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How to stream a pre-recorded video live on every platform

Short answer: Can I go live with a pre-recorded video? Yes. With Pro, Multistream plays your video as a live stream on every platform you've added, now or at a set time. On Multistream Cloud your PC can be off.

A pre-recorded live stream plays a video you made earlier as if you were live: viewers watch it at the same moment, chat runs alongside, and you can be in chat yourself or nowhere near a computer. It's how people run a launch at a fixed hour, replay last night's stream for another time zone, or keep a channel live while they travel.

Multistream plays the video for you and sends it to every platform on your list at once. This guide shows both ways to do it: from the Multistream app on your own PC, or from Multistream Cloud with your PC off.

What you need

Pro, $10/mo. Streaming a video is part of Pro, in the app and on Multistream Cloud alike.

A video or sound file. MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, FLV or AVI all work, and so do sound files (MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or OGG) for music or a podcast: they play over their cover art with a moving waveform. You don't need to export anything in a special way: Multistream makes a stream-ready copy of each file once, so going live later is instant. A video that's already stream-ready (H.264 video, AAC sound) is only repackaged, which takes seconds.

Your platforms added. The platforms you stream to are the same ones you set up for live streams. If you haven't added any yet, start with how to multistream with OBS; the platform steps are the same.

You don't need OBS. The video is the stream, so OBS can stay closed.

Method 1: Multistream Cloud (your PC can be off)

On the cloud, the video is uploaded once and played from our servers. Your PC and your internet aren't involved once the upload is done, which makes this the way to go live while you sleep, travel or work.

  1. Create your Multistream account, then get Pro on your Account page.
  2. Open Stream a video in the dashboard menu.
  3. In step 1, Add your videos, upload one or more videos. Big files upload in parts, so a dropped connection carries on where it was instead of starting again. A video that's already in Google Drive or Dropbox doesn't need downloading first: click Add from a link and paste its share link.
  4. Wait for each video to say it's ready. A long video can take a few minutes to get ready.
  5. Tick the videos to stream, in the order they should play. Turn on Loop the videos if the list should start again at the end.
  6. Read the pre-stream check. It lists what each platform's rules ask of a recorded stream.
  7. In step 3, Go live, pick Now, or At a set time and choose the date and time. Multistream Cloud starts it at that time, even with your PC off.

Pro holds 10 GB of videos, files up to 8 GB and 6 hours each. Videos are sent at 1080p and 30 frames per second. A video nobody streams for 30 days is deleted to free the space, so keep your own copy.

Method 2: the Multistream app (from your own PC)

The Multistream app for Windows can play videos straight from your PC. The files stay where they are, and your own upload carries the stream to each platform, so this suits shorter videos and a PC that's on anyway.

  1. Download the Multistream app for Windows 10 or 11 and sign in with your Pro account.
  2. Open Stream a video in the app's menu.
  3. In step 1, click to add videos from your PC. The app makes a stream-ready copy of each, once.
  4. In step 2, How it plays, turn on Loop the videos if you want, and leave Say it's pre-recorded in the title on. It adds [Pre-recorded] to your Twitch, YouTube and Kick titles (on Twitch, [Rerun]) and puts the old titles back when the stream ends.
  5. In step 3, go live now, or pick At a set time. The PC must be on with the app open at that time.

Trim, shuffle and the play order

Trim. The scissors button on a video sets where it starts and stops, so you can skip a slow intro or cut the end without editing the file. Nothing is cut from the video itself; Play all of it puts it back.

Shuffle. Turn on Shuffle in step 2 and the videos play in a random order. With Loop on as well, every round is a new order, which keeps a long-running music or clips stream from feeling repetitive.

The order. Without Shuffle, the videos play from the top of the list down. Move them with the arrows, and untick any you want to leave out of this stream.

While it plays

A card at the top shows the video that's playing and how far it has got. Skip plays the next video in the list (with a second or two of gap), and End the stream stops it everywhere.

Change the playlist while live. Tick, untick or move videos, or add new ones, and click Use this playlist next. The new playlist starts after the video that's playing, so nothing is cut off mid-video.

If the player hiccups, it restarts by itself and picks up where it was. If you start streaming from OBS while a video plays, OBS takes over: the video stops, and your live stream goes out instead, so you can jump in live at any moment.

Your report in History shows the stream like any other, with each video that played.

Check each platform's rules first

Platforms treat recorded video differently. Facebook asks for it to be labelled and doesn't want loops, Twitch asks you to mark it as a Rerun, and TikTok doesn't recommend it at all. Our platform rules for pre-recorded streams goes through each one, and how to label a pre-recorded stream shows where the label goes.

Questions, answered

Can I go live with a pre-recorded video?

Yes. With Pro, Multistream plays your video as a live stream on every platform you've added, now or at a set time. On Multistream Cloud your PC can be off.

Do I need OBS to stream a video?

No. The video is the stream, so OBS can stay closed. If you start streaming from OBS while the video plays, OBS takes over.

What video files can I stream?

MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, FLV and AVI. Multistream makes a stream-ready copy of each video once, so you don't need special export settings.

How big can a video be on the cloud?

Up to 8 GB and 6 hours per file. Pro holds 10 GB of videos and Max holds 50 GB.

Can I stream music or a podcast without a video?

Yes. Add the sound file (MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or OGG) like a video. It plays over its cover art, or a plain background, with a moving waveform.

Can I add a video from Google Drive or Dropbox?

Yes. Click Add from a link and paste the share link (shared with anyone who has the link). The video downloads, then gets ready like any other.

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