Googl Meet 101: Record Video Meetings
Do you know what’s recorded in video meetings with Google Meet? Find the answers about what’s captured on camera, which files are you receiving, where are they stored and how to play them plus more useful tips.
What’s Recorded when hitting Record is:
- The active speaker
- Anything presented.
- The chats during the whole video meeting
- The meeting’s captions, if you select to record those
Recording captions ( the spoken words) in video meetings is a new feature Google rolled out in February. First turn captions ON, then start recording.

Choose the spoken language and record captions in
- English
- French
- German
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Spanish (Spain)
- Bulgarian ( edited 08.09.23)
- Updated list of the Lnguages of the meeting all users can set up: All users can use captions in these languages

Which Files are you Receiving after the Video Meetings Recordings?
- The video file. It includes captions automatically embedded, if you choose to record captions.
- Тhe SBV chats file
Where are the Video Meetings Recordings Files Stored?
If you are the Google Meet organizer, find your recordings in the Meet Recordings folder in My Drive in Google Drive.
The event organiser, the person who started the recording and all individual participants in a Calendar event with Google Meet are receiving a link to the recording’s files via email. The link is added to the Calendar event too. When the Calendar event did not start on time or was transfered to another host, the initial creator of the event is receiving the link to the recording’s files.
The captions may become playable a few hours after the recording file is generated.
A few Useful Hints about Video Meetings Recordings:
Before starting the recording, double check your available storage space through Google Drive or Google storage page. Once you meet your storage quota, you get an alert on Meet.
If you are recording with yur work or school account you will not be able to record when your owranisation has met the quota.
Some users with Google Workspace Accounts may not even know they can record the video meetings. This is happening because their Administrator has the Google Meet service turned Off. Ask your Admin to first allow meeting recording.
Pinning a participant won’t affect who is shown in the recording.
These people get notified when a recording starts or stops, but can’t control the recording: people outside of your organization, mobile app users, people who dial in using a phone
How can you Play the Video Meetings Recordings Files?
You can play the recordings in:
- Google Drive via the YouTube player
- on apps like VLC Media Player or QuickTime Player.
Click the Closed Caption button to play captions with the recording. You can even read the captions in any language automatically translated.
Google Meet Help recommended “What’s Recorded in a Video Meeting” video tutorial.
Resources:
Include Captions with a Google Meet Video Recording , The Keyword blog announcement
Record a Video Meeting, a Google Meet Help Article
Requirements to record a video meeting, a Google Meet Help Article
Google Meet 101: Livestream to YouTube