10 Best Clipping Software for Gaming Streamers in 2026 (ranked by FPS impact)

The best clipping software for gaming in 2026 is Eklipse for active streamers (0% FPS impact, cloud-based), NVIDIA ShadowPlay for offline PC players with NVIDIA hardware (<5% FPS drop), and Xbox Game Bar for anyone who wants something free with zero setup. What actually works for you depends on one question most comparison lists never ask: are you a streamer, an offline PC gamer, or a console player?

Most clipping software articles hand you a list of 10 tools and call it done. What they skip is the part that actually matters: the right clipping software for an offline PC gamer is completely different from the right tool for someone streaming to Twitch. Recommending ShadowPlay to a PS5 streamer is useless. Recommending Eklipse to someone who games offline is equally pointless.

This guide splits the comparison by how you actually play. Find your category first, then read the tools that apply to you.

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Which type of gamer are you? (Choose your path)

Before picking a tool, figure out which category you are in. This changes the entire recommendation.

Offline PC gamer

You play on PC and do not stream to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube. You want to record a clip instantly when something good happens — a clutch play, a sick mechanic, a funny moment. You need software running locally on your machine while you game. The FPS hit is what matters most.

Go to: Best clipping software for offline PC gaming

Active streamer

You broadcast to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube Live. After a session, you want clips without spending 2 hours scrubbing a 5-hour VOD. You need a tool that processes the stream footage automatically — ideally while you sleep. FPS during the stream is a separate concern from the clipping tool.

Go to: Best clipping software for streamers

Console player

You play on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Local PC recording software does not help you. Your options are the built-in share tools on the console itself, or a cloud tool that pulls clips from your stream VOD.

Go to: Best clipping software for console players

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Best clipping software for streamers (Twitch, Kick, YouTube)

If you stream live, your clipping problem is a VOD problem. The stream already happened. You have a 4-hour recording somewhere on Twitch’s servers and you need to find the 30 seconds worth posting without watching all 4 hours yourself.

Local recording software does not solve this. ShadowPlay cannot clip moments you already streamed. What you need is a tool that connects to your VOD and does the scanning for you.

1. Eklipse — best overall for streamers (0% FPS impact)

FPS impact	0% (cloud-based, no local software)
Free plan	Yes (720p, watermarked)
Platform support	Twitch, Kick, YouTube
Trustpilot	4.2/5 from 899 verified reviews (April 2026)

Eklipse connects to your Twitch, Kick, or YouTube account. When your stream ends, the AI scans the VOD for highlight moments — kills, clutch plays, squad wipes, chat spikes — and returns a timestamped list of clips. You review, edit in Eklipse Studio, export vertical, and post.

The FPS impact is 0% because nothing runs on your machine during the stream. All processing happens in the cloud after the session ends.

Automatic highlight detection is available on all plans, including free. The free plan clips are 720p with a watermark; Premium unlocks 1080p, removes the watermark, and adds priority processing.

One feature that shows up consistently in reviews: Voice Command. You say “Clip It” during a live session and Eklipse marks that moment in the queue. No hotkey, no interrupting the stream.

The honest limitations: AI detection accuracy is highest for FPS and battle royale games. For Just Chatting, strategy games, and IRL streams, automatic detection misses more than it catches — manual marking and Voice Command are more reliable in those cases. Customer support response times are also slower than ideal; free-tier processing queues during peak hours.

Best for: Active streamers on Twitch, Kick, or YouTube — especially FPS and battle royale (Valorant, CoD, Apex, Fortnite). Streamers who post to TikTok or YouTube Shorts and need vertical clips without editing from scratch.

Not for: Offline PC gamers (Eklipse requires a live VOD URL from a streaming platform). Streamers who need clips within 30 minutes of their stream ending on the free plan.

If you stream on Kick, Eklipse is one of the only tools that supports it — the Kick highlight tool connects the same way Twitch does.

2. OBS Studio — best free option for streamers who also record locally

FPS impact	2-5% with NVENC hardware encoding (15-20% CPU at default settings)
Free plan	Yes (completely free, open source)
Platform support	All platforms (records locally; stream to any platform)
Watermark	None

OBS Studio is the standard for streamers who want full control. You stream and record simultaneously — the local recording file gives you the source material for clipping.

The trade-off: OBS requires setup. Default software encoding (x264) uses 15-20% CPU, which causes frame drops on lower-end systems. Switching to NVENC (NVIDIA) or AMF (AMD) hardware encoding drops the CPU hit significantly and keeps FPS stable.

OBS does not auto-detect highlights. After your stream, you scrub the local recording file yourself or use a third-party tool. If you already use OBS for streaming and want zero extra cost, it is a solid recording layer. If you want clips found automatically, pair it with Eklipse (Eklipse can pull from your Twitch/YouTube stream VOD while OBS records locally for backup).

Best for: Streamers who want full control over their recording setup, prefer local files, or need a customizable production stack.

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Best clipping software for offline PC gaming

Offline means no streaming platform is involved. You are recording moments directly from your desktop while you play. The critical variable is how much the recording software hurts your frame rate.

3. NVIDIA ShadowPlay (NVIDIA GeForce Experience) — best for NVIDIA GPU owners

FPS impact	<5% (GPU hardware encoder)
Free plan	Yes (free with NVIDIA GPU — included in GeForce Experience)
Platform support	PC only (NVIDIA GPU required)
Watermark	None

ShadowPlay is built into NVIDIA GeForce Experience and uses the GPU’s NVENC encoder instead of the CPU. That keeps the FPS hit under 5% on most systems — often less noticeable than typical GPU load variation during normal gameplay.

The Shadow mode is the standout feature. ShadowPlay constantly buffers the last X minutes of gameplay (you set it from 1-20 minutes). When something happens, you hit Alt+F10 and the previous 5 minutes (or whatever you configured) are saved as a clip. No need to be recording when the moment happens — it already was.

Alex streams Valorant five days a week and clips manually for his TikTok. For a year he used OBS and spent 45 minutes every night going through footage. When he switched to ShadowPlay’s Instant Replay mode, he started hitting Alt+F10 right after a clutch round and had the clip ready in under a minute. He posts 3x more often now because the friction is gone.

ShadowPlay requires an NVIDIA GPU. AMD users see below.

Best for: Offline PC gamers with NVIDIA GPU who want low-overhead recording with Instant Replay. The go-to for competitive games where FPS matters.

4. AMD Adrenalin ReLive — best for AMD GPU owners

FPS impact	5-8% (hardware encoder)
Free plan	Yes (free with AMD GPU, included in Adrenalin software)
Platform support	PC only (AMD GPU required)
Watermark	None

AMD’s equivalent to ShadowPlay. If your system runs an AMD GPU, ReLive uses AMD’s hardware encoder to minimize FPS impact. The same Instant Replay concept applies — it buffers recent gameplay so you can save after the fact.

Performance is slightly heavier than ShadowPlay on comparable hardware, but the difference is rarely noticeable in practice. The software occasionally gets a bad reputation for update issues, but the core clipping function is reliable.

Best for: AMD GPU owners who want a free, GPU-accelerated recording option without installing third-party software.

5. Medal.tv — best for social sharing and community clips

FPS impact	8-12% RAM overhead during recording
Free plan	Yes (unlimited local clips)
Platform support	PC only (desktop recording)
Watermark	None (free plan)

Medal is aimed at the social side of gaming clips. The tool records automatically in the background, detects potential highlights, and makes sharing clips to the Medal community or to Discord a one-click action.

The tradeoff is RAM. Medal uses 8-12% RAM overhead while running — noticeable on 8GB systems, negligible on 16GB or more. If you game at 8GB RAM and run other background processes, Medal can cause stutters in memory-intensive titles.

For competitive players who push for maximum frame rates (240Hz setups, low-latency builds), that overhead is worth tracking. For casual players with headroom, it is usually invisible.

Best for: PC gamers who want automatic clip detection locally and a social layer for sharing with friends. Not for competitive players optimizing every frame.

6. Xbox Game Bar — best free built-in option (Windows 10/11)

FPS impact	~2-3% CPU overhead
Free plan	Yes (completely free, built into Windows)
Platform support	PC only (Windows 10/11)
Watermark	None

Xbox Game Bar (Win+G) is already on your machine if you run Windows 10 or 11. Press Win+Alt+R to start recording. CPU overhead is low — roughly 2-3% on average — because it uses hardware encoding through Windows’s built-in media stack.

Quality tops out at 1080p 60fps. No background buffer; you have to start recording before the moment happens. No AI detection. No community features.

What it has going for it: zero setup, no installation, no account. If you want a clip of something and do not want to install anything, Xbox Game Bar is already there.

Best for: Casual PC gamers who want a quick clip tool without installing new software. Good starting point before committing to a dedicated tool.

7. Outplayed by Overwolf — best for automatic local highlighting

FPS impact	5-10% (varies by game)
Free plan	Yes (limited storage)
Platform support	PC only
Watermark	No (free tier)

Outplayed integrates with game APIs (for supported titles) to detect kill-feed events locally. It clips automatically without you pressing a button — similar to what Eklipse does for streamers, but running locally on PC.

The game support list is broad (over 2,000 games), and the integration quality varies. For well-supported titles like CS2, League of Legends, and Valorant, it works reliably. For less popular titles, accuracy drops.

Overwolf as a platform runs additional background processes, which compounds the system overhead if you have other Overwolf apps installed.

Best for: Offline PC gamers who want automatic detection without streaming. Good secondary option if ShadowPlay or ReLive do not cover your game with enough accuracy.

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Best clipping software for console players

Console players face a fundamental constraint: local recording software does not exist for PS5 or Xbox the way it does for PC. Your options are the native share tools built into the console, or a cloud tool connected to your stream VOD.

8. Eklipse (via console stream) — best for PS5/Xbox streamers

FPS impact	0% (cloud-based)
Free plan	Yes
Platform support	PS5, Xbox (requires streaming to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube)

If you stream your PS5 or Xbox gameplay to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube, Eklipse works the same way it does for PC streamers. The console streams to the platform; Eklipse pulls from the VOD and returns clips automatically. The Eklipse console streaming feature connects natively.

No capture card. No PC required. The one requirement is that your console session needs to be streamed live — Eklipse cannot clip console footage that was never broadcast.

Best for: Console players who stream their sessions and want automatic clips without a capture card or PC setup.

9. Xbox Game DVR (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One)

FPS impact	Minimal (hardware-accelerated)
Free plan	Yes (built-in)
Platform support	Xbox consoles only

The Xbox button and then “Capture screenshot” or the dedicated Share button on Xbox Series X opens Game DVR. You can capture the last 30 seconds, 1 minute, or up to 10 minutes. Clips save to internal storage and sync to Xbox Game Pass cloud or export via the Xbox mobile app.

No streaming required. Works for offline console sessions.

Best for: Xbox players who want quick clips from offline sessions without a streaming platform or third-party app.

10. PS5 built-in capture

FPS impact	Minimal (hardware-accelerated)
Free plan	Yes (built-in)
Platform support	PS5 only

The Create button on the DualSense controller opens Sony’s built-in capture interface. Auto-capture can save the last 15 minutes of gameplay, or you can set it to clip manually. Clips export to a USB drive or upload to a linked YouTube account.

No streaming required. Works for offline PS5 sessions.

Best for: PS5 players who want offline clips without any additional software or streaming requirement.

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FPS impact comparison table

Tool	FPS impact	System req	Free plan	Watermark	Works offline	Works via stream VOD
Eklipse	0% (cloud)	Any	Yes (720p)	Yes (free tier)	No	Yes
NVIDIA ShadowPlay	<5%	NVIDIA GPU	Yes	No	Yes	No
AMD ReLive	5-8%	AMD GPU	Yes	No	Yes	No
Xbox Game Bar	~2-3% CPU	Windows 10/11	Yes	No	Yes	No
OBS Studio	2-5% (NVENC) / 15-20% (CPU)	Any	Yes	No	Yes	No
Medal.tv	8-12% RAM	PC desktop	Yes	No	Yes	No
Outplayed	5-10%	PC desktop	Yes (limited)	No	Yes	No
Xbox DVR	Minimal	Xbox console	Yes	No	Yes	No
PS5 Capture	Minimal	PS5	Yes	No	Yes	No

Note on Eklipse: The 0% FPS impact applies during your stream — Eklipse does not run on your machine while you play. Processing happens in the cloud after the session ends. The trade-off is a dependency on a streaming platform. Eklipse cannot clip sessions that were not streamed live.

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How to choose clipping software (decision guide)

Use Eklipse if

• You stream to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube
• You want clips found automatically without scrubbing VODs
• You want to post TikTok or YouTube Shorts without editing from scratch
• You play FPS or battle royale games (Valorant, CoD, Apex, Fortnite — AI detection accuracy is highest for kill-feed events)
• You game on console and already stream your sessions

Use ShadowPlay if

• You play on PC with an NVIDIA GPU
• You do not stream and record locally
• FPS is critical — you play at 144Hz or higher in competitive games
• You want Instant Replay (clip after the moment, no pre-recording required)

Use OBS Studio if

• You stream and want a local file backup
• You want full control over your recording quality and output
• You already use OBS for broadcasting and do not want a second tool

Use Medal if

• You play on PC and want automatic local detection
• You want easy sharing to Discord or a social community
• Your system has 16GB+ RAM (the overhead is more noticeable on 8GB)

Use Xbox Game Bar if

• You want something that is already installed, free, and low-effort
• You do not need AI detection or automatic clipping
• You make clips occasionally, not regularly

Use console built-ins (Xbox DVR / PS5 Capture) if

• You play on console and do not stream
• You want offline clips without any third-party setup

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Frequently asked questions

Does clipping software affect FPS?

It depends on the tool and whether it runs locally. Local software like OBS (software encoding), Medal, and Outplayed add measurable CPU or RAM overhead. Hardware-accelerated tools like ShadowPlay and AMD ReLive keep the FPS hit under 5%. Cloud tools like Eklipse have 0% FPS impact during your stream — processing happens after the session ends, not during it.

What clipping software do streamers use?

Most active streamers who post clips regularly use Eklipse for automatic VOD clipping, often alongside OBS for local recording. ShadowPlay is common among PC-only streamers who also play offline. Medal is popular for its social sharing features. The tools are not mutually exclusive — many streamers run OBS for broadcasting and Eklipse for clip detection.

What is the best free clipping software with no watermark?

NVIDIA ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive, Xbox Game Bar, OBS Studio, and Medal all offer free plans with no watermark. Eklipse’s free plan includes a watermark on exported clips; Premium removes it. If you want zero watermark at no cost and game on PC, ShadowPlay or Medal are the cleanest options for offline play. For streamers, OBS records locally with no watermark at no cost.

Is Eklipse free?

Yes. Eklipse’s free plan processes your Twitch, Kick, or YouTube VODs and returns clips with AI detection. Free clips are 720p with a watermark. There is no per-session clip limit — you can clip every stream on the free plan. The paid plan ($19.99/month or $149.99/year) removes the watermark, upgrades to 1080p, and adds priority processing during peak hours.

Can you use clipping software on console?

Not in the same way as PC. PS5 and Xbox have built-in capture tools that record offline sessions. For automatic AI clipping, console players need to stream their gameplay to Twitch, Kick, or YouTube first, then use Eklipse to process the VOD. The Eklipse console feature is built for this workflow.

What clipping software works with Kick?

Kick is a newer platform and most clipping tools have not added support. Eklipse supports Kick natively — you connect your Kick account and clip your Kick VODs the same way you would on Twitch. Medal, ShadowPlay, and other local PC tools record your desktop regardless of platform, but they cannot pull automatically from your Kick stream after it ends.

Is Eklipse better than Medal for gaming clips?

For streamers, yes. Eklipse processes your stream VOD automatically and has 0% FPS impact during the session. Medal runs locally on your PC, uses 8-12% RAM while active, and does not connect to streaming platform VODs. For offline PC gamers who do not stream at all, Medal is the better choice — Eklipse cannot clip sessions that were not broadcast live. For a more detailed breakdown, see how Eklipse compares to StreamLadder for a comparison of the broader streaming clip tool category.

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The bottom line

Clipping software for gaming is not a one-answer question. The best tool depends entirely on how you play.

If you stream on Twitch, Kick, or YouTube and your problem is spending two hours finding clips after every session — Eklipse solves that directly. Automatic detection, 0% FPS impact, vertical format exports for TikTok. The free plan is a real working product with no clip cap per session.

If you game offline on PC and want instant clips with minimal impact on your frame rate — ShadowPlay (NVIDIA GPU) or AMD ReLive (AMD GPU) are the right tools. Both are free and built into the software you likely already have.

If you are on console — use the built-in share tools for offline sessions. Stream your sessions and use Eklipse if you want automatic clipping after the fact.

Pick the tool that matches how you actually play, not the one that ranks first on a generic list.

Try Eklipse free — no credit card required. Connect your stream account and your next session’s clips will be waiting when you wake up.