Zoom Cloud Recording Retention Policy

Before you start

Zoom cloud recording retention applies to meeting and webinar recordings stored in the Zoom cloud. The retention period is a tenant-level setting that administrators can enable or disable. It does not affect local recordings saved to a computer. Check whether you have a licensed or paid Zoom plan that includes cloud recording, and confirm that cloud recording is available for the meeting types you use. If you are a meeting participant rather than an account owner or administrator, you may not be able to view or change retention settings.

Step-by-step instructions

The exact path can vary by account type and Zoom web portal version. The following steps apply to the main Zoom web settings area for an account owner or administrator.

1. Open the Zoom web portal and sign in.
2. Choose Account Management or User Management, depending on the scope you want to change.
3. Open Recording settings.
4. Find the cloud recording retention option.
5. Select Automatically delete cloud recordings after a specified number of days.
6. Enter a retention period.
7. Save the setting.

If available, you can enable a setting that allows Zoom to permanently delete recordings after the retention period. When automatic deletion is not enabled, recordings remain in cloud storage until someone removes them or storage limits apply. Some versions also show a default retention range or a checkbox that records must be deleted within a certain number of days.

A shorter retention period can help manage storage, but it also removes recordings sooner. Review the policy with meeting hosts before applying it broadly. Changes may affect newly retained recordings differently from recordings already in cloud storage, so check the setting description shown in your current Zoom portal.

Check the output

Return to the Recording section and confirm that the retention setting shows the expected number of days. In the cloud recordings list, verify that an older recording is removed after the retention period or remains according to the policy. Zoom may not delete immediately at the exact minute or may perform deletion in batches. Recording quality and format are not changed by retention itself; the stored file normally keeps the resolution and frame rate produced by the original recording.

Common problems and next steps

If the cloud recording retention option is missing, your plan or role may not include it. Confirm that you are signed in as an administrator or owner and that the account has cloud recording enabled. A user-level override may also be unavailable if the tenant locks recording settings. When a recording is not deleted as expected, check whether the retention setting was saved and whether the recording is inside the intended scope.

For camera-related recording problems, the retention policy is not the cause. If a recording appears blank or shows the wrong camera, check the selected camera permission, lighting, and the camera preview before the meeting. Retention affects how long a stored file remains, not whether the camera feed was captured correctly during the call.