TABLE OF CONTENTS



Local Recordings

  • You should first sign in to the Zoom web portal and click “Meeting Settings.”
  • In the Recording tab, navigate to the Local Recording option, and verify that the setting is enabled. (Figure 1)
  • If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose “Turn On” to verify the change.


Figure 1

Recording tab showing the Local Recording setting


  • If the option is grayed out, you do not have this option because it has been locked at either the group or account level, and you will need to contact your Zoom administrator.
  • To start a local recording, you can record the meeting or grant the ability to record to a participant.
  • You first will start a Zoom meeting as the host.
  • Click “Record.”
  • Alternatively, you may have a menu and should select “Record on this Computer.”
  •  You can click “Participants” to see which participants are currently recording.
    • Dial-in participants will hear a message informing them that the meeting is now being recorded, unless disabled by the host.
  • After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording so you can access the files.
  • Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open.
    • By default, the audio/video file (MP4) will be named “Zoom_0.mp4.” The audio-only file (M4A) is named “audio_only.m4a.”
    • If the meeting unexpectedly shuts down, or if the conversion process is interrupted, the recording files could become corrupted and unrecoverable. Restarting or shutting down your computer, putting the hard drive 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. 
  • You may also stop or pause a local recording by clicking “Pause” or “Stop Recording” at the bottom or by clicking the indicator in the top-left corner.
    • 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 the next segment to the same video file. 
    • When a recording is paused, you will see the “Recording Paused” indicator.
    • 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.
  • Assigning recording privileges to a participant:
    • In a Zoom meeting, click on “Manage Participants.”
    • In the Participants menu, navigate to the participant who will be granted recording privileges. Click “More” next to their name.
    • Select the option to “Allow Record.” The participant will receive the following notification: “The Host allows you to record this meeting.”
    • When a participant is recording, the participant menu will display a recording icon next to the participant's name.
    • 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: “The Host disallows you to record this meeting.”
  • Accessing and converting local recording files:
    • By default, all recordings will be placed in a Zoom folder found in the following file path on these devices:
      • PC: C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Zoom
      • Mac: /Users/User Name/Documents/Zoom
    • Note: For versions 4.6.10 or higher, you can't convert local recording files by double-clicking the Zoom files. You must follow the steps below to convert the files. If you have issues converting a local recording, see our troubleshooting suggestions.
      • Open the Zoom Desktop Client and click “Meetings.”
      • Click the “Recorded” tab and select the meeting with a local recording.
    • Note: If you have a local recording that hasn't been converted to a video file yet, click “Convert” to convert the recording to a video file and display the options for local recordings.
    • If you only see the Open option, it means the recording is a cloud recording.
  • For local recordings, you can choose from the following:
    • You can choose “Play” to view the video file.
    • You can click “Play Audio” to listen to the audio-only file.
    • “Open” will open the folder where the recordings are stored.
    • You can click “Delete” to remove this meeting recording from the Zoom client. The files will still be stored on your computer.
    • Click “Refresh” the recording list if you don't see your recording.
    • You can follow the steps to share a local recording if you want others to see it.
    •  If there are issues opening or playing the file, check the default recording location and make sure the files are in the correct place.
  • Recording file formats:
    • Zoom recordings use the following file formats:
      • MP4: Audio/Video file that is named “zoom_0.mp4” by default. Each subsequent recording is in sequential order: zoom_0, zoom_1, zoom_2, etc.
      • M4A: Audio-only file that is named “audio_only.m4a” by default. Each subsequent recording is in sequential order: audio_only_0,audio_only_1, etc.
      • M3U: Playlist file to play all individual MP4 files (Windows only). Named “playback.m3u” by default.
      • TXT: Text file that is named “chat.txt” by default. This file contains the in-meeting chat messages. A chat file saved locally will include chat messages sent to everyone and any chat messages sent to/from the participant who saves the chat. 
    • Note: Screen-sharing recordings use about 20MB of storage per hour, while video recordings use about 200MB of storage per hour. This is an approximation, since the resolution and types of video or screen-sharing content could change the amount of storage used.
  • You can change local recording settings in the Zoom client:
    • Open the Zoom client and click “Settings.”
    • Click the “Recording” tab to open the recording options that you can change using the client.
    • If you set the default location to a cloud syncing folder (such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive), an external drive, or a network storage device, this may cause issues with saving and converting the local recording. Zoom strongly recommends keeping the default location on a local drive for recordings.
  • If you record locally, the host can record all participants' audio streams as separate audio files, one file for each participant: 
    • Open the Zoom client and click “Settings.”
    • Click the “Recording” tab.
    • You need to enable “Record a separate audio file” for each participant. 
    • Then record and save the meeting to your computer.
    • Once your meeting is over and the recording has processed, open the recording folder and choose “Open Audio Record.”
    • Once in the Audio Record folder, each participant's audio track will be listed as its own file with the file name ending in the participant's name.



Cloud Recordings

  • You should first sign in to the Zoom web portal and click “Meeting Settings.”
  • In the Recording tab, navigate to the Cloud Recording option and verify that the setting is enabled. (Figure 2)


Figure 2

Cloud Recording setting


  • If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose “Turn On” to verify the change.
  • If the option is grayed out, it has been locked and must be changed at either the group or account level. Contact your Zoom administrator for assistance.
  • You can change cloud recording settings at an account, group, or user level.
    • You can record both active speaker view and shared content on the same video.
    • You can record gallery view with a shared screen to record both gallery view and shared content on the same video.
    • The option to record active speaker, gallery view, and shared screen separately allows you to record layout types that you want to record as separate videos.
      • If you select this file type 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.
    • If you record an audio-only file, you will only receive an M4A file with a recording of the audio.
    • You can save chat messages from the meeting/webinar and receive a TXT file with the transcript of in-meeting chat messages.
      • For meetings, the chat transcript saved in 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 in the cloud. 
  • Advanced settings:
    • You can add a time stamp to the recording to your cloud recordings. The time will display in the host's time zone, set on their Zoom profile.
    • You can choose to display participants' names in the recording. This will add participants' names to the bottom-right corner of the video.
    • You can record a thumbnail of the presenter when screen sharing.
    • You can optimize the recording for a third-party video editor by generating your cloud recording video files with a standard format that is compatible with third-party video editors. This may increase file size.
    • An audio transcript will automatically transcribe your cloud recordings.
    • If you save panelists’ 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.
  • Other settings:
    • You can also click the toggle to enable or disable the additional features.
    • The IP Address Access Control will only allow specified IP addresses to play back shared cloud recordings. 
      • This setting applies to cloud recordings that are shared publicly or to authenticated users. 
      • If a cloud recording is shared to authenticated users, signed-in users in the same account will still need their IP address white-listed to view the recording.
    • You may record a meeting as WORM state (write once, read many) to disallow recordings from being edited or deleted in the web portal.
      • If a retention time range has been configured, recordings can't be edited or deleted until the retention period expires.
      • This setting needs to be enabled by Zoom.
    • You can set a recording to auto-delete, but this will only apply after the retention period expires.
      • For example, auto-delete cloud recordings after 6 days will delete cloud recordings after 6 days.
  • Starting a cloud recording:
    • If you are the host or cohost, you can start a cloud recording. 
      • If you want a participant to start a recording, you can make them a cohost or use local recording.
      • Recordings started by cohosts will still appear in the host's recordings in the Zoom web portal.
    • To record a meeting to the cloud:
      • Start a meeting as the host.
      • Click the “Record” button.
      • Then you should select “Record to the Cloud” to begin recording. (Figure 3)


Figure 3

Zoom toolbar showing Record button


    • To stop recording, you should click “Pause/Stop Recording” or “End Meeting.”
    • Once the recording has been stopped, it must be processed before viewing. Zoom will send an email to your email address when the process is completed.



Additional Support


Adapted from Zoom