# Past Sessions
URL: /overview/sessions-api/embed-sessions/past-sessions
---
title: Past Sessions
sidebarTitle: Past Sessions
description: How to access recordings of past browser sessions and display them within your app
llm: true
---
Steel automatically records every session so you can replay it later.
With the new headful session recordings, you can now embed real MP4 playback — no event reconstruction, no missing UI elements.
For older implementations, we still support headless playback via rrweb.
## Embed Headful Session Recordings (Recommended)
### What Changed
Steel has moved from slow, unreliable screencasting and event-based playback to full OS-level streaming and MP4 recordings.
- 25fps WebRTC-based video streaming
- MP4 recordings showing the exact screen output
- No discrepancies between actual sessions and replays
> **Tip:** Headful sessions are now **default** for all Steel sessions.
> No changes are needed to your integration — this gives you direct control over embedding playback.
### Retrieving the Recording Playlist
```typescript !! Typescript -wcn
const playlist = await fetch("https://api.steel.dev/v1/sessions/{session_id}/hls", {
headers: {
"steel-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
});
```
```python !! Python -wcn
import requests
url = "https://api.steel.dev/v1/sessions/{session_id}/hls"
headers = {
"steel-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
playlist = response.text
```
This returns an HLS playlist that can be used in any compatible video player.
### Embedding in a Web Page
```html
```
**Notes:**
- Works with any HLS-compatible player (e.g., Safari, HLS.js, JW Player, Video.js).
- Recordings are durable MP4 streams for accurate, 1:1 playback.
## Headless
> Headless playback is supported for legacy sessions.
> New sessions use headful replays for full visual fidelity — we recommend migrating when possible.
### Overview
Every Steel browser session records page events.
You can fetch those events from the `/v1/sessions/:id/events` endpoint and replay them using `rrweb-player`.
### Retrieve the Recorded Events
**SDK Example**
```ts
const events = await client.sessions.events(session.id);
```
or
```python
events = client.sessions.events(session_id=session.id)
```
**Direct API**
```text
GET /v1/sessions/:id/events
```
### Replay with rrweb-player
**Install**
```bash
npm install rrweb-player
```
**Usage**
```ts
import rrwebPlayer from "rrweb-player";
import "rrweb-player/dist/style.css";
const events = await client.sessions.events(session.id);
const playerElement = document.getElementById("player-container");
new rrwebPlayer({
target: playerElement,
props: {
events: events,
width: 800,
height: 600,
autoPlay: true,
skipInactive: true
}
});
```
**HTML**
```html
```
---
### Summary
All new sessions now run **headful by default**.
Headless event-based playback remains available for legacy recordings but will be deprecated in the future.
Use headful recordings for the most accurate, reliable replays.