Instant Replay

Instant Replay

Instant replay is the heart of Flashback. It keeps the last few moments of your screen and sound ready on your PC, and saves them as an MP4 only when you ask. This page covers how the buffer behaves, every way to save, how long a replay can be, and what happens to the file.

How it works in one minute

1. When Flashback starts, the replay buffer starts with it (it's on by default).
2. Flashback records continuously into a small, bounded set of short video pieces in a private folder. Older pieces are cleared as new ones arrive, so the buffer never grows without limit.
3. When you press Save replay, Flashback copies the last stretch of that buffer into a finished MP4 in your clip folder, named and filed under the game you're playing.
4. Nothing is uploaded. The clip sits on your PC until you decide otherwise.

Saving doesn't re-encode the video. Flashback joins the pieces it already encoded with a stream copy, which is why a save is quick and why it doesn't spike your GPU in the middle of a fight. The technical details are on Replay Buffer and Segment Rotation.

Ways to save a replay

How	Where
Global shortcut	Ctrl+Shift+F10 by default. Works in any game, windowed, borderless or fullscreen. Change it in Settings > Storage & shortcuts.
Tray menu	Right-click the Flashback icon near the Windows clock and choose Save replay.
Replay tab	The Save replay button in the app window.
Voice	Say "Flashback, clip" or "Flashback, save that" with Voice Commands turned on.

After a save you'll hear the clip sound (if sounds are on) and see a Clip saved notification. Click the notification to open File Explorer with the new file already selected. The clip also appears at the top of the Library and in Recent clips on the Replay tab.

Each Recent clips card works like a Library card. Point at the thumbnail for a play mark and click it to play the clip. The buttons below are Play clip, then Edit clip, which opens the clip in the Editor's Trim mode, then ... with the same menu as the Library.

If you press save twice quickly

A save you press while the previous clip is still being written waits its turn. It isn't dropped. The same is true if Flashback is in the middle of restarting its capture process: the save waits for that to finish rather than failing.

If the buffer is paused or still starting

If the replay buffer is paused or hasn't finished starting, there's nothing to save yet. Flashback plays an error sound and shows a notice so you aren't left guessing. Start the buffer again from the tray menu (Start buffer) or the Replay tab.

Choose how much to keep

Replay length decides how far back a normal save reaches. The default is 30 seconds.

Presets	Custom
15 s, 30 s, 45 s, 1 min, 1 min 30 s, 2 min, 3 min, 5 min	Any exact length from 15 seconds to 24 hours, set in hours, minutes and seconds

Change it in Settings > Video > Replay length. Choose Custom to open the hours, minutes and seconds editor, then Use this length and apply your settings.

Long replay lengths don't make each buffer piece bigger. Flashback keeps the same short, bounded pieces and simply keeps more of them, so a long buffer costs disk space, not extra recording work. Settings shows an estimate of how big each clip will be as you change length and quality.

Smart replay length (double-tap)

Sometimes you want the last 30 seconds, and sometimes you want the whole round. Smart replay length gives you both on one shortcut:

• One press saves your normal replay length.
• A quick double press saves a longer length you pick under Double-tap.

The double-tap list only offers lengths longer than your normal one. With smart replay length off (the default), one press saves straight away, exactly as before.

Per-game lengths

Any game or app can have its own replay length and quality preset, along with its own audio and pointer settings. See Per-Game Profiles.

What you get

• Format: an MP4 with AAC audio and hardware-encoded H.264 or HEVC video, depending on your codec setting. See Recording Quality and Presets.
• Name and folder: by default {game} {date} {time}, for example Elden Ring 2026-10-03 21-14-07.mp4, inside a folder for that game. Everything about this is editable on Naming and Organization.
• Location: %USERPROFILE%\Videos\Flashback unless you choose another folder.
• Audio: your game and desktop sound, plus your microphone if you turned it on, in the Flashback mix every player plays, with separate editable tracks beside it. See Audio.
• Start point: the clip starts on the video keyframe at or just before the moment your replay length reaches back to, so it can run a moment longer than the length you picked. That keeps picture and sound in sync in every player.

The original is yours to keep. Trimming, Discord copies and Cloud uploads always make a separate file and never change the clip Flashback saved.

Where the buffer lives

The rolling buffer lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Flashback\Buffer, outside your clip library, so it never shows up as clutter in your Videos folder. It isn't counted against your library storage limit. Incomplete or stale buffer files are set aside and cleaned up later.

If the drive that holds the buffer fills up, Flashback tells you which drive to free up instead of restarting capture over and over.

Pause and resume

You can pause the buffer at any time from the tray menu (Pause buffer) or the Replay tab. While paused, Flashback isn't recording, so there's nothing to save. Your screenshot shortcut still works while the buffer is paused (see Screenshots).

Closing the window doesn't stop the buffer. With Keep Flashback running when I close the window on (the default), the X hides Flashback in the tray and the buffer keeps running. Choose Quit from the tray menu to exit completely.

When something goes wrong

• "Capture cannot keep up": the selected quality is more than your GPU can sustain in this game. Click Adjust settings and lower the frame rate, resolution or bitrate.
• A brief gap after a capture restart: if the capture process has to restart unexpectedly, the few seconds it was recovering can't be in the buffer. Flashback never joins footage across that gap inside one clip, so a clip won't silently jump.
• Shortcut does nothing: check that another app doesn't already use it. See Shortcuts.

More fixes are on Troubleshooting Recording.

Related pages

Shortcuts · Screenshots · Recording Quality and Presets · Replay Buffer and Segment Rotation