Last updated on 2025-11-28, by Sunny

How Long Does YouTube TV Keep Your Recordings?

YouTube TV is an online TV streaming platform that offers over 100 live TV channels as well as a wide range of on-demand content. The live and on-demand content of the channels is different from traditional cable or satellite TV. Unlike them, it doesn’t require a TV box or a subscription to a specific cable service. YouTube TV has many features, and one that I think is particularly important is the cloud DVR function. Because this feature has changed the way we watch, giving us the freedom to watch shows anytime and more control over our viewing. I will introduce its DVR function in detail in the first part. If you are interested, please read on.

Part 1: Understanding YouTube TV Recording

To facilitate users’ recording on YouTube TV, the platform offers YouTube TV DVR. It is different from traditional local hard disk recorders. Instead, it stores the user’s recorded content on cloud servers, eliminating the need to worry about insufficient local device storage space. It offers greater flexibility and scalability, and the recorded content is synchronized across multiple devices, allowing users to access the recorded content using different devices. In addition, YouTube TV DVR also supports recording content from multiple channels or programs simultaneously without conflicts. You might be curious here, given all these advantages of YouTube TV DVR, how long do YouTube TV recordings be saved? This might be what most users are more concerned about. Don’t worry, I will explain this in the following part.

Part 2: How Long Does YouTube TV Keep Your Recordings?

Content recorded on YouTube TV DVR is usually stored starting from the day it is recorded and can be kept for 9 months. After the nine-month storage period, in order to make space for new recordings, the system will automatically delete expired videos and they cannot be recovered. However, there are two exceptions：

Old episodes air again: If a program or show is rebroadcast after the original recording is completed, the system will automatically record it again. After being recorded again, the retention period will be recalculated, and it will be kept for 9 months from the new broadcast date.

Licensing changes: If the licensing agreement for certain content changes, the recording time for previously recorded files may be shortened or they may be deleted altogether.

Part 3: Tips to Manage and Preserve Recordings

To help you improve your YouTube TV recording experience, I’m sharing three methods here to help you better manage your recordings.

1. View and Organize Saved Recordings

You can frequently access the library of recorded content and sort it according to different criteria, such as recording date, program type, or the alphabetical order of program names. This way, you can quickly find the specific shows or movies you want to watch. At the same time, you can also mark recorded content as “Watched” or “Favorite” to keep track of your viewing progress and preferences.

2. Manually Delete Recordings for Larger Space

If you have some recorded content that you no longer plan to watch or have already finished watching, you can manually delete it. In this way, you can have more space to keep recordings that are more valuable to you, helping to keep your library organized and free of clutter, making it easier for you to find the content you want to watch.

3. Scheduling Recordings

You can set the recording options according to your personal needs, for example, whether you only want to record a specific episode or automatically record new episodes as they come out. At the same time, it’s best to schedule when to start recording to ensure that the content you record is complete.

Part 4: Alternative Ways to Extend Recording Time

Considering the YouTube TV recording limit, I’m sharing two methods here to extend the recording storage time, personally tested and found effective.

Moyea Streaming Video Recorder

The first method is to use a third-party recording tool, such as Moyea Streaming Video Recorder. It is a video recording tool that can record videos from almost all streaming websites and has powerful features. For example, it supports recording DRM-protected content, saving recorded videos in high-quality MP4 or MKV formats, recording at up to five times speed, and allowing offline viewing without time limits. Notably, it offers a free trial, so I highly recommend you give it a try. Here are the specific steps：

Steps 1: Download and install Moyea Streaming Video Recorder.

Steps 2: First, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the page, then click “Settings” and set “Format”, “Resolution”, etc., according to personal preferences.

Steps 3: Directly open the YouTube TV website and then open the video you want to record.

Steps 4: Click “REC” in the upper left corner of the page, adjust the recording settings, and finally click the “REC” button in the center at the bottom of the page to start recording.

Steps 5: After recording is complete, you can view it in the “Library”.

Moyea Video Downloader

For users who are not accustomed to recording, you can use Moyea Video Downloader, which can make YouTube TV extend the recording storage time too. It can download all content from YouTube TV in batches, and based on my experience, you don’t need to worry about poor video quality or black screens in the downloaded files, because it can not only download DRM-protected videos but also download videos in resolutions up to 8K. Here are the specific steps:

Steps 1: Download and install Moyea Video Downloader.

Steps 2: Open YouTube TV and find the content you want to download. And then click the download button next to the video content to start downloading

Steps 3: Once the output format and video quality are set, you can start downloading.

Part 5: FAQs

1. Do recordings use up storage space on my device?

No. The YouTube TV DVR function stores all the recorded content on the cloud server, and it won’t occupy the local storage space of your personal device.

2. Can l download recordings to watch offline?

You can record the content through YouTube TV DVR . However, you cannot directly download the content from YouTube TV DVR to the local storage space of your device for offline viewing. This means you must finish watching within the nine-month retention period. So if you think the nine-month retention period is not sufficient for your offline viewing needs, you can consider using the Moyea Video Downloader mentioned in Part Four.

3. Is there a limit to how many shows l can record?

YouTube TV DVR offers unlimited storage space, so you can record any number of programs simultaneously without worrying about insufficient storage.

4. Can l fast-forward through ads in recordings?

For the original live programs recorded through the DVR function, you can usually fast-forward past the advertisements. However, it should be noted that sometimes due to the authorization restrictions imposed by the content providers, the system may replace the programs you recorded with a VOD version, which usually inserts advertisements that cannot be fast-forwarded.