As a streamer, most of your content comes from live streaming
But once the stream is done, you may want to edit it for two reasons
- To create content for other platforms
- To make watching the live stream replay more enjoyable
I will be focusing a lot on YouTube since viewers are more likely to watch replays there
Twitch isn’t really made for that
If you want to learn to edit Twitch videos for other content, check out my category on that
You can do all the editing I will talk about for the videos on Twitch itself, but Twitch is mainly for watching live video
Not for watching replays
So editing your Livestream on YouTube is more worth the time than doing it on Twitch
Can a live stream be edited?
Yes!
There are two kinds of edits you can do on your live replays
- Original video editing
- Creating new content
Both have their perks
If you are creating new content from your stream recording, you are able to better focus in on a search term on YouTube
This helps people find you for the first time
This also helps you create your brand
A lot happens during a single live stream
Awesome moments…
Funny moments…
Things that are embarrassing
For a normal video, that is just too much
There are three types of videos on YouTube
- Livestream
- Regular
- Shorts
They have their place
Since the Livestream is posted anyway, basic editing can be helpful
A lot of creators like to add a timer before they start streaming
This gives people a chance to join
This is really helpful if you plan to Livestream a walkthrough
But later, it can be a bad thing to have a 5-minute dead space before the content starts on the replay
It is very helpful to edit out that time
You can also cut out any time you have to leave or any severely boring time
It is a different experience for viewers if they are on live compared to watching a replay
It is harder to keep their attention on a replay
You can also change the sound or add blurs if you want to
Once you are happy with the replay, then you can use that same content for more videos
This one requires downloading the replay and editing software
Same thing for creating shorts
YouTube Shorts are just like TIkToks
If you want to know more about editing YouTube videos and TikToks from your content, check out my articles on them
How do you edit a live-stream video?
Getting to the YouTube editor is pretty simple!
The first thing you need is a Livestream replay
If you have already gone live and finished, you have already done this step
If not, you need to go live before you can edit the replay
Once you have your replay, go to YouTube studio and click “Content”
Select the “Live” tab to see the replays of your live streams on the left side of your screen
Click the thumbnail of the video you want to edit
Then click editor
You are now in the editing portion of YouTube!
Does it change the original live video?
When you edit the original replay on YouTube, the changes will happen to the live replay
If you want to make changes to your video without changing the original, you need to download the video and edit it separately
There are 5 main things that you can do to your Livestream replays
- Trim
- Split and trim
- Blur
- Change music
- Adding sounds like beeps where you want them
You don’t have to do them all, but they all come in handy sometimes
Trim
Trimming is probably the main thing you will do in YouTube editor
If you have a countdown in the beginning of your live or a lot of blank time in the end, trimming those off is a good idea
Remember that YouTube pays attention to how far into a video viewers go
If you have 10 minutes of wasted time in the beginning or end that people skip, that hurts your video
Trimming the beginning or end of your stream is simple
Select Trim (which is next to the video timer)
When you are in the editor, you will see lines at the beginning and end of the video previews
Move those lines to where you want your video to start and end and then click the save button to save the changes
If you want to see the edit to make sure you are happy, just click the “preview” button to check it out
Split and trim
If you want to cut a section from the inside of your video without losing the beginning or end, you have one more step
The first thing you need to do is split the video so the section that you want to go is separate from the rest
You start by clicking the “Trim” button just like before, but then we need to split
Click the part of the video that you want to split from the rest
You will see a blue bar where the preview button was and select “split”
Then select the end of the clip that you want to cut out and do the same thing
You will have a separate section after that
Lastly, drag the blue line that is either at the beginning or end of the clip to the other side to cut it out altogether and press save
Blur
Another fun thing you can do is blur out a section of your video
There are four icons in the editing section
You have been working in the video section
The third section is a blur
You can add a blur by clicking the plus sign next to the icon
Then you drag the lines to make the blur longer or shorter
And you can drag the entire blur section to the timing you want on the video
Once you have it at the right timing, drag the blur preview to the right spot when previewing the video
Blurs can be used for a lot of reasons
So have fun and make sure that your information is safe!
Change music
Another great thing you can do is change the music or add sounds
The second icon on the left is a music symbol
Add sounds by clicking the plus and uploading the MP3 of your choice
Then adjust the timing and length just like before
One major reason to do this is if you accidentally used copyrighted music
If you use copyrighted music, YouTube could shut you down or you could get sued
It is best to use copyright-free music and sounds
To change the music, split the section of your stream that played the song that you want to replace and mute it
Then add the new song during that time
Adding sounds like beeps where you want them
Some creators like to beep out curse words or other things from their videos
If you are one of those or plan to post on social media like Facebook, then adding the beeps is simple but can be tedious
If you curse a lot, I recommend using the copy-and-paste feature
Download a copyright-free sound that you want to use as the beep
Find the first part of your video that you want to beep and add the MP3 in the music section of the editor
Make the beep louder than the sound you are beeping out
You can also split the beginning and end of the word you are beeping out and mute it so the beep sound doesn’t have to be loud
Make the beep length perfectly at the beginning and end of the word
And repeat the process for every word that you want to beep out
Most of the time, the beep length will be the same
So just copy the beep using Ctrl + C and paste where you want the next beep using Ctrl + V
Then you just need to mute the original word instead of doing the entire process every time