Getting Started with Zoom Local and Cloud Recording

Zoom offers two types of recordings: computer and cloud. Computer recordings, available with all Zoom accounts, are saved directly to your computer. Cloud recordings, available with paid accounts, are temporarily stored on the Zoom Cloud before being transcoded to Kaltura My Media, allowing them to be viewed, shared, and downloaded.

Both options provide standard MP4 video, M4A audio, and chat text files.

Prerequisites for Computer or Cloud Recording

Make sure you meet the prerequisites for computer or cloud recording before following this article.

Start Recording

Once your meeting begins, you can start recording by clicking Record  at the bottom of your Zoom meeting window. If cloud recording is enabled for your Zoom account, you may choose between Record to this Computer or Record to the Cloud. The recording will start when a recording indicator appears in the upper left corner of your Zoom window, accompanied by the word "Recording"

• Click on the pause  icon if you want to pause the recording.

• Click on the start  icon when you are ready to resume recording.

• Click on the stop   icon when you’re ready to stop the recording.

Your Computer Recording

Your computer recordings are stored to your computer hard disk. By default, they’re in your Documents folder in a file named zoom. Here are more details on finding your computer recordings. You can also enable automatic recording, a setting that is off by default.

Your Cloud Recording

Your cloud recordings are temporarily uploaded into the Zoom cloud. Once there, they are immediately transferred to MyMedia and stored there. The recordings may also be retrieved within your Recordings & Transcripts tab of your Zoom web portal, which you can password protect, share, and download. This feature is available to paid Zoom Pro, Business, Education, and Enterprise plan subscribers. One great thing about cloud recording is that you can do it from your mobile device, Zoom Room, as well as your desktop.

NOTE: Cloud recording is not permitted for Regulated University Data (HIPAA (ePHI), FERPA, and Regulated Research Data and Healthcare components).

Other Settings

• Save chat messages from the meeting/webinar: Allow hosts to save in-meeting chat messages in the computer recording files.
• Save closed caption as a VTT file: Allow hosts to save closed caption files in computer recordings.
• Meeting captions and transcript updates (May 2026): Zoom is updating how captions and transcripts work in meetings to provide a clearer separation between live accessibility features (captions) and saved meeting records (transcripts).

View Your Recording

• Though cloud recordings can be found (if cloud recording is enabled in Zoom account) at Oklahoma.zoom.us in users Zoom account, Zoom account holders will access and manage their Zoom cloud recordings in MyMedia.
• How long until my Zoom recording is in my MyMedia account? The average process time is between 2-4 times the video length. Videos that have been edited are given lower priority and thus could take up to 24 hours.
• What is the best way to securely share my Class Recordings with my Students in Canvas? You can embed them into a canvas page. This article describes how. 
• Why are my students getting an “Access Denied Error”? The video URL was more than likely shared without changing the publish status to unlisted. If it is still private, it can be made unlisted, this will make the URL usable. Alternately, it can also be embeded.

Changing Basic and Advanced Cloud Recording Settings

With cloud recording enabled, you can determine which recording settings are selected for any meetings or webinars you record to the cloud. These settings can be applied at an account, group, or user level. If you are an account owner or admin, you can also manage other cloud recording settings for users or groups in your account.

How to apply individual settings to your cloud recordings

As a host, you can apply specific settings to your cloud recordings, such as the type of view, whether public chat messages are included, and the timestamp. Settings that had been previously changed for groups or users will be kept as-is. Account owners and admins can enable, disable, and lock these settings.

1. Sign into the Zoom web portal at https://oklahoma.zoom.us/.
2. In the navigation menu, do one of the following:
   • If you are an account owner or admin changing settings for the entire account, click Account Management then Account Settings.
   • If you are an account owner or admin changing settings for a group of users, click User Management then Groups, and then click the applicable group name from the list.
   • If you are a licensed host, click Settings.
3. Click the Recording & Transcript tab.
4. Adjust the individual basic and advanced cloud recording settings as needed.
5. Click Save.

Basic cloud recording settings

You can select or clear the check boxes next to the following cloud recording features according to what you would like to record in your video. Each selection will be what is recorded.

• Record active speaker with shared screen: Record both the active speaker view and shared content on the same video.
• Record gallery view with shared screen: Records the gallery view when no content is being shared. When content is shared, only the shared content and the active speaker view are recorded.
• Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately: Record the active speaker, gallery view and shared screen as separate videos.
  • Select Active speaker to record the active speaker only.
  • Select Gallery view to record the gallery view only.
  • Select Shared screen to record the shared screen only.
• Record audio-only files: Record the audio of the video separately. Choose to record one audio file for all participants, a separate audio file of each participant, or both. Audio files are in the M4A file format.
  • Record one audio file for all participants: One file is processed for the entire audio of the recording.
  • Record a separate audio file of each participant: Records up to 200 speakers individually and provides you with separate audio files for each speaker. For example, this allows you to have more customization options if you want to edit or apply filters to just one participant's audio to improve the audio quality of the recording.
    Note: The audio for all users who join by phone will be merged into one audio file.
• Record the Interpretation: Record the interpreter’s view. Select one or both of the following options:
  • Record sign language interpreter: Records the sign language interpreter’s view. If enabled, cloud recording will have a video and audio file for each sign language video channel.
    Learn more about using sign language interpretation.
  • Record language interpreter: Records the language interpreter’s view. If enabled, cloud recording will have an audio file for each language interpretation.
    Learn more about using language interpretation.
• Record production studio customized view from the webinar: Record the produced view from Production Studio. Learn more about using Production Studio.
  Note: This option is enabled by default.
• Save chat messages from the meeting / webinar: Select this check box to save chat messages from the meeting/webinar. You will receive a TXT file with the transcript of the meeting/webinar 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. Private messages sent between individuals are not saved on the cloud.

Advanced cloud recording settings

To fine tune and add specifics to your cloud recordings, you can select or clear the following sub-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 time zone, 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.
• Create audio transcript: Select this setting to automatically transcribe your cloud recordings.
  Note: You can also click the lock  icon to lock this sub-setting at the account level.
• Save panelist chat to the recording: Save the messages sent by panelists during a webinar to either all panelists or all panelists and attendees.
• Save poll results shared during the meeting/webinar: Include any shared poll results in the cloud recording.
• Save closed caption as a VTT file: The closed captions are saved as a VTT file that is accessible by users on the cloud recording detail page.
  Note: You can also click the lock  icon to lock this sub-setting at the account level.
• Participants can request host to start cloud recording: Enable participants to request the host to start cloud recording from their end.

Note: Smart Recording with AI Companion settings has been moved to AI Companion settings tab.

In-Meeting Recording Settings

When you start or join a meeting, the meeting controls toolbar will appear at the bottom of the meeting window. While hosts and participants have similar controls in a meeting, hosts have additional capabilities to manage the meeting.

1. Select More Select Record, then select Record to the cloud to access the In-Meeting Recording Settings window. 

• Select the Advanced button to access the In-Meeting Recording Settings | Advanced window.