Zoom: Recording Meetings

zoom recording zoom-meetings

Overview

You can record a Zoom meeting if you are the host or have been named as a co-host in that Zoom meeting. You can save the recorded meeting either locally on your computer or in Zoom's cloud.

For additional resources about adding recorded Zoom sessions to Panopto or Canvas, managing your Zoom recording, or using Zoom for teaching, see the links at the bottom of this page.

Good Recording Practices

Before you record a Zoom meeting, there a number of best practices to consider:

As a host, let participants know the session will be recorded.
The cloud recording option is only available for non-HIPAA-related recordings.
The recorded video may be considered an educational record and must be protected as such. If you have specific questions, contact the Information Security Office.
Record locally ("on this computer") whenever possible.
If you save your recording locally, you can upload the recording to UO's Dropbox or OneDrive services and share it from there.
- Uploading and sharing with OneDrive.
- Uploading and sharing with Dropbox.
- Uploading to Panopto in Canvas.
If you record to the cloud, remove your recordings routinely. The UO's Zoom cloud storage is a limited resource shared by all faculty and staff. Video recording uses about 200 MB of storage per hour, and screen sharing recording uses about 20 MB of storage per hour.
If possible, use a wired Internet connection when recording.
Use a headset or a directional microphone to capture the best audio.
Mute all non-speaking attendees to minimize background noise and disruptions.
Remember that when recording, you're generally capturing what you’re seeing on your screen. If you want the recording to show just one person, pin their video. If you want to show whoever is talking at the moment, use Speaker View.

Recording process

Select the panel based on the recording process you wish to use: Local recording (recommended) and Cloud recording.

Starting a Local Recording

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

Start a Zoom meeting as the host.
Click the option to Record.
If there is a menu, select Record on this Computer.
1. Hosts will see a red light next to the text Recording... on a grey background in the top-left corner while recording is active.
2. Participants will see a red light next to the text Recording in the top-left corner while the recording is active.
3. Dial-in participants will hear a message informing them that the meeting is now being recorded unless disabled by the host.
Click Participants to see which users are currently recording.
After the meeting has ended, Zoom will process the recording. While Zoom is processing the video and audio files, it will show a progress bar.
Once the file processing is complete, Zoom will open the folder that contains the file(s) generated by recording.
1. The video file is in MP4 format, an audio-only file is in M4A format, and a captioning file is in VTT format.
2. Please Note: 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 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 the active speaker, gallery view, and shared screen. Learn more about recording layouts.

Assigning Recording Privileges to a Participant

In a Zoom Meeting click on Manage Participants.
In the Participants menu navigate to the user who will be granted recording privileges.
Click More next to their name.
Select the option to Allow Record.
1. The participant will receive a notification that says Host allows you to record this meeting.
When a participant is recording, the participant menu will display a recording icon next to the user's name.
To disable the participant's ability to record, click More next to the name, then click Forbid Record.
1. The participant will receive a notification that says "Host disallows you to record this meeting".

Accessing 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

To access recording files:

Open the Zoom desktop client and click Meetings.
Click the Recorded tab and select the meeting with a local recording.
1. 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 below.
2. If you only see the Open option, it means the recording is a cloud recording.
You can access these options to manage your local recordings:
1. Open: Open the folder that contains the recording files.
2. Play Video: Play the recorded meeting using your computer's default media player.
3. Play Audio: Play the recorded meeting audio with your computer's default media player.
4. Delete: Remove the meeting from the recording list on the Zoom client. This does not delete it from the computer.
5. Refresh icon (a single arrow going in a circle): Refresh the recording list if you don't see your recording.
(Optional) Follow the steps to share a local recording if you want others to see your recording.

Please Note: If there are issues opening or playing the file, check the default recording location and ensure the files are in the correct place.

If you would like to know more about Local Recording with Zoom, see Enabling computer recording (Zoom Support).

Starting 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 still appear in the host's recordings in the Zoom web portal.

Additionally, the cloud recording option is only available for non-student accounts, and non-HIPAA-related recordings.

To record a meeting to the cloud:

Start a meeting as the host.
Click the Record button in the Zoom toolbar.
Select Record to the Cloud to begin recording.
To stop recording, click Pause/Stop Recording or End Meeting.
1. Once the recording has been stopped, the recording must be processed before viewing it. Zoom will send an email to the host's email address when the process is completed.
Manage your cloud recordings:
- Download, share, or delete cloud recordings.
- Trim the playback range of a shared recording.

Making a Participant a Co-Host

There are two ways that you can make a user a co-host. You can assign up to 50 co-hosts in a meeting.

In the meeting, the host hovers over the user's video, clicks on the three dots, and chooses Make Co-Host.
Alternatively, the host can make another participant a co-host through the Participants window.
1. Click on Manage Participants in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window.
2. Hover over the name of the participant who is going to be a co-host, and choose More.
3. Click Make Co-Host.

Once a participant has been made a Co-host, they'll have access to the co-host controls.

If you would like to know more about Cloud Recording with Zoom, see Starting a cloud recording (Zoom Support).

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