Recording Meetings in Zoom

There are two ways to record in Zoom, Local and Cloud recordings. Our best practice for video storage is to use OneDrive rather than Zoom's cloud storage. With that in mind, this article will focus on Local recordings while also including Cloud recordings for instances where local recording is not supported. 

Local Recording

Note: Local recording is not supported on iOS and Android. See cloud recording for paid accounts if you are using a mobile device.

Starting a local recording

The host must record the meeting or grant the ability to record to a participant.

1. Start a Zoom meeting as the host.
2. Click the option to Record.
   
3. If there is a menu, select Record on this Computer.
   Hosts will see the following recording indicator in the top-left corner while recording is active.
   Participants will see the following indicator in the top-left corner while the recording is active.
   
4. Click Participants to see which participants are currently recording.
   Note: Dial-in participants will hear a message informing them that the meeting is now being recorded unless disabled by the host.
5. After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording so you can access the files.
   
6. Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open.
   Note: By default, the audio/video file (MP4) will be named Zoom_0.mp4. The audio-only file (M4A) is named audio_only.m4a.

Note: 

• If the meeting unexpectedly shuts down or if the conversion process is interrupted, the recording files could become corrupted and non-recoverable. Restarting or shutting down your computer, putting the hard disk to sleep, or closing your laptop will interrupt the conversion process.
• If the conversion process is not successful after the meeting has ended, you can try to convert the files again by navigating to the recording location and double-clicking the recording files.
• You can record the meeting in different layouts including Active Speaker, Gallery View, and shared screen.

Stopping or pausing a local recording

During a Zoom recording, a participant can Stop or Pause the recording. If a participant stops the recording and starts it again, a new video file will be created for the next recording segment. If a participant pauses the recording and starts it again, Zoom will record to the same video file for the recording segment.

1. After a recording has been started, click Pause or Stop Recording at the bottom.
   The recording can also be stopped or paused by clicking the indicator in the top left corner.
2. When a recording is paused, the following indicator will be displayed in the meeting.
   
3. To resume the recording, click Resume Recording at the bottom
   The recording can also be resumed by clicking the indicator in the top left corner.
4. After you stop the recording, you can access the local recording files on your computer.

Assigning recording privileges to a participant

1. In a Zoom Meeting click on Manage Participants.
2. In the Participants menu navigate to the participant who will be granted recording privileges. Click More next to their name.
   
3. Select the option to Allow Record.
   
4. The participant will receive the following notification:
    
5. When a participant is recording, the participant menu will display a recording icon next to the participant's name.
   
6. To disable the participant's ability to record, click More next to the name, then click Forbid Record.
     The participant will receive the following notification:
    

Changing local recording settings

To change local recording settings in the Zoom client:

1. Open the Zoom client and click Settings.
2. Click the Recording tab.
   This will open your recording options that you can change using the client.
   
   Note: Setting the default location to a cloud syncing folder (such as One Drive), an external drive, or network storage device may cause issues with saving and converting the local recording. Zoom strongly recommends keeping the default location on a local drive for recordings and then moving recordings to cloud storage later. 

Recording multiple audio files

When recording locally, the host can record all participants' audio streams as separate audio files, one file for each participant. To enable this option:

1. Open the Zoom client and click Settings.
2. Click the Recording tab.
3. Enable Record a separate audio file for each participant.
4. Record and save the meeting to your computer.
5. Once the meeting is over and the recording has processed, open the recording folder. 
6. Within the folder, open Audio Record.
7. Once in the Audio Record folder, each participant's audio track will be listed as its own file in with the file name ending in the participant's name.

 

Note: Cloud recordings generally take about 2 times the meeting duration to process. Due to unusually high volume during the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud recordings may require extra processing time that may take up to 24 to 72 hours.

 

Starting a cloud recording

Note: Only hosts and co-hosts can start a cloud recording. If you want a participant to start a recording, you can make them a co-host or use local recording. Recordings started by co-hosts will still appear in the host's recordings in the Zoom web portal.

To record a meeting to the cloud:

1. Start a meeting as the host.
2. Click the Record button.
   
3. Select Record to the Cloud to begin recording.
4. To stop recording, click Pause/Stop Recording or End Meeting.
    Once the recording has been stopped, the recording must be processed before viewing. Zoom will send an email to the host's email address when the process is completed. There will be two links in the email, the first will be for the Host-only, to manage the recording. The second link will be for the participants. 
5. Manage your cloud recordings:
   • Download, share, or delete cloud recordings.
   • Trim the playback range of a shared recording.

Changing cloud recording settings

After enabling cloud recording, you can change these settings. These settings can be applied at an account, group, or user level:

• Record active speaker with shared screen: Record both active speaker view and shared content on the same video.
• Record gallery view with shared screen: Record both gallery view and shared content on the same video.
• Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately: Select the recording layout types that you want to record as separate videos.
  Note: By selecting this option for cloud recordings, you will see the shared screen recording beside the active speaker / gallery view when viewing a cloud recording using the Zoom web portal.
• Record an audio only file: Only receive an M4A file with a recording of the audio.
• Save chat messages from the meeting / webinar: Receive a TXT file with the transcript of in-meeting chat messages.
  Note: For meetings, the chat transcript saved on the cloud will only include chat messages sent to everyone. For webinars, the saved chat will only include messages from the host and panelists to all participants. Messages sent between individuals are not saved on the cloud. 

Advanced settings

• Add a timestamp to the recording: Add a timestamp of the meeting to your cloud recordings. The time will display in the host's timezone, set on their Zoom profile.
• Display participants' names in the recording: Add participants' name to the bottom-right corner of their video.
• Record thumbnails when sharing: Include a thumbnail of the presenter when screen sharing.
• Optimize the recording for 3rd party video editor: Generate your cloud recording video files with a standard format that is compatible with 3rd party video editors. This may increase file size.
• Audio transcript: Automatically transcribe your cloud recordings.
• Save panelist chat to the recording: The messages sent by panelists during a webinar to either all panelists or all panelists and attendees will be saved to the recording.