Twitch, the streaming video game platform, caters to gamers of all ages and experience levels with fun content, social interaction, and eSports competitions. It’s our Editors’ Choice for online gaming. While a free basic account does feature jarring ad videos, the site also offers an abundance of positive features, including community support, robust video editing tools, and even the ability to earn money from gameplay.

While Twitch does not officially allow users to download its vods, third-party software can help you do so. Some programs even let you save clips that aren’t available on demand. But beware: Using these types of apps to download someone else’s content without permission may violate copyright laws and lead to hefty fines.

For users who want to take the DIY approach, free Twitch download software such as OBS Studio presents one of the most powerful options to flexibly capture live streams and full past broadcasts. Designed to run on Windows and Mac, the app allows for overlaying of webcam or other visuals while recording gameplay, and it’s capable of grabbing high-quality video footage from multiple connected devices.

Another option is the all-in-one Any Video Converter, which boasts both a twitch vod downloader and industry-leading encoding/format conversion abilities. This means efficiently acquiring Twitch videos or converting them into preferred formats, including optimized sizes for mobile devices.

Other freeware such as YT-DLP is among the fastest and most versatile video rippers out there. It can tackle the task of grabbing Twitch clips or full past broadcasts with ease, and updates are frequently rolled out in tune with any changes to the platform.

Clipr, on the other hand, focuses on a no-frills approach to simply letting you snag those hype moments that deserve permanent preservation. Easily search for your desired clip, paste its URL into the tool, and the program will do the rest. Clipr can even trim your snippet to highlight the most exciting bits without any hassles.

Streamlink is an open-source CLI tool that specializes in piping streams to a media player program on your PC (such as VLC) to view them locally. It’s not as streamlined as some other choices for twitch downloaders, but it can be used with any Linux/Windows/Mac computer and can play a wide variety of video services.

For more helpful articles on technology, follow Inquistr Tech on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Emily is a multimedia reviewer who covers the latest trends in audio/video software, hardware, and gadgets. She loves discovering cutting edge technology and writing how-to guides to help readers solve various digital challenges. She’s also a contributor to our sister publication, Inquistr Business. She resides in San Francisco. For more, read her reviews and articles here.