How Gamers and Podcasters Can Stream Prerecorded Content on YouTube LIVE

Gaming and podcast creators already produce hours of recorded material: full playthroughs, tournament VODs, highlight compilations, interview episodes, panel recordings. Much of it is watched once and forgotten. Broadcasting it again as YouTube LIVE gives it a second life — a scheduled event, a live chat, a presence on your channel’s Live tab.

This guide covers what works, what does not, and how to set it up without tying up your gaming PC or recording setup.

First, be clear about what “prerecorded” means here

There are two very different jobs:

Job	Example	Tool
Real-time production	Playing a game live with commentary; a podcast with live guests and call-ins	Live encoder such as OBS, or a studio tool
Playback of finished files	Broadcasting last week’s playthrough; airing a recorded episode at 8 p.m. every Thursday	Encoder, or a cloud streaming service

A cloud service like EasyLoop only does the second job. It streams uploaded video files to YouTube LIVE. It does not capture your game, webcam or microphone, and it does not host guests. If that is what you need, keep OBS for those streams — and use the cloud for everything that is already recorded.

Ideas for gaming channels

• Replay channel or second channel. Loop a playlist of full sessions so new viewers can drop in at any time.
• Off-hours rebroadcast. Air your main live stream again for viewers in other time zones, while you sleep.
• Highlight marathons. A scheduled “best of the season” compilation stream with chat.
• Speedrun and tournament archives. A themed playlist of runs or matches.
• Ambient gameplay. Calm exploration footage (no commentary) as a relaxing background stream — check the game publisher’s video policy first.

What to watch for:

• Game music and licensed audio. In-game soundtracks and licensed songs can trigger claims, even in footage you recorded yourself.
• Publisher policies. Most publishers allow gameplay videos, but some restrict monetization or specific content.
• Honesty with viewers. Put “Replay” or “Rebroadcast” in the title. Viewers who think you are live will ask you questions in chat and get frustrated when no one answers.

Ideas for podcasters

• Weekly air time. Schedule each new video episode as a live stream at a fixed hour so listeners can chat together — the radio-show feeling, without being live yourself.
• Back-catalog channel. Loop a playlist of past episodes on a dedicated stream.
• Time-zone replays. Rebroadcast the latest episode for listeners in other regions.
• Audio-first podcasts. YouTube LIVE needs video. Combine the audio with a static cover image or a simple waveform video and export an MP4 (H.264 video, AAC audio).

If you only want a one-time shared viewing of a new upload, a YouTube Premiere may be simpler: YouTube describes it as a way to watch a new video together with viewers in real time, with a countdown and live chat. Choose a prerecorded live stream instead when you want looping, playlists, a set stop time, or to rebroadcast older content. The full comparison is in how to schedule a prerecorded video as YouTube LIVE.

How to set it up with EasyLoop

1. Export the recording as MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio and a 2-second keyframe interval. Long recordings are fine; check plan storage and the maximum file size (50 GB on Creator and Studio) on the pricing page.
2. Upload and wait for the video check. It reports issues such as unsupported codecs or unusual keyframe intervals before you go live.
3. Get your Stream URL and Stream Key from YouTube Studio (Create → Go Live → Live Control Room → Stream). If you want a promotional watch page with a title and thumbnail in advance, schedule the stream in YouTube Studio first and use that event’s key.
4. Create the stream in EasyLoop: one video, or a playlist for marathons. Turn looping on for an always-on replay channel; off for a one-time episode.
5. Start now or schedule a start time and optional stop time. Your computer — including your gaming PC — can be off.

A note on file sizes for gameplay

Gameplay is high-motion, so it needs more bitrate than ambience. YouTube recommends 14 Mbps for 1080p30 and 17 Mbps for 1080p60 with H.264. At those rates a one-hour file is roughly 6–8 GB. If you are building a long replay library, consider exporting at 1080p30 and a moderate bitrate, and keep every file in a playlist on the same settings — playlist items must share resolution, frame rate, codecs and audio sample rate.

Concurrent streams for multi-show channels

On EasyLoop, each running stream uses one concurrent slot, whether it plays one video, a playlist or a scheduled event. Start allows one simultaneous stream, Creator four and Studio eight. A podcast network airing three shows at overlapping times would need at least the Creator plan. On YouTube’s side, use separate stream keys for overlapping broadcasts to the same channel (YouTube allows three active streams per key and ten per channel).

When to keep OBS

Keep your live setup for anything happening in real time: live play, live commentary, live interviews, call-ins, polls you respond to, or scenes you switch during the show. For a fair comparison of both approaches, see OBS vs cloud streaming for YouTube LIVE and our guide to choosing YouTube live streaming software for prerecorded video.

To test a replay or episode broadcast, start the EasyLoop free trial: 3 cumulative streaming hours, up to 1080p, with a trial watermark.