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Recording overview

New to Daily recording? Start here — covers recording types, when to use each, how to enable recording on a room or meeting token, and how to retrieve recordings.
Recording must be enabled on the room or meeting token (via enable_recording) before startRecording() will work. See the overview guide above for setup.

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Starting a recording

startRecording() begins a recording with optional configuration: 
// Start a cloud recording with defaults
call.startRecording();

// Start with explicit options
call.startRecording({
  type: 'cloud',
  width: 1920,
  height: 1080,
  fps: 30,
  videoBitrate: 4000,
  audioBitrate: 128,
  backgroundColor: '#000000',
});

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Recording options

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type
'cloud' | 'raw-tracks' | 'local' | 'cloud-audio-only'
The recording mode. Defaults to whichever type is enabled on the room or token. See the recording overview for a description of each type and when to use it.
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width
number
Output video width in pixels. Default: 1280.
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height
number
Output video height in pixels. Default: 720.
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fps
number
Frames per second. Default: 30.
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videoBitrate
number
Video bitrate in kbps.
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audioBitrate
number
Audio bitrate in kbps.
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minIdleTimeOut
number
Seconds of idle time (no active streams) before the recording automatically stops. Default: 60.
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maxDuration
number
Maximum recording duration in seconds.
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backgroundColor
string
Background color for the composed output when participant tiles do not fill the frame. Accepts a CSS hex color string, e.g. '#1a1a2e'.
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instanceId
string
Identifier for this recording instance. Required when running multiple simultaneous recordings. See multiple simultaneous recordings.
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layout
DailyStreamingLayoutConfig
Controls how participant tiles are arranged in the composed output. See DailyStreamingLayoutConfig for the full type reference, or layout presets below for usage examples.

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Layout presets

The layout option controls the visual composition of cloud recordings. See DailyStreamingLayoutConfig for field-level documentation on each preset. For screenshots, see the recording overview.

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default

call.startRecording({
  layout: {
    preset: 'default',
    max_cam_streams: 9,         // maximum cameras shown
    participants: {
      video: ['session-id-1'],  // specific participant always shown
      sort: 'active',           // sort by speaking activity
    },
  },
});

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single-participant

call.startRecording({
  layout: {
    preset: 'single-participant',
    session_id: 'abc123',  // required: which participant to show
  },
});

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active-participant

call.startRecording({
  layout: { preset: 'active-participant' },
});

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portrait

call.startRecording({
  layout: {
    preset: 'portrait',
    variant: 'inset',  // 'vertical' (default) or 'inset'
    max_cam_streams: 4,
  },
});

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audio-only

call.startRecording({
  type: 'cloud-audio-only',
  layout: { preset: 'audio-only' },
});

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custom

Use Daily’s VCS baseline composition to fully control the layout programmatically — modes, overlays, labels, participant ordering, and more. The startRecording() reference documents all available composition_params. 
call.startRecording({
  layout: {
    preset: 'custom',
    composition_id: 'daily:baseline',
    composition_params: {
      mode: 'dominant',
      'videoSettings.showParticipantLabels': true,
    },
    session_assets: {
      'images/logo': 'https://example.com/logo.png',
    },
  },
});

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participants

Several presets accept a participants field to filter which participants’ video and audio are included in the recording. See DailyStreamingLayoutConfig for the full field list.
You must resend participants on every updateRecording() call — it is not persisted from the previous call. If omitted on update, all participants will be included.

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Updating layout during recording

Call updateRecording() to switch layouts while a recording is in progress, without stopping and restarting: 
// Start in default grid layout
call.startRecording({
  layout: { preset: 'default' },
});

// Later, switch to follow the active speaker
call.updateRecording({
  layout: { preset: 'active-participant' },
});

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Stopping a recording

stopRecording() ends the active recording: 
call.stopRecording();

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Multiple simultaneous recordings

Pass a unique instanceId to run more than one recording at the same time — for example, two cloud recordings with different layouts for different audiences: 
// Portrait layout for mobile
call.startRecording({
  instanceId: 'portrait',
  type: 'cloud',
  layout: { preset: 'portrait', variant: 'vertical' },
});

// Landscape layout for desktop
call.startRecording({
  instanceId: 'landscape',
  type: 'cloud',
  layout: { preset: 'active-participant' },
});

// Update and stop each independently
call.updateRecording({ instanceId: 'landscape', layout: { preset: 'default' } });
call.stopRecording({ instanceId: 'portrait' });
call.stopRecording({ instanceId: 'landscape' });
Multiple instances work best when each runs the same recording type. Mixing types (e.g., cloud + raw-tracks simultaneously) is possible but not a recommended pattern — if you need both, contact Daily support to discuss your use case. For full details on instance limits and billing, see the multi-instance guide.

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Recording events

Full payload details for all recording events are in the recording events reference.

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recording-started

call.on('recording-started', (event) => {
  console.log('Recording started:', event.recordingId);
  console.log('Type:', event.type);           // 'cloud' | 'raw-tracks' | ...
  console.log('Started by:', event.startedBy); // session ID
  console.log('Layout:', event.layout);
});

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recording-stopped

call.on('recording-stopped', () => {
  console.log('Recording stopped.');
});

​
recording-error

call.on('recording-error', ({ errorMsg }) => {
  console.error('Recording error:', errorMsg);
});

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Complete cloud recording example

const call = Daily.createCallObject();
await call.join({ url: 'https://your-domain.daily.co/room' });

// Start a 1080p cloud recording with active-speaker layout
call.startRecording({
  type: 'cloud',
  width: 1920,
  height: 1080,
  fps: 30,
  layout: { preset: 'active-participant' },
});

call.on('recording-started', ({ recordingId }) => {
  console.log('Recording ID:', recordingId);
  recordingBadge.hidden = false;
});

call.on('recording-stopped', () => {
  recordingBadge.hidden = true;
});

call.on('recording-error', ({ errorMsg }) => {
  console.error('Recording failed:', errorMsg);
});

// Switch layout mid-recording when a screen share starts
call.on('local-screen-share-started', () => {
  call.updateRecording({
    layout: {
      preset: 'single-participant',
      session_id: call.participants().local.session_id,
    },
  });
});

call.on('local-screen-share-stopped', () => {
  call.updateRecording({
    layout: { preset: 'active-participant' },
  });
});

document.getElementById('stop-recording').onclick = () =>
  call.stopRecording();