How to record a Zoom meeting on your Mac

There are three ways, and which one you can use depends on your part in the meeting.

• As the host: use Zoom's own recording. Computer recording is free on any Zoom account and saves the file to your Mac. Cloud recording needs a paid, licensed account.
• As a participant: use the same Record button once the host gives you permission.
• From your Mac: use the Screenshot toolbar or an app that records your microphone and the Mac's sound. These work with any call app, but they don't go through Zoom, so asking people is up to you.

Whichever you pick, tell people before you press record. Zoom asks everyone for consent when its own recording starts. A recorder on your Mac doesn't, and in many places recording a call needs everyone's agreement. There's a section on that below.

We make Koi, a Mac app with a call recorder in it, so read the Koi part with that in mind. Every Zoom, Apple, Google and Microsoft detail here comes from their own help pages, checked October 7, 2026.

Zoom has two kinds of recording. What used to be called local recording is now computer recording: the file is made on your Mac. Cloud recording saves to Zoom's servers instead.

Computer recording works on a free Basic account or above, in the Zoom desktop app for macOS. It isn't available in Zoom's iPhone, iPad or Android apps. To record:

1. Start the meeting as the host in the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click Record in the meeting controls toolbar.
3. If a menu appears, choose Record on this Computer.
4. Use Pause or Stop Recording when you need to. Pausing keeps one file. Stopping and starting again makes a new one.
5. When the meeting ends, wait while Zoom converts the recording. The folder opens by itself when it's done.

The files land in the Zoom folder inside Documents (/Users/[your name]/Documents/Zoom): a video file named video[number].mp4 with picture and sound, and an audio-only file named audio[number].m4a. Zoom warns that restarting, closing the laptop or interrupting the conversion can corrupt them, so leave the Mac alone until it finishes.

No Record button? 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. On a company account, the owner or an admin may have locked it.

Cloud recording needs a licensed user on a Pro, Business or Enterprise account, with cloud recording turned on, and only hosts and co-hosts can start it. In the meeting, click Record (it may sit under More), then Record to the cloud. Once Zoom has processed it, the recording shows up in Zoom Hub in the desktop app and on the Recordings & Transcripts page of the Zoom web portal. Choose cloud when you want a link to share, or Zoom's audio transcript, which only comes with cloud recordings.

Running late, or want every meeting recorded? Zoom can start a cloud recording without the host. Turn on automatic cloud recording for the meeting and allow participants to join before the host, and the recording starts as soon as someone joins. That only works for cloud recording, so it needs the same paid plan.

In Zoom, a participant can record only with the host's permission. The simplest way to get it is to ask, in the chat or out loud, before things get going. The host then does this:

1. Open Participants.
2. Find your name and click More next to it.
3. Click Allow Record. Zoom tells you that you can now record.

Then you click Record and choose Record on this Computer, as a host would. While you record, Zoom shows a recording icon next to your name in the participants list, so everyone can see it. The host can take the permission back at any time with Forbid Record.

Zoom's settings can also let participants send the host a request to record, which the host approves. An admin can choose who may ask (people in the same company, outside guests, or chosen domains) and can approve their requests automatically. A participant can also ask the host to start a cloud recording, which then belongs to the host.

If you record someone's meetings often, say as the person who keeps the notes for a team, the host can also make you an alternative host. Zoom lists that, next to Allow Record, as a way to let a participant make computer recordings, even before the host joins. It saves asking every time.

What about recording a Zoom meeting without the host's permission? Zoom's Record button stays off for you. A recorder on your Mac doesn't need Zoom's permission, because it records your Mac, not Zoom. It still needs the consent of the people on the call, and a host who said no has given you an answer. Take notes instead, or ask whether the host could share their own recording or transcript afterwards.

Yes, with a catch about sound. macOS has a screen recorder built in, the Screenshot toolbar, and QuickTime Player's File, New Screen Recording (Control-Command-N) opens the same tools on recent versions of macOS.

1. Press Shift-Command-5.
2. Choose Record Entire Screen, Record Selected Window (macOS Tahoe 26 or later) or Record Selected Portion.
3. Click Options and pick your sound, as described below.
4. Click Record. To stop, click the Stop button in the menu bar or press Command-Control-Esc.

The recording is saved to your desktop as a .mov file named Screen Recording, then the date and time, unless you picked another place under Save to.

Now the catch. On macOS Tahoe 26 and earlier, the only sound option is a microphone. That records your voice, and the other people only as much as your speakers leak into your mic. With headphones on, they aren't in the file at all. Apple's own how-to says macOS 27 Golden Gate and later add Include System Audio to the Options menu, which records the sound your Mac plays, so the call's other voices too. If you're on macOS 27, make a short test recording with your microphone and Include System Audio both picked before a call that matters.

On some Macs, QuickTime opens its own Screen Recording window instead of the toolbar. It's the same story there: a microphone to pick, a volume slider to monitor it, and Apple's advice to lower the volume or wear headphones if you get feedback.

Either way, you get a video file and nothing else: no transcript and no who-said-what. For every way to capture the Mac's sound, including free drivers like BlackHole, see how to record internal audio on a Mac.

Record calls in Koi is made for this. It records your Mac, not the meeting, so it works the same whether you're the host or a guest, and on Zoom, Meet, Teams or a call in the browser. No bot joins the call.

1. Join the Zoom meeting as usual.
2. Press Fn + ⌃, or choose Record a Call from Koi's menu bar icon.
3. Talk. A small pill in the corner shows it's listening, with a stop button. It never shows in a screen you share or record.
4. Press stop when the call ends.

Koi keeps two things apart: your microphone, which is You, and what the Mac plays, which is Them. Each stretch of talk is transcribed on your Mac with Whisper, the same speech model as Koi's dictation, as soon as it pauses. It handles 57 languages and works out which one it's hearing. Meanwhile the screen is filmed with both sides' sound mixed in, and Koi's own windows are left out.

When you stop, the call becomes a page in Recents: the video first, then You and Them in turns, like a script. Turn on call notes and Koi adds a title, a short summary and your to-dos above the video. Edit it like any page, or export it to Word or PDF. The audio and video stay on your Mac. Koi's server is asked before a recording starts, to check your plan, and keeps only when it started. A recording that heard nothing leaves no page and no video.

Record calls needs macOS 14 or later and the Screen Recording permission, which lets Koi hear the Mac's sound and film the screen. Free includes 2 recorded calls a month, Pro ($20 a month) includes 10, and Max and Lifetime have no limit. Everything else each plan includes is on Koi's pricing page.

The honest limits. Koi splits a call by microphone and speakers, not by person, so everyone else on the call is Them. If you need every speaker named separately, Koi doesn't do that. It doesn't transcribe audio or video files you already have, and it's Mac only.

Other recorders take other routes. Otter can send its AI meeting agent to join your Zoom calls, and also has a desktop app that records without a bot. Granola uses your computer's audio, so no bot joins either. See how Koi compares with Otter.ai and how Koi compares with Granola AI.

Zoom has two transcript features of its own, and they work differently.

Meeting transcripts run live during the call, when they're turned on for your account. The host starts one from More, then Transcript. A participant can open the same menu and click Request transcription, and the host accepts or declines. To keep it, click Save transcript at the bottom of the Transcript panel. You get a .txt file in the same Documents, Zoom folder as your recordings.

Audio transcripts come with cloud recording. They need a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with cloud recording and audio transcription turned on. After processing, the transcript appears as a separate VTT file in your list of recordings, and it can also show over the video like captions.

One change to know about: Zoom says that starting May 18, 2026, closed captions can no longer be saved or downloaded. Older guides that tell you to save captions as your transcript are out of date. Zoom points people to Meeting transcripts instead.

Koi's transcript is made on your Mac as the call goes, so it doesn't depend on your Zoom plan or the host's settings. It's a page you can edit and export. If you turn on call notes, Koi also writes a summary and your to-dos when the call ends. Only the transcript's words go to Koi's cloud AI for that, and nothing is kept on its server. The audio and video never leave your Mac.

It depends on where you and the other people are, and the rules differ a lot. In many places, everyone on a call has to agree before it's recorded. In others, one person's consent is enough. This isn't legal advice: if you record calls for work, ask whoever handles this at your company, or check the law where you are.

Zoom builds consent into its own recording. When recording starts, or when someone joins a meeting that's being recorded, people are asked to consent: they click OK to stay or Leave to go. A recording indicator stays on screen too.

A recorder on your Mac, Koi included, doesn't announce itself. Nobody on the call is asked anything, and Koi's pill never shows in a shared screen. That puts the job on you:

• Say it at the start, something like: mind if I record this so I can take notes? Then wait for a yes.
• If anyone says no, don't record. Take notes instead.
• Keep the recording to yourself unless everyone agreed to more.

Google Meet records on a computer for some Google Workspace editions, such as Business Standard, Business Plus and the Enterprise plans, and for Google One members with 2 TB or more of storage. The host clicks Meeting tools, then Recording, then Start recording. Everyone gets a notification when it starts or stops, the file goes to the organizer's Google Drive in a Google Meet folder, and recording stops by itself after 8 hours.

In Microsoft Teams, you can record if you have an eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 work license, an IT admin has turned recording on, and you aren't a guest or from another organization. Click More actions, then Record and transcribe, then Start recording. Everyone in the meeting is notified, and the recording is saved to the organizer's OneDrive for Business.

Koi's Record calls works the same way on both, in the app or in the browser. For the Mac's own options with any call app, see our guide to recording internal audio.

Usually it's one of these.

• You used the Screenshot toolbar or QuickTime on macOS Tahoe 26 or earlier. They only record a microphone, so the other people are faint or missing, and with headphones on they're gone. Use Zoom's own recording or a recorder that captures the Mac's sound.
• The microphone was set to None under Options in the Screenshot toolbar, so even your own voice is missing.
• Zoom's conversion was cut short. Restarting the Mac or closing the laptop before the folder opens can corrupt the files.
• Koi can't hear the Mac's sound without the Screen Recording permission. Turn it on in System Settings, Privacy & Security, under Screen & System Audio Recording. If you allow it while Koi is open, Koi offers a restart so it takes effect.

• You host, and a video file is enough? Zoom's computer recording. It's free and the file stays on your Mac.
• You host on a paid plan and want a link or Zoom's audio transcript? Cloud recording.
• You're a guest? Ask the host for Allow Record, or ask them to share their recording.
• You only need a quick clip and you're on macOS 27? The Screenshot toolbar with Include System Audio.
• You want both sides and a who-said-what transcript on every call, host or not? Koi's Record calls, after everyone has said yes.

Whatever you pick, start with the people on the call. A ten-second “mind if I record?” does more for the meeting than any tool on this page.