When you live stream a ceremony with Capture Club, Mux is recording every moment behind the scenes. The moment you end the stream, that recording becomes a VOD, video-on-demand, that anyone with the gallery URL can play back.
The VOD is the bigger win for most weddings. Very few guests actually watch the ceremony live; much larger numbers watch the replay in the days that follow.
How the VOD flow works
- You start the live stream from your broadcaster. Mux begins ingesting.
- Guests who visit the gallery during the stream see a "Live" player and can watch in real time.
- You end the stream (in your broadcaster, or via the event dashboard's "End stream" button).
- Mux transcodes the recorded stream into a playable VOD. This takes roughly the length of the stream plus 20%.
- Once processing is done, the gallery switches the live player over to the VOD. Anyone who visits from then on sees the full replay.
A 45-minute ceremony takes about 55 minutes to become a VOD. A 2-hour reception stream takes about 2.5 hours.
Where the VOD lives
The VOD appears in your event's gallery as a pinned or featured video, visible alongside guest photo uploads. Guests can play it the same way they play any other video in the gallery.
The VOD is playable:
- In the gallery scroll view (tap the video tile)
- In fullscreen if they tap it and expand
- Directly embeddable (the playback URL is a Mux HLS stream)
What if I end the stream and the VOD is still processing?
The gallery shows a small "Processing replay..." indicator in place of the VOD until Mux finishes. During this window:
- No one can play the replay yet
- The live player is no longer active
- Once processing completes, the indicator is replaced with the playable VOD automatically
Guests who visit during the processing gap will see the indicator and a "replay will be available shortly" message. No action needed on your side.
VOD quality
Mux records in whatever quality the stream was ingested at. If you streamed at 1080p 30fps, the VOD is 1080p 30fps. Same for 720p or 4K.
Audio quality matches input. If your broadcaster sent 128 kbps AAC audio, that is what the VOD has.
The VOD uses adaptive HLS on playback, so viewers with slow connections automatically get a lower resolution. Nothing to configure.
Can I download the VOD file?
Yes. On the event dashboard, the VOD appears in the bulk download the same way other videos do. You will get the source recording as an MP4 file when you download all.
What if the stream died mid-ceremony?
If your stream cut out partway through (network drop, broadcaster crash), Mux still saves a VOD of the portion it received. A ceremony that streamed for 20 minutes then dropped produces a 20-minute VOD of what made it through.
This is why live streaming is always "better than nothing" even if your connection is flaky. See RTMP troubleshooting for how to minimize the chances of drops.
Multiple streams per event
You can start and end a stream multiple times in the same event. Each run produces its own VOD. If you:
- Stream the ceremony (ends, VOD A saves)
- Stop and go to reception
- Stream the first dance (ends, VOD B saves)
You end up with two VODs in the gallery, each for the moment it covered. Name your streams sensibly in the broadcaster for easy identification later.
What happens if I never end the stream?
Mux automatically ends an inactive stream after a period of no data. Once that timeout triggers, the VOD saves as if you had ended it manually.
If you forget to end a stream and walk away with your broadcaster still running, expect the VOD to include everything up to the moment the broadcaster actually stopped sending data, including awkward footage of you packing up gear, ambient reception noise, etc. Always end the stream explicitly when you are done.
Editing the VOD
We do not have in-gallery VOD editing. If you want to trim the beginning or end (you started streaming 5 minutes before the ceremony began), download the source MP4, edit it in any video tool (iMovie, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve), and re-upload as a normal video in the gallery.
Alternatively, set expectations with the couple: the VOD is the "live record," warts and all. The edited ceremony video is a separate deliverable in the wedding package.
VOD storage and expiration
VOD files follow the same storage lifecycle as any other upload in the gallery:
- Free tier: purged 90 days after event
- Couple tier: purged 12 months after event
- Pro tier: auto-archives at 12 months, restorable while subscribed
- Founding Member: kept indefinitely while subscribed
A 2-hour VOD is often the largest single file in the event. Keep this in mind if you are nearing any storage limits.
Live chat during the stream
If guests were chatting or liking during the live playback, that chat history does not replay with the VOD. The VOD is the video only, no live chat overlay. This matches how YouTube, Twitch, and most streaming platforms handle replay.
Can I prevent the VOD from saving?
Not from the UI. All streams produce a VOD by default. If you need a truly ephemeral live stream with no recording (for a sensitive event), contact support to configure the event as recording-off before you go live. It is a Mux-side setting, not a UI toggle.
Troubleshooting: VOD missing after I ended the stream
If more than double the stream length has passed and you still see "Processing" or no VOD at all:
- Refresh the event page once
- Check status.mux.com for any processing delays
- Contact support with your event ID and approximate stream times, we can inspect the Mux asset directly
The VOD almost always saves. A missing VOD after processing time is almost always a display glitch on your side, not a lost recording.