On Tuesday, Facebook revealed that it will be changing its policy regarding live video storage on the platform. Going forward, live videos will only be stored for a period of 30 days, after which they will be permanently deleted. This is a significant shift from the previous policy, where live videos were stored indefinitely. The new policy is set to take effect on Wednesday.

As a result of this change, all live videos that are currently older than 30 days will be removed from the platform. However, before deletion, users will be notified and given a 90-day window to decide what action to take with their old live content. Users will have the option to download their videos to their device, transfer them to their cloud storage, or convert their content into a new reel, thereby preserving their favorite moments.

In a recent blog post, Facebook explained that the reason behind this change is to “align our storage policies with industry standards and ensure we are providing the most up-to-date live video experiences for everyone on Facebook.” However, the company did not provide any further explanation for the policy shift. (TechCrunch reached out to Facebook for comment, but a response was not immediately available.)

For comparison, Twitch, a major competitor to Facebook Live, stores past broadcasts for 60 days for its partners, affiliates, and prime streamers, while regular streamers’ past live videos are stored for 14 days. On the other hand, YouTube, another popular platform for live videos, stores broadcasts indefinitely by converting them into regular videos, unless the user has chosen to disable archiving.

Facebook is providing users with the option to defer deletion for six months if they need more time to download their old live videos. However, if users do not make a choice within this timeframe, their old live videos will be removed, and they will no longer be accessible.

To facilitate the process of preserving old live videos, Facebook is introducing new download tools.

Users can bulk download their old live videos by selecting the “Download live videos” option in the notification they receive about the upcoming deletion. Alternatively, they can choose to transfer their live videos to their linked cloud storage provider, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, by clicking the “Transfer live videos” option.

Facebook is using this policy change as an opportunity to promote its Reels feature further. The company notes that users have the option to convert their favorite moments from live videos into Reels, allowing them to keep these moments on their page.