Today, Facebook announced that live videos, which were previously stored indefinitely, will now only be kept for 30 days before being removed from the platform.

Facebook has made a significant change in its storage policy for live videos, stating that live broadcasts will only be stored for 30 days.

This new policy will take effect from February 19th, and all live videos older than 30 days will be removed from the platform. Previously, live videos could be stored indefinitely. All Old Videos Will Be Deleted Currently, all live broadcast recordings older than 30 days will be removed from the platform as part of this change. Users will be given a 90-day time period to choose what to do before the videos are deleted. Three Options Presented Facebook users and content creators can download their old videos from the platform, transfer them to cloud storage, or convert the content into reels format and repost it. Facebook stated in its announcement, “These changes will align our storage policies with industry standards and help ensure that we provide the most up-to-date live video experiences for everyone on Facebook.” Which Policy Applies on Other Platforms? Twitch, one of Facebook Live’s biggest competitors, stores past recordings of partner broadcasters for 60 days. For non-partner broadcasters, this period is 14 days. On the other hand, YouTube archives all live streams – unless the user disables archiving – indefinitely for viewing. Bulk Download Service Offered Facebook users will encounter the option to “Download Live Videos” in the notification they receive about the upcoming deletion. This will allow them to download their archive in bulk. Additionally, with the “Transfer Live Videos” option, users can transfer the videos to cloud storage providers like Dropbox or Google Drive. Facebook noted that users can publish their favorite moments from live videos in reels format on their pages. The company is using the change in storage policy as a way to further promote reels.