Overview
Zoom's cloud recording feature allows you to record your meeting/webinar to the Zoom cloud and to share that video recording with USC viewers in the form of a Zoom link. However, by default Zoom auto-deletes your recording once 365 days have elapsed from the date the recording was made. In this guide, we review your options for retaining your recordings past the 365-day retention period.
If you are looking for more information on sharing Zoom recordings, you can also view our related guide, "Sharing Zoom cloud recordings and customizing sharing settings."
These steps apply to Zoom cloud recordings (i.e. you clicked on "Record to the cloud" during your Zoom meeting or webinar). If you selected "Record to this computer," your recording was not saved to the Zoom cloud but rather locally to your computer directly.
Note: the exception to the 365-day retention rule is any Zoom cloud recording made as part of a Brightspace-generated Zoom class. Per the Provost's memo on Jan 26, 2021, "Unless faculty request that ITS keep them longer, Zoom recordings will be retained in the cloud until the submission of grades, at which point they will be deleted."
Downloading your recordings from Zoom
If you selected "Record to the cloud" during your Zoom meeting or webinar, then once the recording has been processed, Zoom will send you an email. Typically, Zoom will send this email on the same day as you made the recording, although processing time depends on factors such as how long the recording is and how many other recordings Zoom is processing. Once you receive this email, you can access the recording directly from Zoom's email or by logging into your USC Zoom account.
You must download your recording within a year of its creation, or you will lose the recording permanently. This is because, by default, USC has set up Zoom to auto-delete recordings once 365 days (the maximum Zoom permits) have elapsed from the date the recording was made.
To download a copy of your recording to your computer:
Quick guide
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Locate the desired recording. Click More and select Download (# files) from the dropdown menu.
- The Zoom recording files download to your computer in the following formats:
-
mp4: Video recording
-
m4a: Audio only recording
-
transcript.vtt: Transcript (use TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on a PC to open)
- We recommend that you additionally upload your downloaded recordings to one of USC's approved cloud storage providers (using your USC Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive account) so that even if your computer crashes, your recording files will not be lost.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Locate the desired recording. Click More.
- Select Download (# files) from the dropdown menu.
- The Zoom recording files download to your computer in the following formats:
-
mp4: Video recording
-
m4a: Audio only recording
-
vtt: Chat log (use TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on a PC to open)
- We recommend that you additionally upload your downloaded recordings to one of USC's approved cloud storage providers (using your USC Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive account) so that even if your computer crashes, your recording files will not be lost.
Removing the auto-delete for individual Zoom cloud recordings
You may want to download important recordings so that you have them backed up safely regardless, but within Zoom you can also disable the auto-delete on a recording-by-recording basis.
Quick guide
Disable auto-delete on individual recordings
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Locate the desired recording. Click More and select Disable auto-delete from the dropdown menu.
- A prompt window opens. Click Yes.
- The list refreshes. The recording you changed should now indicate "Disabled" under the column "Auto Delete In."
Disable auto-delete on multiple recordings
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Click on the checkbox next to each recording for which you want to disable auto-delete.
- At the top of the list, click Disable Auto-delete.
- A prompt window opens. Click Yes.
- The list refreshes. The recordings you selected should now indicate "Disabled" under the column "Auto Delete In."
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
Disable auto-delete on individual recordings
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Locate the desired recording. Click More.
- Select Disable auto-delete from the dropdown menu.
- A prompt window opens. Click Yes.
- The list refreshes. The recording you changed should now indicate "Disabled" under the column "Auto Delete In."
Disable auto-delete on multiple recordings
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us/recording.
- The list of your past cloud recordings displays. The "Auto Delete In" column indicates how many days are left until Zoom deletes your recording.
- Click on the checkbox next to each recording for which you want to disable auto-delete.
- At the top of the list, click Disable Auto-delete.
- A prompt window opens. Click Yes.
- The list refreshes. The recordings you selected should now indicate "Disabled" under the column "Auto Delete In."
Changing the auto-delete settings for your Zoom account
You can set your Zoom account to send you an email reminder before your Zoom cloud recordings are about to be auto-deleted:
Quick guide
- Go to https://usc.zoom/us/profile/setting.
- Click Email Notification.
- The last option in this section is "When the cloud recording is going to be permanently deleted from trash" (scroll down if you don't see it). Click on the gray toggle.
- The toggle turns blue and your Zoom account updates. You will now receive an email 7 days in advance when any of your Zoom cloud recordings are scheduled to auto-delete.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Go to https://usc.zoom/us/profile/setting.
- Click Email Notification.
- The last option in this section is "When the cloud recording is going to be permanently deleted from trash" (scroll down if you don't see it). Click on the gray toggle.
- The toggle turns blue and your Zoom account updates. You will now receive an email 7 days in advance when any of your Zoom cloud recordings are scheduled to auto-delete.
ITS recommends keeping the system default setting, which for USC Zoom accounts is to auto-delete cloud recordings after 365 days (the maximum that Zoom permits). For this reason, we recommend disabling the auto-delete on specific recordings rather than on your Zoom account altogether.
If, however, you feel strongly that you need to retain all your recordings indefinitely, you can go to https://usc.zoom/us/profile/setting and click on the Recording tab. Then, scroll down and toggle off the option to "Auto delete cloud recordings after days."