How to Record a Meeting in Google Meet? 

In this quick guide, I’ll show you how to record meetings on Google Meet. 

Along with that, I’ll also update you on things you need to know beforehand, like who can record, which plan you need, where the file gets saved, and much more. Let’s get started. 

Step-by-Step Guide to Record Meetings in Google Meet

1. Open Google Meet and click Start or Join to enter the meeting.

2. At the bottom right, click Activities > Recording.

3. To include captions in your recording, select the language before you start.

4. Click Start recording, then confirm by clicking Start again in the pop-up window. All meeting participants will be notified when the recording begins.

5. Google Meet allows recordings up to 8 hours. If the meeting runs longer, the recording stops automatically.

6. To end the recording, go back to Activities > Recording > Stop recording, and confirm in the pop-up. Otherwise, the recording stops automatically when everyone leaves the meeting.

7. A link to the recording will be emailed to the meeting organizer and the person who started it. The file is saved in the organizer’s Google Drive under My Drive > Meet Recordings.

Who is considered the ‘meeting organizer’?

• If the meeting was created via Google Calendar, the organizer is the calendar event owner.
• If it was started directly from Google Meet or another app like Gmail, the person who launches or creates the meeting link is the organizer.

Which plan do you need to record Google Meet videos? 

You’ll need any of the following paid Google Workspace plans: 

Business plans
• Business Standard
• Business Plus

Essentials
• Essentials (New sign-ups are closed, but existing customers keep recording)

Enterprise plans
• Enterprise Starter
• Enterprise Essentials
• Enterprise Standard
• Enterprise Plus

Education plans
• Education Plus (Users must hold a ‘Staff’ or ‘Student’ licence)
• Teaching and Learning Upgrade (Users must hold a ‘Teaching and Learning Upgrade’ licence)

Individual / consumer plans
• Workspace Individual Subscriber
• Google One accounts with 2 TB or more of storage

Even if your organization is on one of these eligible tiers, someone with Google Workspace administrator rights still needs to enable the ‘Record Google Meet’ option in the Google admin console for the record button to be visible to participants.

Which Parts of the Meeting Can You Record with Google Meet?

When you record a Google Meet meeting, here’s what’s included:

• Active speaker and presentations: The recording captures the person speaking and anything that’s being shared on the screen
• Captions (optional): If you choose to record captions, they’ll be embedded in the video and viewable as subtitles
• Chat messages: The full chat history during the recorded session is saved as a separate file

What doesn’t get recorded: 

• Pinning a participant doesn’t affect the recording view
• Other browser windows or on-screen notifications aren’t recorded

Where are recordings and chats saved?

• Video recordings are saved to the meeting organizer’s Google Drive under My Drive > Meet Recordings
• Chat logs are saved as .SBV subtitle files in the same folder

Both the organizer and the person who started the recording receive an email with a link to the file. The recording link is also added to the associated Google Calendar event (if one exists).

Who gets notified about recording meetings?

These participants will see a notification when the recording starts or stops, but can’t control it:

• People outside your organization
• Mobile app users
• People who dial in via phone

How can you view captions and chats in the recording?

If captions were recorded:

• Google Drive (YouTube player view): Click the CC button to enable subtitles
• Downloaded file: Use media players like VLC or QuickTime to view subtitles

For chat logs:

• Open the .SBV file in a subtitle-compatible media player (e.g. VLC)
• Chat messages will appear as subtitles during playback

But there’s a glaring downside—captions take a few hours to appear after the recording is available in Google Drive.

Limitations of Google Meet’s Built-in Recording Feature 

Google Meet’s built-in recorder is convenient. It plugs straight into Google Workspace, saves the footage to the meeting host’s Drive in universally readable MP4 format (no fiddly conversions), and auto-notifies everyone the second recording starts or stops. 

On top of that, each file neatly attaches to the calendar event. The recording keeps rolling for up to eight-hour marathon meetings, and the audio-video quality stays reliably crisp as long as your connection holds. 

But despite all that polish, a few rough edges remain. 

Here are some of the limitations of Google Meet’s recording feature: 

❌ Available only on paid Google Workspace or Google One plans

❌ Recording can only be started from a desktop, not from mobile devices

❌ Doesn’t support recording breakout rooms; only the main session is captured

❌ Recordings use Google Drive storage, which can run out with frequent or long recordings

❌ Risk of incomplete recordings if there’s a poor connection

❌ Guests or external participants cannot initiate recordings

P.S. You can get meeting summaries with the ‘Take notes for me’ feature on Google Meet, powered by Gemini. However, it also requires a paid plan. The quality of notes is adequate for generic use, but if you’re looking for polished, error-free notes for professional use, you might be disappointed. 

Need Notes From Meet?

Jamie offers detailed insights.

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Looking for Advanced Meeting Intelligence? Use Jamie for Google Meet

Google Meet’s built-in recording feature is great for saving a full replay of your meetings, especially if you need a visual record of presentations or long discussions. 

But if you’re not looking to store hours of video, and just need clean and reliable meeting notes, there’s a smarter way to capture the conversation.

Jamie is an AI note-taker designed for founders, managers, sales executives, recruiters, and professionals seeking advanced meeting insights. It works with Google Meet without any integrations, runs quietly in the background (no bots or pop-ups), and captures everything. It turns your conversations into organized summaries, action items, and speaker-specific insights. 

Instead of sifting through long recordings, you get searchable notes ready moments after your meeting ends. 

It’s the perfect companion for teams who want to stay present in the conversation and walk away with the key discussion points.

Here’s your 4-step guide on how to record a meeting in Google Meet using Jamie: 

Step 1: Install Jamie

Download and install Jamie on your device. Ensure your microphone or audio input settings allow Jamie to capture the meeting audio.

To select language, go to Settings > Summary > Notes language > Choose Auto-detected or pick a language of your choice from the dropdown menu.

Gentle reminder: You don’t need direct recording permissions from hosts within the Google Meet interface to start using Jamie. However, in line with our security and privacy standards, you must inform all participants (Google meet meeting hosts and attendees) that the meeting is being recorded.

Let them know Jamie is recording the audio only for generating transcriptions, and it doesn’t record video. The audio file automatically gets deleted after processing, so your confidential conversations stay fully secure. 

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Step 2: Activate Jamie for note-taking

Open Jamie and select Start meeting before/during the meeting. Jamie will start capturing audio silently in the background, without sending any bots to your meeting. 

Now join or host a Google Meet call as usual. 

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Step 3: End the meeting and generate transcription and summary

After ending the Google Meet session, open Jamie and click Stop meeting to finalize the audio capture and stop recording. 

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Jamie will process the recording and use advanced speaker identification to differentiate voices automatically. You can label speakers for even clearer attribution. 

Within a few minutes, Jamie will generate a transcript along with an AI-powered summary that highlights key decisions and action items.

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Step 4: Access and share the summary

Now you can access the structured meeting notes from Jamie’s dashboard. 

You can: 

• Share them with participants in just one click via email
• Copy and paste the notes at your desired location (Slack channel, Google Docs, etc.)
• Generate a shareable URL 

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Pro tip: If you want to access specific insights from this meeting in the future, you can click CTRL+J (Windows) or COMMAND+J (Mac) and Jamie’s Executive Assistant Sidebar will pop up. It’s your AI assistant powered by GPT-4, Claude 3.5, and Jamie-M—it’ll answer your meeting-related and other queries in an instant. 

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Also read: Jamie Review: Is It Worth It in 2025?

Wrapping Up: When to Use Google Meet’s Built-in Recording vs. Jamie? 

Use Google Meet’s native recording and transcription when:

• You’re on a paid Google Workspace plan and want a simple, built-in way to record everything
• You need the full meeting experience captured—video, audio, screen shares, and chat
• You’re running webinars, training sessions, or presentations where visuals matter
• You want recordings saved directly to your Google Drive and linked to Calendar events
• You just need the recording—not action items, summaries, or deeper insights
• You want to record important discussions for future reference, sharing, or training purposes

Use Jamie with Google Meet when:

✅ You don’t need the full video—you want accurate and actionable meeting notes with AI-powered summaries, speaker-labeled transcripts, and clear next steps

✅ You want to keep the meeting distraction-free (Jamie works silently in the background, without any bots joining your calls)

✅ You need to move fast after meetings, not sift through hours of footage

✅ You need unlimited storage to store meeting notes

✅ Privacy is a priority for you (Jamie is an EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant tool. It deletes audio after processing and never stores video)

✅ You want to easily access past meeting insights (Jamie comes with built-in Executive Assistant Sidebar)

And guess what? Jamie has a free plan that includes all the premium features of the paid tiers, with a cap of 10 meetings/month. So you can test its features before making any commitment!

Download Jamie for free to experience it yourself!

Or if you’d like to see the tool in action before making a move, book a free demo.

Want Google Meet Recaps?

Jamie delivers.

Use Jamie for Free

Also Read: 

• 10 Best AI Note Takers for Google Meet in 2025

FAQs 

Who can record a video call in Google Meet?

Only meeting organizers, co-hosts, or users from the host’s organization with appropriate permissions can start a recording.

Can I record a meeting if I’m using Google Meet for free?

No, the recording feature is only available on paid Google Workspace editions (like Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise tiers) and select Google One plans.

Can I record a Google Meet videos from my phone?

No, you cannot start or save recordings using the Google Meet mobile app. Recording is only available when joining from a computer.

However, if you are using an android phone, you can use screen recording features as a workaround. Many android devices come with a built in screen recorder that allows you to capture your Google Meet session even when the official recording option is unavailable. You can also use third-party recording software to capture key takeaways during your meetings.

Do participants get notified when a recording starts?

Yes, all participants are notified when a recording starts or stops. A banner appears in the meeting window to indicate that recording is in progress.

Can Google Meet record breakout rooms?

No, the native recording feature does not support breakout rooms. Only the main meeting session is recorded.

What format are the recordings saved in?

Google Meet recordings are saved as MP4 video files, which are compatible with most media players.

Are Google Meet chats recorded?

Yes, the meeting chat is saved as a separate .SBV subtitle file in the organizer’s Google Drive. 

How long can a Google Meet recording last?

A single recording can last up to 8 hours. After that, the recording stops automatically.

Does Google Meet support high-quality meeting recordings?

1080p video meeting recordings are available for the following Google Workspace editions:

• Business: Business Standard, Business Plus
• Enterprise: Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
• Education: Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus

If conserving Google Drive space is a priority, admins can reduce screen share recording quality to lower video resolutions.

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