On Tuesday, Facebook announced that live videos will now be stored on the social network for only 30 days, after which they will be deleted. Previously, these videos were stored indefinitely. The change goes into effect on Wednesday.
All live videos that are currently more than 30 days old will be removed from the platform as part of this change. Before the videos are removed, users will receive a notification and have 90 days to decide what to do with their old content. Users can download the videos to their device, move them to cloud storage, or convert the content to a new video.
In its blog post, Facebook states that “these changes will bring our storage policies in line with industry standards and help ensure that we provide the most up-to-date live video experience for all Facebook users.” No further explanation was provided.
Twitch, which is one of Facebook Live’s biggest competitors, keeps past broadcasts for 60 days for partners, affiliates, and Prime streamers. For regular streamers, the platform keeps past live broadcasts for 14 days. YouTube, which is another popular place for live streaming, keeps broadcasts indefinitely, turning them into regular videos (unless the user chooses to disable archiving).
Facebook notes that if users need more time to download their old live streams, they can postpone deletion for six months. If the user does not make a choice after this period, their old live videos will be deleted and they will not be able to access them.
The social network is launching new download tools to help users save their old live videos.
Users can bulk download their old live videos by selecting the “Download Live Videos” option in the notification they receive about the upcoming deletion. Alternatively, they can click the “Move Live Videos” option and then choose a linked cloud storage provider, such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
Facebook is using this change as a way to further promote Reels, as it notes that users have the option to convert some of their favorite moments from live video to Reels to save them to their page.
