Easy workaround for anyone experiencing the same issue:

Move your recordings folder under /tmp/ or $HOME/ (don't forget to set an appropriate tmpfs max size, if needed).

Your system information

• Steam client version: 1767142807, Steam Client Build Date: Wed, Dec 31 3:45 AM UTC -08:00
• Distribution: Arch Linux
• Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
• Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 4060, open kernel module drivers (nvidia-open package)
• Steam installed via pacman
• Steam system information attached

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Setting recordings folder to, let's say, /tmp_unlimited/ (mounted tmpfs with no explicit size) or /run/user/$(id -u)/steam_recordings/ results in the playback window getting stuck loading indefinitely (and becoming small), even though the recording itself works and clips can still be exported.

The problem was observed for the first time around Jan 2nd 2026, 10:30 PM GMT. The last time it has worked for sure is Dec 14th 2025, 3 PM GMT (the creation date of the last .mp4 clip exported from Steam). No configuration changes were made during that period.
This issue was noticed simultaneously on two different PCs both running largely similar systems, with recordings folder set to a tmpfs filesystem mounted to /tmp_large/ on both.

Setting the recordings folder to be under (including but not limited to) one of these paths seems to fix the issue though:

• $HOME/
• /home/test/ (provided it's owned by your user)
• /tmp/
• /opt/

During my attempts to troubleshoot I also noticed that the following variables had no effect on the observable behavior:

• The owner and group of recordings directory or it's parent directory (root/my_username) (both tested with 777 access rights);
• Underlying FS type (ordinary ext4 folder / tmpfs mount);
• For tmpfs folder, the FS mount options;
• Various Steam hardware acceleration settings;
• Proton/Linux-native game (tested on Geometry Dash/Half Life 1, respectively)
• X11/Wayland;
• KDE Plasma/Cinnamon;

Note: I haven't tried to set recordings folder to anywhere else other then paths mentioned in this issue report so there might or might not be more prefixes under which the playback works. Also if there are any other places in Steam where you can view your raw game recordings, I haven't tested them, only the overlay interface.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Set Steam's recordings directory to /run/user/INSERT_YOUR_UID_HERE/steam_recordings/
2. Restart Steam, launch a game, start recording, try to view the recording inside game overlay.

or

1. sudo mkdir /tmp_large
2. sudo mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /tmp_large
3. sudo chmod 777 /tmp_large
4. Set Steam's recordings directory to /tmp_large/
5. Restart Steam, launch a game, start recording, try to view the recording inside game overlay.
6. Don't forget to change the recordings directory back.

To the best of my knowledge, both should be able to reproduce the issue.