How to record a Zoom meeting, including when you're not the host

How to record a Zoom meeting comes down to two questions: are you the host, and are you on the desktop app? A host on the desktop app can record on any plan, including the free one. A participant needs the host's permission first. On a phone, only the cloud option exists, and that needs a paid account.

What follows is what Zoom's support pages said on 12 November 2026 about both kinds of recording, how a participant gets permission, where the files end up, and what to do when the Record button isn't there for you. If what you want is the text of the meeting, our guide to transcribing a Zoom meeting without recording it is shorter.

Computer recording and cloud recording

Zoom has two kinds of recording, and they have different rules.

Computer recording (often called local recording) saves the files to the computer of whoever pressed Record. It works on the free Basic plan, but only in the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. Zoom says it isn't supported on iOS, iPad or Android. It captures the meeting the way the person recording sees it, so if you're in speaker view, the file is in speaker view. It doesn't do Zoom's audio transcription.

Cloud recording saves to Zoom's servers, under the host's account. It needs a licensed user on a Pro, Business or Enterprise account, and it works from the desktop app, the mobile app and the Zoom Web App. Only hosts and co-hosts can start it. Zoom includes 10 GB of cloud storage per licensed user on Pro and Business, and unlimited storage on Enterprise.

How to record a Zoom meeting as the host

To record to your computer:

1. Start the meeting as the host in the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click Record in the meeting controls.
3. If a menu appears, choose Record on this Computer.

To record to the cloud:

1. Start the meeting as the host in the desktop app.
2. Click More in the meeting controls, then Record.
3. Click Record to the cloud.

You can pause and resume. With either kind, pausing keeps writing to the same file and stopping and starting again makes a new one.

A computer recording is converted into a video file after the meeting ends, and the folder opens when it's done. Don't close the laptop or shut the computer down while it converts. Zoom warns that an interrupted conversion can leave files that are "corrupted and non-recoverable".

A cloud recording has to process before you can watch it. Zoom says that generally takes about twice the recorded time, and occasionally up to 24 hours. You don't need to stay in the meeting while it processes.

If the Record button is missing even for you as host, computer recording may be switched off. Sign in to the Zoom web portal, open Settings, then the Recording tab, and turn on Record to computer files. If the toggle is greyed out, your admin has locked it.

How to record a Zoom meeting as a participant

By default, Zoom only lets the host record. A participant has three ways in:

• The host allows it during the meeting. In Participants, the host clicks More next to your name, then Allow Record. You get a notification, and the host can take it back with Forbid Record.
• You ask. Click Record, and Zoom offers to send the host a request to record to your computer. The host sees a prompt and can approve it. Depending on the host's settings, you may also be able to ask the host to start a cloud recording.
• The host makes you a co-host or an alternative host. Co-hosts can start cloud recordings too, but Zoom says recordings started by co-hosts appear only in the host's list of recordings.

Once you have permission, click Record and choose Record on this Computer. The file is saved on your computer, in your own Zoom folder.

Hosts and admins can loosen this. Under Record to computer files in the web portal settings, Zoom has a setting for who can request permission to record (internal participants, external participants, or people from specific domains), each with an option to approve requests automatically.

Where Zoom recordings go

Computer recordings go into a Zoom folder in Documents by default:

• Windows: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Zoom
• Mac: /Users/[Username]/Documents/Zoom
• Linux: /home/[Username]/Documents/Zoom

You can change the folder in the desktop app under Settings, then Recording. Zoom recommends leaving it on a local drive. It says that saving to a Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive folder, an external drive or network storage can cause problems with saving and converting the recording. The video is an MP4 and the audio-only file is an M4A.

Cloud recordings belong to the host. They are listed on the Recordings & Transcripts page in the Zoom web portal, and in Zoom Hub in the desktop app. If you were a guest, the cloud recording is in someone else's account, so ask the host to share it.

If a computer recording seems to be missing, check whether it went to the cloud instead. The web portal's Recordings & Transcripts page has a Computer recordings tab that shows the folder each one was saved to.

Why you can't record on Zoom

When there is no Record button, or it only offers to send a request, Zoom's pages point to these causes:

• You aren't the host or co-host and the host hasn't given you permission.
• Computer recording is turned off for your account, or an admin has locked it off.
• You're on a phone or tablet. Those apps only do cloud recording.
• You joined from the Zoom Web App in a browser. Zoom lists it for cloud recording, but computer recording needs the desktop app.
• You're trying to record to the cloud on a free Basic account.
• The account has used up its cloud storage. Zoom says you then can't start new cloud recordings, though existing ones stay available.

If you mostly join other people's calls, the first one is the likely cause, and only the host can fix it.

Recording a Zoom meeting when the button isn't there

If the host would rather not use Zoom's recording but is fine with you keeping your own copy, the recording has to happen somewhere else. A screen recorder or a desktop app runs outside Zoom, so Zoom doesn't announce it. More on that below.

The screen recorder built into your computer

On a Mac, press Shift-Command-5 and choose to record the whole screen, part of it, or, on macOS Tahoe 26 and later, a single window. Check the audio under Options first. Include System Audio, which records what the other people say, is there from macOS 27 Golden Gate on. On older versions you only get a microphone, which won't pick up the other people if you wear headphones. Recordings save to the desktop by default.

On Windows 11, the Snipping Tool records video. Press Windows logo key + Shift + R, select the area, and click Start. Test it on a short call and play it back before you rely on it, to make sure the other people's voices are on it.

You end up with a large video file and no transcript.

A notetaker bot

Cloud notetakers record Zoom by joining the call. Otter, for example, says it "joins Zoom meetings, records audio, writes notes" and that, once you connect your calendar, it will "automatically join and record your Zoom meetings". It joins as a participant, so it's in the participant list for everyone to see. It also doesn't get around the host: Otter's help pages say the Zoom account has to allow it to record, either by approving its recording request (or auto-approving it) or through an admin-level setting on the host's side. Where Otter keeps that audio is covered in is Otter.ai safe? If you're the one trying to keep bots out, see how to stop AI notetaker bots joining meetings.

A desktop app that records the audio

If you need what was said and not the picture, an app that records the call audio is enough. It takes what your computer is playing and what your microphone picks up, so it works the same whoever hosts the meeting and whatever plan they're on.

Check where the audio goes after that. Some bot-free apps upload it to a server for transcription. A local app keeps the recording and the transcript on your own disk. The difference is laid out in AI note takers that don't join your meeting.

Tell people you're recording

Zoom's own recording is hard to miss. Zoom says it always notifies participants: people in the desktop and mobile apps get a recording consent disclaimer and can stay or leave, and anyone who dialled in hears a voice prompt. On Basic, Pro and Business accounts with fewer than 100 licences, that on-screen disclaimer can't be turned off.

A screen recorder or desktop app gives no signal at all, and silence from Zoom isn't permission. In the US, the all-party consent states require everyone on the call to agree, and other countries have their own rules. Check the law where you and the other people are, starting with our two-party consent states guide for the US, and say at the start of the call that you're recording.

Where Private Notetaker fits

Private Notetaker is the desktop-app route. It runs on Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) and on Apple Silicon Macs. Open it before the call and press record. It records the audio your computer is playing and picking up, so it works on any Zoom call you can hear, whether you host it or not and whatever Zoom plan anyone is on. Afterwards you have the recording, a transcript, notes and action items as files on your disk. Nothing joins the call and nothing is uploaded, and it keeps working with the network off.

It captures the call audio, so if you need the shared screen or the faces on file, use Zoom's Record button or a screen recorder. It transcribes English only, and there is no shared team library. If you host on a paid plan and your team wants the video in the Zoom cloud, Zoom's own cloud recording is the simpler choice.

For the rest, see how Private Notetaker works with Zoom, compare it with Otter, or download the 7-day free trial. No card is needed. After that it's $15 a month or $149 once.

Zoom behaviour is from Zoom's support articles "Starting a computer recording", "Starting a cloud recording", "Enabling or disabling computer recording", "Starting recordings without the host", "Finding your computer and cloud recordings", "Cloud recording storage capacity", "Managing cloud recording usage limits", "Managing participants in a meeting" and "Modifying recording notification prompts", plus the University of Tokyo's utelecon guide for the participant request prompt. Mac steps are from Apple's "How to record the screen on your Mac", and the Windows shortcut is from Microsoft's "Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots". Otter's behaviour is from otter.ai/zoom and Otter's help articles "Recording Permissions with Otter" and "Set up Notetaker for Zoom without enabling local recording (admins)". All checked 12 November 2026. Nothing here is legal advice.