Xbox One Tip: Record Your Favorite Gameplay Moments

With the Creators Update, it’s easier than ever to take screenshots and record game clips on the Xbox One.

Most Xbox One owners probably know that this console has offered integrated screenshot and game clip recording functionality since the initial release. But both capabilities have improved a lot since then, and with the Creators Update, it’s easier than ever to record your favorite gaming moments. Especially for those who do not have a Kinect.

Speaking of which, if you do have a Kinect, using voice control is still the quickest way to capture a screenshot or record a game clip: Just say, “Xbox, take a screenshot” or “Xbox, record that,” respectively.

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But performing these actions has gotten a lot easier for the majority of us without a Kinect. And if you wish to configure how that recording functionality—called Game DVR—works, or set up a custom recording, you’ll need to know your way around the Xbox One Dashboard.

Or, more specifically, the new Guide.

To take a screenshot—in a game, you can’t use this to take a shot of the Dashboard or an app—just press the Xbox button on your controller to display the Guide. Then, press (Y).

If something fun or excellent happens in a game, you can quickly record the previous 30 seconds of gameplay to preserve it for later enjoyment. (Well, 30 seconds “ish”; my recordings tend to be 28 seconds.) This Game DVR feature, called “Record that,” works like taking a screenshot: just press the Xbox button on your controller to display the Guide, and then press (X).

But you’re not stuck with 30-second clips. You can change the default recording time for “Record that,” and you can also arbitrarily use Game DVR to record longer clips at any time.

To change the length of “Record that” clips, open Settings and navigate to Preferences > Game DVR & Streaming. Then, choose a new time under “‘Record that’ records”.

To arbitrarily record longer clips at any time, start playing a game. Then, press the Xbox button on your controller to display the Guide, and then Menu (this is the small button below and to the left of the Xbox button). The Game DVR menu appears.

Here, you can quickly capture the previous x number of seconds or minutes. Or, you can simply start a video recording using the “Start recording” option. When you do, a “Recording startup” notification will appear briefly.

When you’re done recording, press the Xbox button on your controller to display the Guide.

Here, you can press (X) to stop recording. Or, press Menu and then choose “Stop recording.” Either way, a “Gameclip recorded” notification will appear, indicating that the recording has ended.

You can manage your saved Game DVR items—both screenshots and game clips—with the Game DVR app on your Xbox One, or using the Xbox app on Windows 10, Android or iOS. Here, we’ll look at the Game DVR app on the Xbox One. There are a variety of ways to get there, but the quickest is likely to press the Xbox button on your controller to display the Guide, press Menu, and then choose “Manage captures.”

(You can also access this interface from the Dashboard: Navigate to the Community page and select the Game DVR icon at the top.)

The default view here shows the screenshots and clips you’ve shared via Xbox Live. To show only those clips that are stored locally on your Xbox One—like the manual recording you might have just made—change the first filter from “On Xbox Live” to “On this Xbox.”

To view a screenshot or video clip, simply select it.

Here, you can also perform other actions: You can upload the item to Xbox Live (this may be configured to happen automatically) or OneDrive, set it as your Dashboard or club background (screenshots only) or edit (video clips only) or delete it.

To edit a video clip with Microsoft’s Upload Studio app. I find this a bit easier to do in the Xbox app on Windows 10, but this app will help you trim unwanted content from the beginning and end of the clip, and add effects, text, and even a voiceover.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I suppose recording a game session with Game DVR while broadcasting that game session via Beam would result in a higher-quality video than is possible just using Beam. (Beam recordings are sort of VHS quality, from what I can see.)

 

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