you snip highlights out of longer videos if you decide to use the manual recording feature.

In its 4.45.0 version, Action! came out with the entire desktop capture feature that records all of your monitors in a single video.