# How to Clip With NVIDIA: Instant Replay Setup Guide > How to clip with NVIDIA Instant Replay: turn it on, set the length, save the last 30 seconds with a hotkey, find your clips, and other ways to clip on PC. Canonical: https://gameclip.io/blog/how-to-clip-with-nvidia.md [Recording](https://gameclip.io/blog/category/recording) Nemo · October 30, 2026 · 5 min read To clip with NVIDIA, open the NVIDIA app overlay with Alt+Z, turn on Instant Replay (Alt+Shift+F10 by default), and set how far back it keeps. When something happens in a game, press Alt+F10 and the last stretch is saved as a video in your Videos folder. The shortcut shown in your overlay is the one to trust. Clipping is saving a moment after it already happened. NVIDIA’s Instant Replay, part of the recording tools once called ShadowPlay, keeps a rolling buffer of your gameplay in the background on supported GeForce cards. Nothing is written to a file until you press the save key, so you can leave it on all session. ## How do you set up NVIDIA Instant Replay? 1. **Install the NVIDIA app.** It replaced GeForce Experience and includes the recording tools. 2. **Open the overlay.** Press **Alt+Z** in a game or on the desktop. 3. **Turn on Instant Replay.** Click **Instant Replay** and switch it on, or press **Alt+Shift+F10**. 4. **Set the length.** In the Instant Replay settings, pick how far back it keeps. 30 seconds to 2 minutes covers most plays; longer buffers use more memory and disk. 5. **Set the quality.** Choose the resolution, frame rate (60 fps for most games) and bitrate. Higher bitrates keep fast motion clean but make bigger files. 6. **Save a clip.** Press **Alt+F10** right after the moment. The overlay confirms the save. The default hotkeys can differ between app versions and can be changed. If a key does nothing, open the Alt+Z overlay’s settings and check the shortcut listed for saving the replay. ## What are the NVIDIA recording hotkeys? | Action | Default hotkey | What it does | |---|---|---| | Open the overlay | Alt+Z | Settings, gallery, recording controls | | Turn Instant Replay on or off | Alt+Shift+F10 | Starts or stops the background buffer | | Save the replay | Alt+F10 | Writes the buffer to a video file | | Start or stop recording | Alt+F9 | A normal recording from now on | | Performance overlay | Alt+R | Frame rate and GPU stats | ## Where are NVIDIA clips saved? By default, in your **Videos** folder, in a subfolder named after the game. You can change the location in the overlay’s settings under recordings. The overlay’s **Gallery** shows the clips you saved. ## What is NVIDIA Highlights? NVIDIA Highlights saves clips automatically in supported games: kills, wins and other key moments the game reports to the app. You turn it on in the overlay, and it only works in games that integrated it. For everything else, Instant Replay and your save key are how you clip. ## How else can you clip the last 30 seconds on a PC? Every PC has at least one way to do it, whatever the graphics card: | Tool | Save the last moments | Default length | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | NVIDIA app | Alt+F10 | You choose | GeForce cards | | AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition | Ctrl+Shift+S | You choose | Radeon cards | | Xbox Game Bar | Win+Alt+G | 30 seconds | Turn on “Record what happened” in Settings > Gaming > Captures | | Steam Game Recording | From the Steam overlay | You choose | Background recording in Steam games | | OBS Studio | Your Replay Buffer hotkey | You choose | Also records webcam and separate audio | [How to record gameplay on PC](https://gameclip.io/blog/how-to-record-gameplay-on-pc) compares these tools for full recordings too. ## Why do Instant Replay clips miss the best moments? Instant Replay depends on you pressing a key at the right time. In practice that fails in three ways: - **You forget.** In the middle of a clutch, nobody thinks about Alt+F10. - **The buffer is too short.** The setup for a play starts a minute earlier; a 30-second clip starts in the middle of it. - **The clip is still raw.** It is 16:9, with no captions, no zoom and no hook. Turning it into a TikTok or a Short is a second job. The alternative is to record the whole session and find the moments afterwards. [Finding the best moments in a long recording](https://gameclip.io/blog/find-best-moments-in-gameplay) covers that approach. ## How does GameClip fit with NVIDIA clips? GameClip is a desktop app for macOS and Windows that turns long gameplay recordings into a highlight video and vertical clips with captions, zooms and sound effects. It works best on a full recording rather than a stack of 30-second clips: record the session with the NVIDIA app (Alt+F9) or OBS, drop the file in, and GameClip looks at the game second by second to find the plays, so the moments you didn’t think to clip are still found. Each kept moment becomes a vertical cut of 15 to 60 seconds, with an auto zoom at the peak and captions if you want them, and you can fix any of it on a timeline before you export. On a Mac, the GameClip recorder (macOS 15 and later) works like a replay key while it records: **F8** marks the last 30 seconds and **F7** the last 2 minutes, and the analysis always checks those marks first. On Windows there is no GameClip recorder yet, so keep NVIDIA or OBS for capture. [Download GameClip](https://gameclip.io/download) for macOS or Windows, then turn the clips into [gaming YouTube Shorts](https://gameclip.io/blog/youtube-shorts-gaming). ## FAQ ### What is the NVIDIA hotkey to clip? Alt+F10 saves the Instant Replay buffer by default, once Instant Replay is on (Alt+Shift+F10, or the switch in the Alt+Z overlay). If it doesn’t work, check the shortcut listed in the overlay’s settings, since versions and custom setups differ. ### Why is NVIDIA Instant Replay not saving clips? The most common causes are Instant Replay being off, the save hotkey being changed or taken by another app, and the overlay being disabled. Open Alt+Z, confirm Instant Replay is on, and check the shortcuts. Some games in exclusive fullscreen also block the overlay; borderless windowed mode usually fixes it. ### How long can an NVIDIA Instant Replay be? You set the length in the Instant Replay settings, up to several minutes. Longer buffers keep more context before the play, at the cost of memory and bigger files. 30 seconds to 2 minutes suits most clips. ### Can I clip on PC without an NVIDIA card? Yes. Press Win+Alt+G in Xbox Game Bar to save the last 30 seconds on any Windows 10 or 11 PC, use Ctrl+Shift+S in AMD Software, or set up a Replay Buffer in OBS Studio. ### Can GameClip import NVIDIA clips? Yes. GameClip imports any video file, including Instant Replay clips and full NVIDIA recordings. It finds more moments on a full session recording than on short clips, because short clips only hold what you remembered to save. macOS and Windows GameClip turns long gameplay into a highlight video and vertical clips. It finds the moments, then adds captions, zooms and sound effects. Every cut stays editable before you export. [Go to the download](https://gameclip.io/download) **About this article.** Written by Nemo, who builds GameClip. Facts about other apps and platforms were checked on the date above and can change. Spotted something wrong or out of date? [Tell us](mailto:support@gameclip.io). More in Recording [Recording](https://gameclip.io/blog/category/recording) Oct 30, 2026 · 6 min ## [Xbox Clips: How to Get Them on Your PC and Edit Them](https://gameclip.io/blog/xbox-clips-to-pc) How to capture Xbox clips, find them, and move them to a PC or Mac through the Xbox app, OneDrive or a USB drive, then turn them into highlights and Shorts. [Recording](https://gameclip.io/blog/category/recording) Oct 30, 2026 · 7 min ## [OBS Recording Settings for Gameplay: A Clear Setup](https://gameclip.io/blog/obs-settings-for-recording-gameplay) The OBS recording settings for gameplay that keep files smooth and easy to edit: encoder, rate control, format, audio tracks and replay buffer, step by step. [Recording](https://gameclip.io/blog/category/recording) Oct 30, 2026 · 6 min ## [How to Record Gameplay on PC: 5 Free Ways Compared](https://gameclip.io/blog/how-to-record-gameplay-on-pc) How to record gameplay on a Windows PC with Xbox Game Bar, NVIDIA, AMD, Steam or OBS: hotkeys, the settings that keep files light, and audio on separate tracks.