Welcome to Medal!

Whether you’re brand-new or just getting familiar with the updated layout, this guide will help you learn the basics of recording, editing, and sharing your clips with Medal on Windows. We’ll walk you through the core features of the app so you can jump in confidently and start creating awesome content right away. 

Some UI changes have been made since the making of this video

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
  • Home Page 
  • Library
  • Albums
  • Add Friends
  • Supported Games
  • Game Detection
• Settings
  • Recording
    • Clips Settings
    • Quality
    • Audio
    • Video Overlays
    • Screen Recording
    • Custom Game Settings
    • Auto Clipping
  • Cloud & Storage
    • Uploads
    • PC Storage
  • User Settings
    • My Account
    • Connected Accounts
    • Medal Discord Bot
    • Premium
    • Devices
    • Privacy & Security
  • App Settings
    • Video Editor
    • Sound Alerts
    • Overlay
    • Notifications
    • Windows OS Settings
    • Advanced
  • Additional Tools
    • Help & Support

Introduction

When you open Medal on Windows, you’ll land on your Home Page, where you can browse clips from your friends, discover trending moments, and keep up with your own activity. From here, you can jump into recording, manage your library, or explore new games and creators — all from one place.

Whether you're brand new or just getting familiar with the updated layout, this guide will walk you through what each part of the app does and how to get the most out of Medal.

Home Page 

When you launch Medal, the first screen you’ll see is the Home Page. This is your main hub for discovering clips, catching up with creators you follow, and finding new moments from across the Medal community. Here’s what you’ll find on this page: 

Library

Your Library is where all of your recorded clips live. Every clip you capture with Medal will show up here, whether it’s stored on your device or uploaded to the cloud. Here’s what you can do from the Library: 

Albums

Albums let you organize your clips into custom collections and easily manage everything you’ve saved. You can group clips by game, event, mark favorites, and access categories like Liked, Watch History, and Clips You Are In. Albums also include a Recently Deleted section, where you can recover uploaded clips for a limited time if you remove something by accident.

Add Friends

Use the Add a Friend button to connect with people you know on Medal. You can quickly follow suggested friends based on shared communities—like Discord servers or games you both play—or send your personal invite link to bring new friends onto the platform. Once connected, you can share clips, comment, tag each other, and stay up to date with what your friends are posting.

Supported Games

Medal supports 1000s of games right from the get go. All you need to do is launch your game and Medal will start recording as soon as it detects it.

Not sure which games Medal supports? Click here to see the games list or use our Search bar to search for your game.

If a game is not supported by Medal, you can add it as a game to begin clipping straight away!

Click here to learn how to add games to Medal

Game Detection

Medal automatically detects when you launch a game and gets everything ready so you can save your moments with a single key press.

When a game is detected, you’ll see the game name appear at the top of Medal next to your recording controls. If no game is running, it will show Waiting For Game.

How Game Detection Works

• Launch any supported game.

• Medal will automatically switch into capture mode.

• You’ll see your audio settings, microphone input, and game status right in the recording panel.

• Once your game is detected, you can press your clip hotkey (default F8) to save the last few moments.

You can also switch to Desktop Capture, which records your entire screen instead of relying on game detection.

Settings

Medal includes a wide range of settings that let you customize how recording, audio, and other features work. Here’s a quick overview to help you get started. 

Recording

The Recording settings let you customize how Medal captures your gameplay. Here, you can adjust clip length and quality, choose your audio sources, enable overlays, record your full screen, create custom settings for specific games, and manage automatic clipping options. These tools help you tailor Medal’s recorder to fit your setup and playstyle.

Clips Settings The Clip Settings page lets you customize how you capture gameplay with Medal. Here, you can set your clip hotkeys, create different hotkeys for different clip lengths, enable long recordings, take screenshots, switch between games, and even try voice clipping. These options help you personalize how you capture your moments so you can clip however it feels most natural while you play.
Quality The Quality page lets you choose how crisp and smooth your clips look. Here, you can select from preset options or customize your resolution, FPS, bitrate, and encoder to match your PC’s performance. Higher settings will give you better-looking clips but may use more system resources, so feel free to experiment and find what works best for your setup.
Audio The Audio settings let you choose exactly what Medal records and how your microphone behaves while capturing clips. Here, you can pick which sounds get recorded (game audio, Discord, or everything on your PC), separate your mic and game audio into different tracks, and adjust your input and output devices. You can also test your microphone, control input volume, and enable features like noise suppression or push-to-talk to keep your recordings sounding clear.
Video Overlays The Video Overlays page lets you add extra visuals to your recordings, like a webcam feed or keyboard and mouse overlays. Here, you can turn overlays on or off, choose a virtual camera source, and select which overlay you’d like to include in your clips. These tools make it easy to personalize your videos and show more of what’s happening while you play.
Screen Recording The Screen Recording page lets you control how Medal records your desktop instead of a specific game. Here, you can choose which monitor to capture, decide whether screen recording should start automatically, and let Medal switch between desktop recording and game recording as you launch or close games. These settings are helpful if you play windowed games, use multiple monitors, or want to capture everything on your screen.
Custom Game Settings The Custom Game Settings page lets you create personalized recording profiles for specific games. Here, you can set unique hotkeys, recording modes, and audio settings that only apply when you’re playing that game. Medal will automatically switch to your custom settings whenever you launch it, giving you full control over how each game is recorded.
Auto Clipping The Auto Clipping page lets Medal automatically capture big moments from supported games so you never miss a highlight. Here, you can enable automatic event detection and choose exactly which in-game events you want Medal to clip for each game. It’s a great hands-free way to save your best plays without needing to press a hotkey.

Cloud & Storage

The Cloud & Storage settings help you manage where your clips are saved and how they’re stored. From here, you can control your upload preferences, track your cloud usage, and manage the space Medal uses on your PC. These options make it easy to keep your clips organized while staying in control of your storage.

Uploads The Uploads page lets you control how and when your clips are uploaded to the Medal Cloud. Here, you can choose whether clips upload automatically, how long share links stay active, and whether Medal should remove local copies after they’re safely backed up. Options marked with the green icon are available to Premium users.

PC Storage The PC Storage page lets you choose where Medal saves your recordings on your computer and how much space the app is allowed to use. From here, you can set your capture folder location, choose a storage limit, and decide what happens to files after upload. You can also turn on Cloud Sync (Premium Users), which helps back up your clips automatically and reduce the amount of storage Medal uses on your PC. If you use another program or device to record your gameplay, Medal can automatically import those videos for you. Simply choose the folder your external recorder saves to, and Medal will detect new clips and add them to your Library as they’re created. For a full walkthrough on how to set this up, check out our guide: How to Sync an External Recorder

User Settings

The User Settings menu is where you can manage your account details, connected apps, devices, privacy options, and more. Each section lets you customize a different part of your Medal experience. Below is a quick overview of what you’ll find on each page. 

My Account This is where you can update your basic account information—such as your username, email, and password—and manage verification or account deletion.
Connected Accounts The Connected Accounts page lets you link your social and gaming accounts to Medal. Connecting accounts makes it easier to log in, share clips, and find friends who also use Medal.
Medal Discord Bot Install and manage the Medal Discord Bot for your server. This lets you quickly share clips to your Discord channels, send clips to specific servers, and access extra features that make sharing moments with your community even easier.
Premium The Premium page lets you view and manage your Medal Premium subscription. From here, you can upgrade your account, check your billing details, and review past transactions. Premium gives you access to extra features like longer clip uploads, higher-quality videos, custom sounds, unlimited cloud storage, and more — all designed to give you the best Medal experience.
Devices The Devicespage shows all of the places where your Medal account is currently logged in. From here, you can connect your mobile app, review active sessions, and sign out of old devices you no longer use.
Privacy & Security The Privacy & Security page lets you manage how your activity is shown on Medal, control who can contact you, and adjust your safety settings. From here, you can review blocked users, manage your visibility options, and customize how messages and notifications behave.

App Settings

The App Settings section lets you customize how the Medal app looks, sounds, and behaves while you use it. Here, you can adjust editor preferences, manage sound alerts, control the in-app overlay, fine-tune notifications, and tweak Windows-specific settings to help Medal run smoothly on your PC.

Video Editor The Video Editor page lets you customize how Medal’s editor behaves while you’re working on your clips. Here, you can choose how clips load onto the timeline and adjust visual quality settings like anti-aliasing to make your edits look smoother. These options help you tailor the editing experience so it feels comfortable and runs smoothly on your setup.
Sound Alerts The Sound Alerts page lets you customize the sounds Medal plays when you clip, bookmark, take screenshots, or start and stop a recording session. Here, you can adjust the overall volume, choose different alert sounds, and fine-tune which actions trigger audio feedback. You’ll also find options for message notifications, disk-full warnings, and Premium features like setting a custom sound for your clip hotkey.
Overlay The Overlay page lets you control the in-game notifications and UI elements that Medal shows while you play. Here, you can turn the overlay on or off, choose how alerts appear, and customize features like voice call pop-ups, chat overlays, and quick hotkeys for accepting or dismissing notifications. These options help you stay informed without leaving your game and tailor how much (or how little) the overlay shows on your screen.
Notifications The Notifications page lets you choose which alerts you want to receive from Medal. Here, you can enable or disable desktop notifications, control updates for uploads and content activity, and manage social and chat alerts. These options give you full control over how Medal communicates with you, whether you prefer to stay in the loop or keep things quiet while you play.
Windows OS Settings The Windows OS Settings page lets you fine-tune how Medal interacts with your Windows system. Here, you can control whether Medal starts with your PC, runs quietly in the background, or comes to the front when you exit a game. You’ll also find advanced options that help Medal run more smoothly—such as hardware acceleration, Windows Game Mode adjustments, and GPU scheduling—so the app performs its best on your setup.
Advanced The Advanced Settings page gives you deeper control over how Medal captures, processes, and saves your clips. Here, you’ll find optional tools for troubleshooting capture issues, adjusting HDR behavior, or choosing where video data is stored while recording. You can also manage convenience features like automatic link copying, customize how your watermark appears (with Premium options available), enable background updates, and change recording preferences such as aspect ratio or mouse cursor visibility. There’s also a Development Mode used for advanced logging when working with Medal Support. Most users won’t need to change these settings, but they’re here if you want more control under the hood.

Additional Tools

At the bottom of the Settings sidebar, you’ll find a few extra tools designed to help you navigate Medal more easily. Here you can quickly access Medal’s social links, change your language, check your current app and recorder versions, or open the Help menu if you need support. You’ll also see your local storage indicator, which shows how much space you have available for clips. 

Help & Support The Help page gives you quick access to tools and resources when you need assistance with Medal. From here, you can speak directly with Support, browse FAQs, submit a ticket, or join the Medal Discord for live community help. You’ll also find self-help options like Run Repair Mode and Scan for Logs, which can diagnose or fix common issues while keeping your clips safe.