Is this better than screen recording with OBS?

For most people, yes. OBS re-encodes whatever is on your screen, which is lossy and CPU-heavy and caps quality at your monitor. SVD pulls the original HLS stream, so the recording is source quality with low CPU use.

Home › Guides › Record a Live Stream

How to Record a Live Stream on Mac & Windows

Record ongoing live streams — YouTube Live, Twitch, and other HLS broadcasts — straight to your Mac or PC in original quality. Press stop whenever you like and the recording is saved instantly. No OBS, no screen recording, no waiting for the broadcast to end.

TL;DR. Install SVD, open the live stream (or use the browser extension — it marks live pages with a 🔴 LIVE badge), pick a quality, and hit record. Stop anytime; whatever you captured is saved. SVD records the real stream feed, not your screen.

What SVD can record

YouTube Live — ongoing live broadcasts and 24/7 live channels
Twitch — live channels, recorded in real time
Other HLS live streams — news channels, radio, and most sites whose live video your browser can already play

SVD does not record DRM-protected or encrypted live streams (paid sports on DRM platforms, etc.). It only captures non-DRM streams you can already watch.

Record in 4 steps

Install SVD

Grab the Mac or Windows build from the home page. Code-signed, notarized, and local-only.

Open the live stream

Copy the live URL — a YouTube Live watch link, a Twitch channel (twitch.tv/channelname), or any live page. Or use the SVD extension, which detects live pages and shows a LIVE badge.

Pick a quality

SVD lists the available live renditions. Choose a resolution and start — recording begins from the live edge (the current moment).

Stop to save

Press stop whenever you want. Whatever you've captured so far is finalized and saved as a playable file — you never wait for the broadcaster to end the stream.

Why "stop = save" matters

Most ways of capturing a live stream force you to babysit the whole broadcast, and if something goes wrong you lose everything. SVD is built for a manual record/stop workflow:

Records from the live edge — capture starts now, so files stay small and predictable instead of pulling hours of backlog.
Stop anytime — hit stop and the captured portion is saved immediately as a playable file.
Interruption-safe — if your connection drops mid-record, the part you already captured is preserved, not thrown away.

Schedule a recording in advance

Know when a stream goes live? Schedule the recording ahead of time — SVD starts it for you at the set time, and stops and saves at an optional end time. You never have to sit and wait for the broadcast to begin.

Paste the URL, click Schedule

Enter the live stream URL and click Schedule instead of Download. You can schedule a broadcast that hasn't started yet.

Set the start time

Type a start time, or use the quick presets — +30 min, +1 hour, +2 hours.

Set an end time (optional)

Leave it blank to record until you stop manually, or set an end time and SVD auto-saves and stops then.

SVD must be running. Because SVD is a desktop app, it has to be open at the scheduled time to record — it won't wake your computer from sleep. Scheduled recordings survive an app restart; if the start time passed while the app was closed, the recording is marked "missed."

Ready to try it?

Free 7-day trial. No account needed. Your recordings stay on your machine.

Download SVD See pricing ($19.99 lifetime)

Live recording vs screen recording

OBS / screen recorders — re-encode whatever is on your monitor: lossy, CPU-heavy, and quality is capped at your display. SVD pulls the original HLS feed for source-quality recordings.
Browser "download" buttons — built for finished videos, they can't handle an ongoing live feed. SVD records in real time.
yt-dlp on the command line — powerful, but you have to know the flags and babysit the terminal. SVD is a native GUI over the same engine, with a stop button that just works.

Frequently asked questions

Can SVD record a YouTube Live stream?

Yes. Paste the YouTube Live watch URL (or use the SVD extension) and SVD records the broadcast in real time. Stop whenever you like and the recording is saved.

Does recording start from the beginning of the broadcast?

No — it starts from the live edge, the moment you press record. That keeps recordings small and matches the manual start/stop workflow. Earlier parts would require a VOD after the stream ends.

What happens when I press stop?

The captured portion is finalized and saved as a playable file right away — no waiting for the broadcaster to end the stream.

What if my internet drops while recording?

The part recorded so far is preserved rather than discarded, because SVD writes to a container that stays playable even when interrupted.

Can I schedule a live recording?

Yes. Click Schedule instead of Download, set a start time (and an optional end time), and SVD starts recording at that time and saves it. SVD must be open at the scheduled time — it's a desktop app and won't wake your computer.

Is this better than recording with OBS?

For most people, yes. OBS re-encodes your screen (lossy, CPU-heavy, monitor-quality). SVD records the original stream feed at source quality with low CPU use.

Can SVD record DRM-protected or paid live streams?

No. SVD does not break DRM. It only records non-DRM live streams your browser can already play.

Download SVD now

Free 7-day trial · No credit card · Code-signed & notarized · Works offline

Download for Mac & Windows