Consoles Gaming

Can I turn off PlayStation 4 gameplay recording?

PlayStation 4 gameplay recording
Short shrift: you can clip the amount the PS4 records

One of the cool things that a PlayStation 4 does is constantly record your gameplay, although it only saves it when asked. However, all of that recording places a strain on the console and if you never use that feature, it would make sense to turn it off, right?

Unfortunately, I come with bad news: Sony doesn’t let you switch it off.

But, what you can do is reduce the recording activity, which may help. Let me explain.

Sony is rather vague around how the gameplay recording is performed, but my best theory is that long stretches of footage – such as the default length of 15 minutes – would need to be saved to hard disk, increasing wear on the disk drive. However, if you crimp the recording to the minimum of 30 seconds, it’s possible that short recording can be stored in memory, meaning the hard disk isn’t taxed unnecessarily.

Time needed: 2 minutes

How to set the PlayStation 4 recording to the minimum duration

  1. Go into Sharing and Broadcast Settings

    With your PS4 switched on and signed in, press the Share button on your controller. Select ‘Sharing and Broadcast Settings’ from the menu that appears.

  2. Select ‘Length of Video Clip’ from the menu

    The default is 15 minutes.

  3. Change the new video clip length

    The nearest to “off” is 30 seconds.

Now, the PlayStation will continue to record what you’re doing but only retaining the last 30 seconds (or whatever you changed it to). Surely that’s going to be less of a strain on your poor old console?

NOW READ THIS: What’s the best way to boost the performance of the PS4?

About the author

David Artiss

Works for Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr. Tech geek, international speaker and occasional PC Pro podcaster. Lover of Lego and video games.

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  • Amazing work David! I am currently using record-screen.com to capture may ps4 gameplay and its actually effective when it comes to HD video output. But it does not have a timer, so yeah, i still prefer using the method you mentioned