Why Do I Get So Many Short Zoom Recordings?

Quick Links: | Environment | Solution | Root Cause |

Users are experiencing an issue where numerous short videos, ranging from 3 to 17 seconds and featuring individual students who appear unaware and not talking, are being generated and found in the Zoom recordings or Kaltura My Media area. These recordings are unnecessary and seem to be created when participants join a Zoom meeting before the host, with the meeting set to record automatically.

Environment

  • Occurs in Zoom meetings.
  • Impacts instructors and students who have the Join before host and Automatic recording settings enabled.
  • Recordings are found in the Zoom interface or Kaltura My Media.

Solution

To eliminate these unwanted short recordings, modify your Zoom meeting settings:

  1. Go to your Zoom meetings dashboard and select the meeting you want to edit. You may need to look under previous meetings.Zoom's upcoming meetings page showing the option to edit the settings for your meeting
  2. In the meeting settings, locate and disable the Join before host option to prevent participants from joining before the host.
  3. Alternatively, or in addition, disable the Record the meeting automatically option to stop Zoom from automatically starting the recording.Meeting settings page with arrows pointing at the "Enable join before host" and "Record the meeting automatically" options, with a note to disable at least one of these options.

After making these changes, the unwanted short recordings should no longer be generated, keeping your media library clean and relevant.

Root Cause

When both the Join before host and Automatic recording settings are enabled in Zoom, the system starts a new recording session every time a participant joins the meeting. This results in multiple, brief, and unnecessary video clips of each early arriver, leading to clutter in the recording archive.

Still need help? Reach out to the Technology & Learning Program for further assistance.