Record a Meeting
If you want to record your meeting, you will have the option to record the meeting locally to your own computer or to the Zoom cloud.
For detailed instructions, please visit Zoom's support pages for Starting a Cloud Recording (opens in a new tab) and Enabling and Starting Local Recordings (opens in a new tab).
Local recording allows participants to record meeting video and audio locally to a computer. Local recordings can include participant names, separate audio tracks for each participant, timestamps, and other options. Local recordings capture the meeting as the participant recording sees the meeting, meaning the recording will capture the meeting in speaker view, if that is what video layout is currently in use.
Cloud recording allows the host to record the video, audio, and chat text to the Zoom cloud. The recording files can be downloaded to a computer or streamed from a browser.
Start a Local Recording
The host must record the meeting or grant the ability to record to a participant.
Step 1
Start a Zoom meeting as the host.
Step 2
Select the Record icon in the meeting toolbar. If a few options appear in a pop-up menu, select Record on this Computer.
Step 3
A pop-up window will appear asking if you want to record to the computer. Select Continue.
Step 4
Participants in the meeting will get a notification to consent to being recorded. They will have the option to not consent and leave the meeting or to consent and continue participating in the meeting.
Step 5
After the meeting has ended, Zoom will begin to convert the recording so you can access the files. Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open.
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 manually convert the recording. Learn how at Troubleshooting local recording issues (opens in a new tab).
- You can record the meeting in different layouts including Active Speaker, Gallery View, and shared screen. Learn how at Recording layouts (opens in a new tab).
- After the file has completed converting, if you choose to rename the file from the default naming convention, we recommend you use a unique file name. We recommend you do not use the words Zoom, Personal Meeting Room, or My Meeting when saving your meeting files.
Start a Cloud Recording
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 only appear in the host's list of recordings in their account within the Zoom web portal.
When you are scheduling a meeting of your own you will have the ability to set it to automatically record to the cloud. Doing this will automatically trigger the recording to start as soon as you the host starts the meeting. This is the ideal method for those that might forget to manually start the recording of their meeting.
To record a meeting to the cloud manually during a meeting, follow the steps below.
Step 1
Start your meeting as the host.
Step 2
Select the Record icon in the meeting toolbar. If a few options appear in a pop-up menu, select Record to the Cloud.
Step 3
A pop-up window will appear asking if you want to record to the cloud. Select Continue.
Step 4
Participants in the meeting will get a notification to consent to being recorded. They will have the option to not consent and leave the meeting or to consent and continue on participating in the meeting.
Step 5
To stop recording, select the Stop Recording icon in the meeting toolbar or select End Meeting. You can also select the Pause icon in the meeting toolbar to temporarily pause the recording.
Note
- Once the meeting has ended, the recording must be processed before viewing. Cloud recordings generally take up to 2 times the duration recorded to process, but occasionally may take up to 24 hours due to higher processing loads at that time.
- If enabled in email notification settings, 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.
- Once you stop the recording, you don't need to remain in the meeting for the recording to process.
- Follow the steps at Troubleshooting missing cloud recordings (opens in a new tab) if you're having issues finding or sharing a cloud recording.