ShadowPlay for AMD and Intel graphics

Why ShadowPlay does not work on AMD or Intel

ShadowPlay, now Instant Replay in the NVIDIA app, is part of NVIDIA's software and needs an NVIDIA graphics card. If your PC has an AMD Radeon card or Intel graphics, it is not available to you. AMD has its own recorder in Radeon software. Intel users have neither.

What most people want from ShadowPlay is the instant replay: keep playing, press a key after something good happens, and get the last stretch saved. You can get that on any card.

Your options on AMD and Intel

For a direct comparison, see Clippy vs ShadowPlay and Clippy vs AMD's recorder.

• AMD's recorder in Radeon software. If you have an AMD card, it is already part of your driver software.
• Xbox Game Bar. It is built into Windows, so there is nothing to install.
• OBS Studio. Free and very capable, but built for streaming and recording sessions. Its replay buffer needs setting up by hand.
• Clippy. A free instant replay recorder for Windows 10 and 11 that works on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.

How Clippy records on AMD and Intel

Clippy encodes on the graphics card. On NVIDIA that is NVENC, on AMD it is AMF, and on Intel it is Quick Sync. If none of those can be used, a software fallback takes over, so recording still works.

The recorder runs as a separate process from the game and from the Clippy window. It records the game's window only, using Windows Graphics Capture, which is part of Windows 10 and 11. It does not inject anything into the game process.

The ShadowPlay habits carry over

If you are moving from an NVIDIA PC, the workflow is the one you know. Clippy keeps the last minute of your game in memory by default, and you can pick a different length in Settings, which shows how much memory it takes. Press F8 (rebindable, also to a mouse side button or a controller button) and that stretch is saved as an MP4.

Recording starts by itself when a game starts and stops when it closes, with no profiles to set up. Resolution goes from 720p to 4K or native, frame rate up to 144 fps, and quality from Auto through Low to Ultra or a custom bitrate from 3 to 100 Mbps.

1. Download Clippy and install it.
2. Start a game. Clippy recognises it and starts recording.
3. Press F8 after a moment you want to keep.
4. Open the clip in the library to trim, export or share it.

What else carries over from ShadowPlay

Alt-tab out of an exclusive fullscreen game and back, and the replay buffer survives. On Windows 11 the game, everything else (Discord, music) and your microphone are recorded as separate tracks, plus a mixed track, so you can turn a friend down in the editor without losing the game sound. On Windows 10 the game and other sound share one track, and the mic is still separate.

Clips are plain MP4 files on your disk, named after the game and the time. The editor trims, adds chapters and exports vertical clips for TikTok, Shorts and Reels, and a "Fit under N MB" export makes a clip small enough for a Discord upload.

Bring your old ShadowPlay clips with you

Changed graphics card and have a folder of ShadowPlay clips? Clippy can import clips from ShadowPlay, as well as Medal, OBS, Xbox Game Bar and Outplayed. They are copied on your PC, never uploaded, and show up in the same library as your new clips. More on that on the import page.

Questions

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