diff --git a/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.cpp b/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.cpp
index abe66ccb2e..1451724f23 100644
--- a/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.cpp
+++ b/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@
 #include "impl/FileClip.h"
 #include "impl/BufferClip.h"
 
+#include <QtCore/QJsonDocument>
+#include <QtCore/QJsonObject>
+#include <QtCore/QBuffer>
+#include <QtCore/QDebug>
+
 using namespace recording;
 
 Clip::Pointer Clip::fromFile(const QString& filePath) {
@@ -27,6 +32,15 @@ void Clip::toFile(const QString& filePath, const Clip::ConstPointer& clip) {
     FileClip::write(filePath, clip->duplicate());
 }
 
+QByteArray Clip::toBuffer(const Clip::ConstPointer& clip) {
+    QBuffer buffer;
+    if (buffer.open(QFile::Truncate | QFile::WriteOnly)) {
+        clip->duplicate()->write(buffer);
+        buffer.close();
+    }
+    return buffer.data();
+}
+
 Clip::Pointer Clip::newClip() {
     return std::make_shared<BufferClip>();
 }
@@ -37,4 +51,70 @@ void Clip::seek(float offset) {
 
 float Clip::position() const {
     return Frame::frameTimeToSeconds(positionFrameTime());
-};
+}
+
+// FIXME move to frame?
+bool writeFrame(QIODevice& output, const Frame& frame, bool compressed = true) {
+    if (frame.type == Frame::TYPE_INVALID) {
+        qWarning() << "Attempting to write invalid frame";
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    auto written = output.write((char*)&(frame.type), sizeof(FrameType));
+    if (written != sizeof(FrameType)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    //qDebug() << "Writing frame with time offset " << frame.timeOffset;
+    written = output.write((char*)&(frame.timeOffset), sizeof(Frame::Time));
+    if (written != sizeof(Frame::Time)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    QByteArray frameData = frame.data;
+    if (compressed) {
+        frameData = qCompress(frameData);
+    }
+
+    uint16_t dataSize = frameData.size();
+    written = output.write((char*)&dataSize, sizeof(FrameSize));
+    if (written != sizeof(uint16_t)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    if (dataSize != 0) {
+        written = output.write(frameData);
+        if (written != dataSize) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+const QString Clip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP = QStringLiteral("frameTypes");
+const QString Clip::FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG = QStringLiteral("compressed");
+
+bool Clip::write(QIODevice& output) {
+    auto frameTypes = Frame::getFrameTypes();
+    QJsonObject frameTypeObj;
+    for (const auto& frameTypeName : frameTypes.keys()) {
+        frameTypeObj[frameTypeName] = frameTypes[frameTypeName];
+    }
+
+    QJsonObject rootObject;
+    rootObject.insert(FRAME_TYPE_MAP, frameTypeObj);
+    // Always mark new files as compressed
+    rootObject.insert(FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG, true);
+    QByteArray headerFrameData = QJsonDocument(rootObject).toBinaryData();
+    // Never compress the header frame
+    if (!writeFrame(output, Frame({ Frame::TYPE_HEADER, 0, headerFrameData }), false)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    seek(0);
+
+    for (auto frame = nextFrame(); frame; frame = nextFrame()) {
+        if (!writeFrame(output, *frame)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    return true;
+}
diff --git a/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.h b/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.h
index 722fadf0b2..1fdad39da7 100644
--- a/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.h
+++ b/libraries/recording/src/recording/Clip.h
@@ -47,10 +47,16 @@ public:
     virtual void skipFrame() = 0;
     virtual void addFrame(FrameConstPointer) = 0;
 
+    bool write(QIODevice& output);
+
     static Pointer fromFile(const QString& filePath);
     static void toFile(const QString& filePath, const ConstPointer& clip);
+    static QByteArray toBuffer(const ConstPointer& clip);
     static Pointer newClip();
     
+    static const QString FRAME_TYPE_MAP;
+    static const QString FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG;
+
 protected:
     friend class WrapperClip;
     using Mutex = std::recursive_mutex;
diff --git a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/FileClip.cpp b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/FileClip.cpp
index ce2705a76c..b153f5aa4a 100644
--- a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/FileClip.cpp
+++ b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/FileClip.cpp
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
 #include <algorithm>
 
 #include <QtCore/QDebug>
-#include <QtCore/QJsonDocument>
-#include <QtCore/QJsonObject>
 
 #include <Finally.h>
 
@@ -40,41 +38,7 @@ QString FileClip::getName() const {
     return _file.fileName();
 }
 
-// FIXME move to frame?
-bool writeFrame(QIODevice& output, const Frame& frame, bool compressed = true) {
-    if (frame.type == Frame::TYPE_INVALID) {
-        qWarning() << "Attempting to write invalid frame";
-        return true;
-    }
 
-    auto written = output.write((char*)&(frame.type), sizeof(FrameType));
-    if (written != sizeof(FrameType)) {
-        return false;
-    }
-    //qDebug() << "Writing frame with time offset " << frame.timeOffset;
-    written = output.write((char*)&(frame.timeOffset), sizeof(Frame::Time));
-    if (written != sizeof(Frame::Time)) {
-        return false;
-    }
-    QByteArray frameData = frame.data;
-    if (compressed) {
-        frameData = qCompress(frameData);
-    }
-
-    uint16_t dataSize = frameData.size();
-    written = output.write((char*)&dataSize, sizeof(FrameSize));
-    if (written != sizeof(uint16_t)) {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    if (dataSize != 0) {
-        written = output.write(frameData);
-        if (written != dataSize) {
-            return false;
-        }
-    }
-    return true;
-}
 
 bool FileClip::write(const QString& fileName, Clip::Pointer clip) {
     // FIXME need to move this to a different thread
@@ -90,33 +54,7 @@ bool FileClip::write(const QString& fileName, Clip::Pointer clip) {
     }
 
     Finally closer([&] { outputFile.close(); });
-    {
-        auto frameTypes = Frame::getFrameTypes();
-        QJsonObject frameTypeObj;
-        for (const auto& frameTypeName : frameTypes.keys()) {
-            frameTypeObj[frameTypeName] = frameTypes[frameTypeName];
-        }
-
-        QJsonObject rootObject;
-        rootObject.insert(FRAME_TYPE_MAP, frameTypeObj);
-        // Always mark new files as compressed
-        rootObject.insert(FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG, true);
-        QByteArray headerFrameData = QJsonDocument(rootObject).toBinaryData();
-        // Never compress the header frame
-        if (!writeFrame(outputFile, Frame({ Frame::TYPE_HEADER, 0, headerFrameData }), false)) {
-            return false;
-        }
-
-    }
-
-    clip->seek(0);
-    for (auto frame = clip->nextFrame(); frame; frame = clip->nextFrame()) {
-        if (!writeFrame(outputFile, *frame)) {
-            return false;
-        }
-    }
-    outputFile.close();
-    return true;
+    return clip->write(outputFile);
 }
 
 FileClip::~FileClip() {
diff --git a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.cpp b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.cpp
index 48132c066d..6f74391b4b 100644
--- a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.cpp
+++ b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.cpp
@@ -23,16 +23,13 @@
 
 using namespace recording;
 
-const QString PointerClip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP = QStringLiteral("frameTypes");
-const QString PointerClip::FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG = QStringLiteral("compressed");
-
 using FrameTranslationMap = QMap<FrameType, FrameType>;
 
 FrameTranslationMap parseTranslationMap(const QJsonDocument& doc) {
     FrameTranslationMap results;
     auto headerObj = doc.object();
-    if (headerObj.contains(PointerClip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP)) {
-        auto frameTypeObj = headerObj[PointerClip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP].toObject();
+    if (headerObj.contains(Clip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP)) {
+        auto frameTypeObj = headerObj[Clip::FRAME_TYPE_MAP].toObject();
         auto currentFrameTypes = Frame::getFrameTypes();
         for (auto frameTypeName : frameTypeObj.keys()) {
             qDebug() << frameTypeName;
diff --git a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.h b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.h
index 5a7a3499fe..f5c0dd6bc4 100644
--- a/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.h
+++ b/libraries/recording/src/recording/impl/PointerClip.h
@@ -44,9 +44,6 @@ public:
 
     // FIXME move to frame?
     static const qint64 MINIMUM_FRAME_SIZE = sizeof(FrameType) + sizeof(Frame::Time) + sizeof(FrameSize);
-    static const QString FRAME_TYPE_MAP;
-    static const QString FRAME_COMREPSSION_FLAG;
-
 protected:
     void reset();
     virtual FrameConstPointer readFrame(size_t index) const override;