Instant clips

Clips cut a segment from an ongoing live stream using its DVR buffer. Use them to publish a highlight before the broadcast ends. Clips are temporary — they expire after up to 4 hours — but can also be saved as permanent VODs.

Animation showing a live stream being cut into HLS and MP4 clips in real time

An API token is required. DVR must be enabled on the stream (dvr_enabled: true). Clips are cut from the DVR buffer — the stream must be live and actively receiving an ingest signal.

export GCORE_API_KEY="{YOUR_API_KEY}"
export STREAM_ID="{YOUR_STREAM_ID}"

Enable DVR

dvr_duration sets the DVR buffer size in seconds (30–14400). The clip duration cannot exceed this window. Enable DVR by updating the stream:

curl

curl -X PATCH "https://api.gcore.com/streaming/streams/$STREAM_ID" \
     -H "Authorization: APIKey $GCORE_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"dvr_enabled": true, "dvr_duration": 3600}'

The API returns the updated stream object with dvr_enabled: true and dvr_duration: 3600.

Create a clip

Cut a segment from an ongoing live stream. Specify duration in seconds and optionally start as a Unix timestamp. The clip becomes accessible at start + duration — requesting it before that returns 425 Too Early. An expired clip returns 404.

Parameter	Required	Description
`duration`	Yes	Segment length in seconds. Maximum equals `dvr_duration`. Final length may vary slightly due to keyframe alignment.
`start`	No	Unix timestamp of the segment start. Defaults to the current time.
`expiration`	No	Unix timestamp when the clip expires. Range: 1 minute to 4 hours after clip end. Defaults to `start + duration + 3600`.
`vod_required`	No	`true` to also save as a permanent VOD in video hosting.

Python SDK
Go SDK
curl

import os
from gcore import Gcore

client = Gcore()
stream_id = int(os.environ["STREAM_ID"])

# Create a 60-second clip starting now
clip = client.streaming.streams.clips.create(
    stream_id,
    duration=60,
)
print(f"Clip ID: {clip.id}")
print(f"HLS: {clip.hls_master}")
print(f"MP4: {clip.mp4_master}")
print(f"Expires at: {clip.expiration}")

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "strconv"

    gcore "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go"
    "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go/streaming"
)

func main() {
    client := gcore.NewClient()
    ctx := context.Background()

    streamID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("STREAM_ID"), 10, 64)

    // Create a 60-second clip starting now
    clip, err := client.Streaming.Streams.Clips.New(ctx, streamID, streaming.StreamClipNewParams{
        Duration: 60,
    })
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Clip ID: %s\n", clip.ID)
    fmt.Printf("HLS: %s\n", clip.HlsMaster)
    fmt.Printf("MP4: %s\n", clip.MP4Master)
}

curl -X PUT "https://api.gcore.com/streaming/streams/$STREAM_ID/clip_recording" \
     -H "Authorization: APIKey $GCORE_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"duration": 60}'

The API returns the clip object:

{
  "id": "eycnb3utc6bk",
  "start": 1758113719,
  "duration": 60,
  "expiration": 1758117379,
  "vod_required": false,
  "video_id": null,
  "renditions": ["media_0_720", "media_1_468", "media_2_360"],
  "hls_master": "https://cid.domain.com/rec/111_1000/rec_eycnb3utc6bk_qsid42_master.m3u8",
  "mp4_master": "https://cid.domain.com/rec/111_1000/rec_eycnb3utc6bk_qsid42_master.mp4"
}

Create a clip from an earlier segment

To cut a segment from the past, pass start as a Unix timestamp:

Python SDK
Go SDK
curl

import os
import time
from gcore import Gcore

client = Gcore()
stream_id = int(os.environ["STREAM_ID"])

# Create a 30-second clip starting 2 minutes ago
start_time = int(time.time()) - 120  # 2 minutes ago

clip = client.streaming.streams.clips.create(
    stream_id,
    duration=30,
    start=start_time,
)
print(f"Clip ID: {clip.id}")
print(f"HLS: {clip.hls_master}")

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "strconv"
    "time"

    gcore "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go"
    "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go/packages/param"
    "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go/streaming"
)

func main() {
    client := gcore.NewClient()
    ctx := context.Background()

    streamID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("STREAM_ID"), 10, 64)

    // Create a 30-second clip starting 2 minutes ago
    startTime := time.Now().Add(-2 * time.Minute).Unix()

    clip, err := client.Streaming.Streams.Clips.New(ctx, streamID, streaming.StreamClipNewParams{
        Duration: 30,
        Start:    param.NewOpt(startTime),
    })
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Clip ID: %s\n", clip.ID)
    fmt.Printf("HLS: %s\n", clip.HlsMaster)
}

START=$(date -d "2 minutes ago" +%s 2>/dev/null || date -v-2M +%s)

curl -X PUT "https://api.gcore.com/streaming/streams/$STREAM_ID/clip_recording" \
     -H "Authorization: APIKey $GCORE_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d "{\"duration\": 30, \"start\": $START}"

To save the clip as a permanent VOD, set vod_required: true. When the clip is created, the response includes a video_id. Use GET /streaming/videos/{video_id} to retrieve the permanent HLS/MP4 URLs once transcoding completes.

List clips

Retrieve all non-expired clips for a stream.

Python SDK
Go SDK
curl

import os
from gcore import Gcore

client = Gcore()
stream_id = int(os.environ["STREAM_ID"])

clips = client.streaming.streams.clips.list(stream_id)
for clip in clips:
    print(f"Clip {clip.id}: duration={clip.duration}s, hls={clip.hls_master}")

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "strconv"

    gcore "github.com/G-Core/gcore-go"
)

func main() {
    client := gcore.NewClient()
    ctx := context.Background()

    streamID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("STREAM_ID"), 10, 64)

    clips, err := client.Streaming.Streams.Clips.List(ctx, streamID)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    for _, clip := range *clips {
        fmt.Printf("Clip %s: duration=%ds, hls=%s\n",
            clip.ID, clip.Duration, clip.HlsMaster)
    }
}

curl "https://api.gcore.com/streaming/streams/$STREAM_ID/clip_recording" \
     -H "Authorization: APIKey $GCORE_API_KEY"

The API returns an array of non-expired clip objects. Expired clips are automatically removed and no longer appear in the list.

Account settings

Developer Tools

CDN

FastEdge

Edge Cloud

AI

Gclaw

Managed DNS

Public DNS

Hosting

Colocation

Object Storage

Video Streaming

DDoS protection

Edge Proxy

WAAP

Enable DVR

Create a clip

Create a clip from an earlier segment

List clips

​Enable DVR

​Create a clip

​Create a clip from an earlier segment

​List clips

Enable DVR

Create a clip

Create a clip from an earlier segment

List clips