Medal or OBS comes down to one question: is your main job keeping and sharing clips, or designing your own recording and streaming setup?
According to Medal's support docs, Medal runs in the background and saves the last 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 seconds with the default F8 hotkey (longer clips go up to 20 minutes), and it can also record the whole session from the moment a game opens until it closes.
OBS is a general tool where you set up sources such as Game Capture yourself, and saving recent moments means turning on the Replay Buffer and assigning a save hotkey.
The values below were rechecked on both official sites and Medal's support docs on November 12, 2026, and the guide sorts the choice by need rather than naming a winner. If you want the exact OBS steps for saving recent moments, see how to save highlights with the OBS replay buffer.
The short answer by need
Three lines are enough to decide. If you want to keep a moment you just played with a hotkey and share it as a link right away, pick Medal. If you want to control scenes, sources and output formats, and record and live stream from one tool, pick OBS.
If you want supported games to keep the whole match without pressing save, then cut only the moments you need later, DOR, covered below, is the fit. If you are already weighing Medal against a wider set of tools, the list of Medal alternatives covers that broader question. All three are free to start, so the surest test is a short session of each in the same game.
Medal vs OBS side by side (as checked on November 12, 2026)
| Item | Medal | OBS Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price and free limits | Free on PC and mobile, with optional Premium. Free uploads go up to 20 minutes per clip at 1080p; Premium uploads any length at original capture quality (per the Premium page). The Premium price is not shown on the pages checked | Introduced as free and open source software |
| Watermark | The Premium page says clips downloaded on a free account carry a watermark and Premium lets you download them without it | No watermark information found on the official home page |
| Windows support | Windows 10 or later (iOS and Android apps also exist) | Windows 10 and 11 (latest 33.0.1, released October 29) |
| How clips are saved | Runs in the background; the default F8 hotkey (changeable) saves the last 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 seconds, with longer clips up to 20 minutes; whole session recording from game launch to close is also available | Turn on the Replay Buffer and assign a save hotkey yourself; you also build the sources yourself |
| Auto clipping | Toggle under Settings > Auto Clipping > Auto Capture Events; has its own list of supported games such as Valorant and Fortnite | The official pages checked have no game-event auto clipping section |
| Editing and sharing | Built-in editor and cloud share links | Introduced as a tool for video recording and live streaming |
| File format | MP4 (H.264 / H.265) | MKV recommended, MP4 via remux, Hybrid MP4 also selectable |
| Performance and quality notes from official pages | Quality presets 360p, 720p and 1080p, with Custom up to 4K and 144 fps. Says it supports GPU acceleration (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) and CPU-based recording | Says CPU needs vary considerably with encoder, resolution, FPS and scene complexity. The two pages do not compare each other |
Things to check before you pick
- Think about how far back you usually miss a moment, then check that the length fits Medal's 15 second to 2 minute presets (longer clips up to 20 minutes) and OBS's Maximum Replay Time setting.
- If you plan to rely on auto clipping, check whether your game is on Medal's Auto Clipping supported list before anything else.
- If you plan to record and live stream together, check that you have time to build your OBS sources and run a test recording.
- Check that your save hotkey does not clash with game controls and that the file format suits the editor or place where you will share.
- If you plan to download clips and post them elsewhere, weigh that free Medal downloads carry a watermark and free uploads stop at 20 minutes and 1080p, and that Premium lifts both.
- Confirm your Windows version: Medal lists Windows 10 or later, OBS lists Windows 10 and 11.
What to set up again when switching between Medal and OBS
- 1Reassign the save hotkeyMedal's PC clipping guide gives F8 as the default hotkey and says you can change it in settings. The OBS overview says the hotkey that saves the buffer must be set in the Hotkeys section. Under Settings > Hotkeys, assign Save Replay to a key that does not clash with your game controls.
- 2Match the length of the recent windowMedal lets you pick a hotkey clip length of 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 seconds, and says longer clips can go up to 20 minutes. In OBS, open Settings > Output, turn on Enable Replay Buffer, set Maximum Replay Time, then press Start Replay Buffer in the Controls dock so the buffer actually runs. The official pages give no recommended length, so choose one that covers the moments you usually miss.
- 3Check sources and auto configurationThe OBS quick start guide runs the Auto-Configuration Wizard first, then adds Game Capture (Windows only), Display Capture or Video Capture sources with the + button in the Sources dock, and tests with Start Recording. For someone coming from Medal, this preparation stage is likely the most unfamiliar part.
- 4Check the file formatMedal's home page says files are saved as MP4 (H.264 / H.265). OBS's recording guide recommends MKV because the file survives an unclean stop, and says to use Remux Recordings or the automatic remux option on the Advanced tab if you need mp4. OBS 32 and later (latest 33.0.1 as of November 12, 2026) also offer Hybrid MP4 (.mp4) under Recording Format.
- 5Recheck the audio layoutMedal's features page describes multi-track audio with separate volume for game, mic and Discord. In OBS, confirm your devices under Settings > Audio, then make a short test recording and listen for both game sound and your microphone. Treat the first match after switching tools as a sound check.
A third option if you want recording without setup
If you would rather have recording start just because you launched a game, instead of choosing a buffer length, a hotkey and sources, DOR is another route.
It is a free Windows desktop app that detects supported games when you launch them, records the full match as an mp4 and collects it in My Clips in the app.
In seven games, League of Legends, VALORANT, PUBG, FC Online, Fortnite, Counter-Strike and Overwatch, it detects moments such as kills and makes highlight clips automatically; in other supported games you cut and save the moments you want from the match it recorded.
In the app you can trim a section to 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 to make vertical clips for Shorts, and DOR Studio lets you merge videos, add effect templates, text and BGM, then export an mp4 or share a dor.gg link.
It captures game sound and microphone together and records with NVENC hardware encoding on supported NVIDIA graphics cards such as the RTX series. You can read how detection works in auto clip detection explained and see the results in DOR auto highlight clips.
This is not a claim that DOR replaces Medal or OBS, just one more option to know before you choose how to save clips.
