Last updated: 2026-01-10

For most creators in the U.S., the easiest path is to run your show in a browser with StreamYard, then use its built-in trimming, splitting, and AI Clips to repurpose your content. If you are a gameplay-focused streamer or need very specific desktop workflows, tools like Streamlabs or pairing OBS with a separate editor can make sense.

Summary

• StreamYard gives you a browser-based live studio plus in-app trimming, splitting, and AI clip generation, all in one place. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Streamlabs focuses on desktop streaming and offers Highlighter and a separate Video Editor for gamers who want to polish highlights on the same PC. (Streamlabs Highlighter)
• Restream offers AI Clips that auto-generate short, captioned highlights from your streams without a traditional editor interface. (Restream Clips)
• OBS Studio does not include a post‑production editor; you stream and record there, then edit elsewhere. (OBS Forum)

What do you actually need from a built-in video editor?

When people search for “streaming software with built-in video editor features,” they usually want three things:

1. Clean up the rough edges. Trim awkward intros, dead air, or technical hiccups so replays feel intentional.
2. Create quick clips. Turn a 45–90 minute stream into short videos that work on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok.
3. Avoid complex post-production. They’d rather not learn a full non-linear editor (NLE) just to cut a few moments.

That’s why “lightweight editing inside your streaming tool” is far more mainstream than “do all editing inside your streaming tool.” For deep color correction, multi-camera timeline work, or detailed audio repair, a dedicated editor like Premiere or DaVinci still wins. But for most creators, a fast way to trim and clip directly where they stream is enough.

Does StreamYard include in‑browser trimming and editing?

Yes. StreamYard includes an in-browser editor for trimming and splitting your recordings, and it’s available on all plans in the Video Library. (StreamYard Help Center)

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Trim the start and end. Cleanly remove countdowns, off-topic banter, or tech checks at the beginning and end of your stream.
• Split long streams into segments. Take a 60–90 minute show and cut it into multiple shorter videos—like “Segment 1: Interview,” “Segment 2: Q&A,” “Segment 3: Tutorial.”
• Publish short edits directly. When your edited video is 20 minutes or less, you can publish it out to YouTube, LinkedIn, or a Facebook Page right from StreamYard. (StreamYard Help Center)

On top of manual trimming, we also offer AI Clips: an AI repurposing tool that analyzes your recordings and generates captioned shorts and reels. Availability and clip limits vary by plan, but the workflow is the same: pick a recording, generate clips, then publish or download.

One unique twist: after your first set of AI clips is generated, you can regenerate them and guide the AI with a text prompt (for example, “focus on audience Q&A” or “pull sales tips only”). That keeps the workflow simple while still giving you creative control.

Combine this with StreamYard’s strengths—no-download guest links that “pass the grandparent test,” easy layouts, and studio-quality multi-track local recording in up to 4K—and you get a front-to-back system that covers live production, capture, and everyday editing without extra tools.

How does Streamlabs Highlighter work with Replay Buffer?

If your world revolves around gameplay and desktop streaming, Streamlabs is a familiar name. Streamlabs Desktop is a PC application that lets you stream to Twitch, YouTube Live, Facebook Gaming, and more, using an OBS-style scene setup. (Streamlabs Support)

Inside that desktop environment, Streamlabs Highlighter acts as a built-in editor for your best moments.

• Highlighter is built directly into Streamlabs Desktop and is free to use. (Streamlabs Highlighter)
• You can trim, reorder, and polish clips with transitions and music inside the same app where you stream. (Streamlabs Highlighter)

For streamers who rely on Replay Buffer, this is handy: you capture clips during your session, then open Highlighter afterward to make a short highlight reel without leaving Streamlabs.

Streamlabs also offers a browser-based Video Editor with its own limits—free users typically get 5 GB of storage and can export up to 30 minutes, while paid users get more storage (around 20 GB) and longer exports up to about an hour. (Streamlabs Video Editor FAQ)

Who is this for? Primarily PC gamers who want traditional scenes (game capture, overlays, alerts) and like the idea of doing both streaming and basic highlight editing on the same machine. The trade-off is more setup and a steeper learning curve compared with a browser-first studio like StreamYard.

Restream AI Clips: clip counts and plan limits

Restream is known for multistreaming, but it also offers Restream AI Clips—a feature that automatically turns streams or uploads into short-form content. Instead of a timeline editor, you get an automated highlight generator:

• AI Clips applies cropping, captions, and trims automatically, so you don’t manually edit clip timelines. (Restream Clips)
• Restream automatically generates five clips per stream or upload by default, and it enforces monthly clip limits by plan. (Restream Clips)

This is appealing if your priority is quantity: frequent short clips off every stream, rather than detailed hands-on editing.

The main trade-offs to understand:

• You get less manual control than a traditional editor; you’re trusting the AI’s highlight detection.
• Restream plans already gate things like number of simultaneous channels and Upload & Stream limits, so AI Clips is one more quota to track.

For many U.S. creators who don’t need to multistream to more than a small set of destinations, StreamYard’s built-in trimming plus AI Clips usually covers the same “repurposing” goal with fewer moving parts.

OBS recording workflow vs. in-app editing

OBS Studio is the classic free and open-source option for streaming and recording. It’s powerful and flexible—but there’s an important detail for this topic: OBS does not include a video editor.

As one official forum answer puts it, “OBS does not include any video editor, it just does recording (or streaming).” (OBS Forum)

If you go the OBS route, your workflow usually looks like this:

1. Set up scenes, sources, and encoders in OBS.
2. Stream and/or record to your local drive.
3. Open a separate editor (DaVinci, Premiere, CapCut, etc.) to trim, split, caption, and export clips.

This can be attractive if you want absolute control over your layouts and are comfortable managing extra software. But it’s very different from the “click to trim and publish” experience of StreamYard’s Video Library or Streamlabs’ Highlighter.

For many non-technical hosts—podcasters, coaches, local businesses—the extra complexity doesn’t translate into better results. They care more about high-quality recordings, easy guest onboarding, and reliable streams than about tweaking every encoder parameter.

Which tools auto-generate vertical Shorts and Reels from streams?

Short, vertical clips are where most replay views happen today, so it helps to know which tools handle that for you:

• StreamYard AI Clips: Automatically analyzes your recordings and generates captioned short-form clips you can share as Shorts, Reels, or TikToks. Availability and limits vary by plan, and you can regenerate clips with a text prompt to steer the topics. (StreamYard blog)
• Restream AI Clips: Detects highlights and outputs trimmed, captioned clips automatically, with monthly clip quotas by plan. (Restream Clips)
• Streamlabs: Highlighter and Video Editor focus more on manual trimming and arranging; they are useful for vertical formats, but they don’t center around automatic highlight detection in the same way.

On top of clips, StreamYard’s Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS) lets you broadcast both landscape and portrait from a single studio session, so desktop viewers get a wide shot while mobile viewers see an optimized vertical stream. That means you can serve both the live show and future short-form content strategy from one place.

What we recommend

• Default path for most creators: Use StreamYard as your main studio, then trim, split, and clip inside the Video Library for fast, everyday editing.
• If you’re a PC gamer who loves scene control: Streamlabs Desktop plus Highlighter can work well, with the understanding that you’ll manage more setup and hardware.
• If you mainly want automated clip volume from many channels: Restream with AI Clips can fit—but weigh the extra quotas and multistream complexity against how many platforms you truly need.
• If you’re deeply technical and editing-heavy: Pair OBS with a full editor, and consider sending that feed into StreamYard when you need simple multistreaming, guests, and quick repurposing tools.