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Save your YouTube Story video before it expires

Stories are everywhere, and usually ephemeral by design. But sometimes you may want to keep a copyof your Story or repurpose the content. YouTube makes it easy to save your Story video. 

You can save your YouTube Story video immediately after recording, or download after the video is published, which includes any added text and stickers. You can then post the video to your favorite social media site, or upload the video to your YouTube channel or blog

The catch? Stories expire after seven days, so you need to download the video before it disappears. 

Watch a brief tutorial, or read on for detailed instructions.


How do you enable YouTube Stories? 

YouTube Stories are currently only generally available to YouTube channels with at least 10,000 subscribers. Learn more.

If YouTube Stories are enabled for your channel, and you are using a compatible mobile device, you will see the "Add to your story" when you click the + button at the bottom of the screen.


What is the resolution of downloaded YouTube Story video?

Note that downloaded published YouTube Story video is not high definition. 

  • Story video downloaded immediately after recording is 720x1280 pixels (720p).
  • Story video downloaded from YouTube Studio is only 406x720 pixels (not even 480p).
Compare YouTube Story video saved immediately after recording (with a golden effect) and after publishing (with a black & white filter, text and sticker).

Record and save YouTube Story video before publishing

To record and save your YouTube Story video: 

1. Sign into your channel in the YouTube mobile app, click the + (Create) button, and select "Add to your story"

2. On the next screen you can select AR effects. Hold down the button to record. 
3. After recording, you will have the option to add filters, stickers, and text. 

On this screen you can download your video by clicking the Save button at bottom left.
The downloaded video does not include any added stickers, text or filters. But it does include any AR effects you added. 

4. Click Next to post your Story.

Download your published YouTube Story video

You can access your published Stories in YouTube Studio. Stories are available for seven days. 

Note that still images added to a Story are turned into 6 second videos. 

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio (studio.youtube.com) on desktop. 

If you are using a mobile device, request the desktop version of the site. 

2. Click Content on the left menu. 

3. On the Content page click the Stories tab. 


4. Click the 3 dot Options menu icon to the right of the Story you want to download. 

5. Select Download to download the video. 

Note: in the mobile browser on my Android phone, I had to long press "Download", then select Download link from the menu that pops up.

If you download the video on your phone, it can be backed up to Google Photos automatically, and posted to Twitter Fleets or Instagram Stories.

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