In addition to local recording, Zencastr also creates internet-quality backups for multi-participant (two or more people) recording sessions. These backups can be accessed within 30 days of the recording date.
In this article:
What Internet-Quality Backups Are
For recordings with two or more people, participants are connected via an encrypted VoIP call. For these multi-participant recording sessions, in addition to the local recording, Zencastr also backs up each participant’s audio (and video) feed(s) from the VoIP call. These internet-quality backups are stored and retrievable for a limited period of time.
For recordings done in the 'Record Audio and Video' mode, each participant’s backup is a MOV file containing both audio and video.
For recordings done in the 'Record Audio. No Video mode' or 'Record Audio. Show Video' mode, each participant’s backup is an MP3 file containing solely audio.
Availability of Internet-Quality Backups
Internet-quality backups can be retrieved within 30 days of the recording date. Beyond this 30-day window, they cannot be retrieved. Once retrieved, they can be downloaded from the Zencastr Recording Page within the period allowed by your plan’s recording masters storage limit.
Differences Between Internet-Quality Backups and Local Recording Files
An internet-quality backup file is audio (and video) that was streamed over the internet, so the quality depends on the strength, speed, and performance of the participant’s internet connection during the VoIP call.
A local recording file is audio (and video) that was recorded locally by a participant’s computer, so the quality is independent of participants’ internet connection characteristics.
Additionally, because video is streamed at a lower resolution during the VoIP call to save bandwidth, the internet-quality backup video files have a lower maximum resolution (360p) than the locally recorded video files (720p or higher, based on your plan).
How to Recover Internet-Quality Backups
1. Recovering Backups
To recover backups from the Recording Page:
From your Dashboard, click the Sessions tab.
Under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session that contains the recording.
Click the Join Session button or the image above the recording name.
On the Recording Page, locate and click the name of the recording that you want to recover backups for.
Click the Recover internet-quality backup button.
Result: A confirmation message indicates that the backup recovery process is running in the background and you will receive an email when it completes.
2. Getting and Downloading Backups
Once the backup recovery process is running, you can either close the page or stay on it. You will receive an email when it completes.
To download your files from the email:
Click the Download button in the “Your backup recovery finished” email and you are taken to the login page.
Log in and you are taken to your Recording Page.
Result: Each participant’s backup file is zipped and then a zip file automatically starts downloading to your computer.
To download your files directly from the Recording Page:
From your Dashboard, click the Sessions tab.
Under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session.
Click the Join Session button or the image above the recording name.
On the Recording Page, locate and click the name of the recording that you recovered backups for.
Click the Download internet-quality backups button.
Result: Each participant’s backup file is zipped and then a zip file automatically starts downloading to your computer.
Related Questions
How long does it take for the backup recovery process to finish?
Backups are usually available within an hour of clicking the Recover internet-quality backups button. The exact amount of time can vary depending on the recording length and the number of participants.
Why don’t I see a Recover internet-quality backups button on my Recording Page?
If there is no button, try refreshing the page. If there is still no button it is likely because:
The recording is a solo recording
Backups are not available for single-participant recordings as these recordings do not pass through a VoIP call.
The recording was done more than 30 days ago
Backups are retained for only 30 days from the recording date. Beyond that, they are erased from our servers and cannot be recovered.
How does recovering internet-quality backups relate to troubleshooting unfinalized tracks?
These processes are distinct and independent of each other. Recovering internet-quality backups retrieves backups of the audio and video streamed over the internet and makes them available for download. Whereas troubleshooting unfinalized tracks addresses finalizing the upload of locally-recorded backups from a participant's browser storage to make them available for download. Therefore, doing one process will not affect the other. However, both are time-sensitive so it is important to do them as soon as possible.