It Looks Like YouTube Is Taking A Page From Twitch's Book

One of Twitch's key features, and arguably a significant contributing factor to the site's enduring popularity, is the ability for users to save short clips of longer streams. Popular Twitch personalities may stream for hours, but moments like times streamers lost it in front of their viewers can endure thanks to the ability for said moments to be saved as clips. Now YouTube, which seems determined to compete directly with Twitch, has begun allowing users to save clips of stream segments, too.

Clips on YouTube range from five to 60 seconds. These bite-sized videos can then be shared on other platforms, according to a post outlining the feature's addition. This allows moments with the potential to go viral to be posted on sites like Twitter, for example, that are not conducive to sharing a video of a longer stream. Unlike Twitch, on which users essentially save each clip as a standalone video, clips on YouTube play as selected portions of longer videos.

So far, this new feature has only been implemented on a preliminary basis, available only on the channels of a few pre-selected users. YouTube's developers hope to gather feedback from this initial period before expanding the feature to a wider userbase. Furthermore, the act of saving a clip only works on desktop computers and Android devices for now, with an iOS rollout planned for a later date.

Also in YouTube's announcement post are a video tutorial for the clipping feature of which users are allowed in turn to save clips, and a form with which those who have tried to the new feature can provide feedback to its development team.

This is just the latest in a series of moves by YouTube to render its streaming platform more competitive with Twitch. Previously, YouTube secured PewDiePie as a streamer exclusive to its YouTube Gaming brand. Twitch was also recently the subject of a controversy over DMCA takedowns of clips containing licensed music. YouTube hasn't explicitly stated how it would handle clips on its platform that contain unaffiliated artists' songs. However, by merit of a number of its videos containing — and in some cases only containing — licensed music, the site does have permission to stream a large library of songs.

The clipping feature is set to be updated based on user feedback prior to its introduction to YouTube at large. As its implementation is gradually formalized, its developers plan to update the post that announced it initially it with more information.