Twitch has unveiled a major policy shift set to take effect on April 19, 2025, limiting the storage of videos in the Highlights and Uploads sections to 100 hours per user. Once a streamer reaches this cap, they will be unable to add new videos unless they remove older content to free up space.

If a user’s stored content exceeds 100 hours after the rule is implemented, Twitch will start deleting videos automatically, prioritizing those with the lowest view counts. However, Past Broadcasts and Clips will remain unaffected by this restriction.

TwitchImage: Twitch justified the change by stating that less than 0.5% of streamers currently store over 100 hours in these categories, and those videos account for only 0.1% of the platform’s total watch time. The company believes this policy will optimize storage management while impacting a minimal number of users.

To ease the transition, Twitch is introducing new content management tools, allowing users to track their storage usage and efficiently organize their videos before the deadline.

However, the update has sparked criticism, particularly among the speedrunning community, which relies heavily on Highlights and Uploads for archiving and sharing records. Many users argue that this decision will disproportionately affect niche content creators.

This policy change comes at a time when reports indicate Twitch remains unprofitable for Amazon, with user spending declining throughout 2024. Whether these new restrictions will improve Twitch’s financial situation is yet to be determined. 

Main image: dexerto.com 

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