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While using the League of Legends replay system, I found a nice replay that I like. I want to use it in a video, but my editing software cannot use .rofl files. Is there any way to convert the .rofl file to something I can use?

I did some quick searches to no avail.

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about gaming.
    – Wrigglenite
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 15:14
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    I'm voting to reopen this question since League of Legends replays are often used in game-coaching and game-analysis. (Be it in a classic video format or in a .rofl file). This is an important topic especially in professional gaming.
    – Jutschge
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 16:30
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    @Jutschge Agreed. This is a file format specific to LoL. If we close this one, we should also be closing questions about screenshots, game file structure, etc...
    – Mage Xy
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 16:32
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    @Frank We do? That's news to me. A search for "where is folder" gives a heck of a lot of results, and most of them are not closed (or if they are, it's for being a dupe).
    – Mage Xy
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 16:48
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    @MageXy Oh, we're using different definitions. Trying to find a file, yeah, that's fine. Trying to decode a file so it's human readable is the definition I was using.
    – Frank
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 16:53

3 Answers 3

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The *.rofl files contain only binary game data and no media frames.
For example a very simplified layout of the file could look like:

id   | champ. name | action | parameters
0000 | annie       | move   | 155 | 188
0001 | fizz        | attack | annie

and so on.

With this data the client is able to "reproduce" the game you just played. If they recorded movie data instead there would be certain disadvantages:

  • File size would probably be bigger
  • Movie is bound to a fixed resolution
  • Can't move the camera around in the spectator view

If you want to record that game play in a common movie format you can use the built-in recorder.

Just click the red Record Button on the new Annotated Timeline to start recording, (watch your sick play), then click again to stop.
We’re calling these video clips “Highlights” and they’re in the .webm format. Your Highlight will be saved on your computer in the following location: C:\Users\Username\Documents\LeagueofLegends\Highlights

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    I don't have the game installed so I can't really tell you, but I think the highlight is somewhat limited in it's length. For a full record I think the tools you mentioned are better suited - also because tools like Fraps can save the movie in a raw format for higher-quality editing (if needed).
    – Michael Pittino
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 14:01
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    And because you wrote this nice answer, you now have reputation to comment
    – Ferrybig
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 15:41
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    "Since my reputation is too low to write comments I'll formulate an answer." There's no reason to remark on this fact since that's the way the system is supposed to work. Answers are nice.
    – jpmc26
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 23:05
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    ooooh, that makes sense now that i think about it.
    – The Man
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 21:47
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    I just tested it. It appears that there's no limit to the amount of time that a Highlight can go for. I recorded an entire 20 minute clip before calling it quits. The one major downside is that the resulting webm file is not very good quality. As a rough estimate, it looks to be about 1280x720 resolution, but with a lot of compression artifacts.
    – Mage Xy
    Commented May 24, 2017 at 3:14
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No, there is no way to directly convert .rofl files to any other video format. This is because they are not video files themselves - they just contain "spectator data" so that the game client knows what actions happened at what times, which allows it to replay those actions in sequence for your viewing pleasure.

If you want to make an actual video recording, you'll need some kind of screen-recording software. There's a whole bunch of options - OBS, Plays.TV, and Fraps are probably the most commonly used ones, but there's tons more too. These will record to actual video files (.avi or .mp4, usually) that you can then convert or use as you please.

As mentioned in another answer, you can use the built-in recorder as well, if you just want to save some clips. The result of using the built-in recorder is .webm file, which is a lightweight, web-friendly video file. After testing it, I can't see any hard limit on the amount of time that a single highlight can take (I was able to take 20 minutes of video without any problems). However, the quality of that recording isn't the greatest. I don't have a tool to take exact measurements, but I would estimate the resolution is about 1280x720. There are a lot of compression artifacts, though, so it doesn't look very crisp or high definition.

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    This answer is OK, but please read the one by Michael Pittino.
    – mgarciaisaia
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 20:14
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    @mgarciaisaia I did read it - in fact, I commented on it already. It's a very good answer! However, if you want to record a whole game, the Highlights feature is unfortunately not going to be enough.
    – Mage Xy
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 20:18
  • this is still the best answer
    – GarrettJ
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 22:43
  • Windows 10 users do not have to use third-party software, because they ported Xbox DVR.
    – Kevin
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 19:02
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"replay" files for games are generally just instructions to the game engine, not actual video.

So if you want to convert them to an actual video you will most likely need to replay them in the game while recording the output of the game with a screen-recording soloution.

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    This answer adds nothing new.
    – Mast
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 18:24
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    The other answers seem to imply that you would have to initially record to a video format. I do not see any reason why that would be the case rather than simply playing the replay file and recording the results.
    – Peter Green
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 21:02
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    @PeterGreen The other answers imply the opposite. There's a build in recorder, which can be substituted by an external one. However it just looks nicer with the built in one. With that said, this isn't wrong, just doesn't add anything new
    – Oak
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 0:58

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