How to record and share video clips on Xbox Series X, Series S

Current-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are constantly landing in the hands of more players, and capturing and sharing game clips from beautiful current-gen gaming titles is more prevalent than ever. Fortunately, it's also easier than ever, with the new Xbox's speedy OS, tweaked and updated Xbox Wireless Controller with a built-in Share button, and a freshly redesigned Xbox mobile app all making it superbly simple to capture footage of your gameplay and share it with friends and strangers alike.

In this Xbox Series X|S guide, we'll go over everything you need to know about recording and sharing game clips. We've already gone over taking screenshots in our guide to taking and sharing screenshots on Xbox Series X|S.

If you're a fan of recording your gameplay, consider one of the best Xbox Series X|S controllers with a Share button, which will even work on Xbox One! You'll also want to make sure you have plenty of space for both games and game clips with one of the best Xbox Series X|S external SSDs.

How do I record game clips on the Xbox Series X and S?

A screenshot can be useful to capture a beautiful vista or a single moment in time, but a game clip can capture entire moments, scenes, and action-packed events that have either already happened or are about to happen. The Xbox Series X|S now has three different ways for players to capture game clips while playing their favorite games and even more options when it's time to share it with friends and family. Of course, the first step is learning how to capture those game clips in the first place, so that's where our Xbox Series X|S game clip guide begins.

Whatever method you decide to use, you'll know you were successful when a notification banner appears on-screen, informing you that a game clip was recorded, like pictured above. You can hold down the Xbox / Guide button to open and view the game clip or let the banner fade away on its own. If the default position doesn't work for you, you can always change the position of notifications on Xbox Series X|S.

Using the Share button on the new Xbox Wireless Controller

If you want to capture screenshots and game clips with the greatest amount of ease on the Xbox Series X|S, the best way is undoubtedly using the new Share button on the updated Xbox Wireless Controller. Alongside other improvements like a slightly more ergonomic design for smaller hands, a better D-Pad, improved grips on the handles, triggers, and bumpers, and a handful of other minute changes, the Xbox Wireless Controller now has a dedicated Share button. The Share button can take screenshots and game clips and seeks to remove any of the issues players had capturing gameplay on the Xbox One family of devices.

The Share button's advantage is that it doesn't open the Guide and takes a screenshot or game clip immediately without disrupting the game's flow. Even better, this means your game won't pause as the Guide opens. This occasionally led to issues either with gameplay or successfully capturing screenshots in the past. Of course, it's also much more accessible and faster to access than using the Guide to take a screenshot or game clip, which requires a minimum of two button presses and usually a small wait.

Using the Share button is incredibly easy. You can find the Share button below the Xbox or Guide button, near the center of the controller. The easily recognizable "share" icon is printed on the button, and it has an oval shape to make it physically and visually distinctive from surrounding buttons. The Share button has two different functions, which by default include:

• A single press takes a screenshot
• A long press records a 30-second game clip

You can change the Share button and map it to other functions and edit the defaults for recording game clips like length and resolution in the Capture & share section in Settings.

This is especially important for game clips, as you can customize settings like resolution, recording lengths, and whether or not your game clips capture HDR information. Keep in mind that higher resolutions restrict your recording lengths, and there are currently some issues with capturing 4K HDR game clips. For the best experience, I recommend sticking to 1080p SDR content, as this gives you more control over how long your game clips can be.

Recording game clips using the Guide on Xbox Series X|S

If you don't have a new Xbox Wireless Controller or third-party option that includes a Share button, or if you prefer to do it the old-fashioned way, you absolutely can. There are actually two different ways to capture your gameplay using the Guide on the Xbox Series X|S, depending on how much control you need. Of course, if you're looking for speed, or if you do a lot of sharing while gaming on Xbox, we definitely recommend picking up one of the new Xbox Wireless Controllers or a suitable alternative, which will also work on Xbox One.

The first way to take a screenshot using the Xbox Guide is contextual. If you're playing a game where screenshots and game clips are allowed, Xbox gives you a shortcut to capture your gameplay more quickly. Simply press the Xbox / Guide button in the center of your controller to open the Guide, then press "X" on your controller to record a game clip, or "Y" to capture a screenshot. Using this method will follow your defaults. You can also hit the "View" button to view additional settings for game captures, which just opens the Capture & share section in Settings.

Alternatively, you can scroll through the Guide using the "LB" and "RB" buttons on your controller to reach the Capture & share screen. From this screen, you can either:

• Record what happened. Record what has already happened, with a few different time options available depending on your resolution settings.
• Start recording. Start capturing game footage now, which lets you record for longer, but not what has already happened.
• Capture screenshot. Capture a screenshot of what was happening on-screen when the Guide was opened.

This section is only really useful for game clips, as it lets you temporarily escape your default settings if you need to record a longer game clip or if you're about to do something awesome and want to make sure you record it. This gives you more control over lengths, with up to 2-minute game clips allowed with a 1080p resolution. Even more time is allowed if you're going to start recording, with up to 5 minutes allowed.

How do I view and share game clips on the Xbox Series X and S?

Recording amazing game clips is only half the story, as Xbox also lets you share and edit your game clips as you please. You can either keep them for your own use, share them on social media, or upload them to your Activity Feed for the Xbox community to view and enjoy. Xbox makes this easy to do, with several options for players depending on what they want to do. You can even use the Xbox mobile app when you're on-the-go or lounging on the couch.

Viewing and sharing game clips using the guide on Xbox Series X|S

There are a few different ways to view and share game clips directly on the Xbox Series X|S, all of them going through the Guide. We'll start with the most immediate and easy solution, back to the more hands-on approach. Which method is best for you will depend on how recently the game clip was taken and how many you have to view and share.

Source: Windows Central

Whenever a notification appears on the screen that you've captured a screenshot or game clip, you can actually interact with that notification for quick viewing and sharing! Hold down the Xbox / Guide button in the center of your controller when you see that banner appear on screen, and it'll quickly open that captured screenshot to view and share.

If you just missed the banner, or you have multiple captured screenshots, no worries! Open the Guide and scroll to the Capture & share section. Below the capture options, you'll see the following two options:

• Share last capture. This works just like holding down the Xbox / Guide button on a notification banner and instantly opens the last captured screenshot or game clip to share it.
• Recent captures. This opens up a list of all the recent screenshots and game clips you've recorded, up to eight at a time, with an option to see all of the available game captures on Xbox Live or your physical Xbox.

Source: Windows Central

If you open up the "Recent captures" section, which tells you in parentheses how many new captures there are, you'll see up to eight of your most recent captures, screenshots and game clips both, in chronological order. You can scroll through this list and view any of them that you want, or you can head to the bottom to "Show all," which does as advertised and brings you to a new screen where you can see, well, all.

The "Manage captures" screen lets you see every game capture possible, with a ton of filters to get exactly what you're looking for. You can see what's uploaded to Xbox Live, on your physical console, or both. You can filter between screenshots and game clips. You can even filter out specific games so that you only see the game clips you want to see.

Whenever you've chosen a game clip and selected it, you can either select one of the options below or blow it up to play it at full resolution. From this menu, you can also trim your game clips to get rid of unnecessary video and leave only the good parts behind. If you're recording HDR game clips, you can switch back and forth between HDR and SDR content from here too. If you're not sure, you can find out more in our guide on how to enable HDR on Xbox Series X|S.

You also have the following options below:

• Activity feed. Upload the game capture to your activity feed, where other members of the Xbox community can see and comment on it.
• Message. Attach the game capture to a message to a friend or another player through Xbox Chat.
• Twitter. Share the game capture to your Twitter feed. You can sign-in to your Twitter account on your Xbox for quick sharing.
• See all sharing options. There are more options hidden away, including uploading the game capture to OneDrive and sharing the game capture with a Club.
• Upload. Upload the game capture to Xbox Live, where it's stored in the cloud. Use this option for screenshots you want to keep across consoles, view, and share on the Xbox mobile app, and more. This option will show if the game capture is queued for upload and will disappear when the game capture is fully uploaded.
• Trim. If your game clip is too long or contains content you don't need in your finished video, you can trim it using this option. While not as in-depth as the aging Upload Studio app, it still functions well for basic tasks.
• Delete. Delete the game capture permanently from your console. This cannot be undone.
• Show all captures. Another way to reach the "Manage captures" screen.

If you view a game capture through the "Manage captures" screen, you still have all of these options, but they're laid out differently, and the screenshot or game clip is always in full resolution.

You're not limited to one of these options, either, with the exception of "Delete." You can share your screenshots or game clips in as many places as you want, and you'll get notifications when game captures are successfully uploaded. If you share a game capture to your activity feed, you also have the option to add a caption before sharing, and you can keep tabs on how many views it has or if anyone has commented on the post.

Viewing and sharing game clips using the Xbox mobile app

The New Xbox Experience that gamers are currently enjoying on their Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles also spread around to everything else Xbox, including the new Xbox mobile app. The newly redesigned app features a more cohesive, streamlined interface, remote streaming options, universal search, and a way to view and manage your game captures directly from your phone! This is a great way to take advantage of the added ease-of-use and power of your mobile device.

Source: Windows Central

To get started, you'll first need to install the new Xbox app, available on Android — see on Google Play — and iOS — see on Apple App Store. Once you have the app installed, you can sign-in with your Microsoft Account and take advantage of everything the app has to offer, with a navigation bar at the bottom to move between different sections.

You can view and share your game captures through the "Library" section, which is the fourth one over from the left. In the Library section, you can see "Captures," "Games," and "Consoles" and navigate between categories from the top of the screen. Keep in mind, screenshots and game clips will only appear in the Xbox mobile app if they have been uploaded to Xbox Live. It's always a good idea to upload game captures you want to keep to Xbox Live, and then you can view them between consoles and the mobile app.

Once you select a game capture, you can do one of the following:

• Save. Save the game capture directly to your mobile device, where you can view it as a photo and use your device's editing, sharing, and tagging features to your heart's desire, without touching the original copy on Xbox Live.
• Delete. Delete the game capture permanently. There is no way to undo this.
• Share. Share the game capture through supported social media platforms, messages, your activity feed, and more. You can also view more sharing options, but the Xbox app will download the screenshot to your device first.

From the Xbox app, you can also view your activity feed, so you can see what your friends and fellow Xbox players are saying about your game captures that you've shared, making that one less thing you have to worry about when you're gaming on your Xbox Series X|S.