How to record a Zoom meeting on Linux
Zoom's Linux client only offers local recording on some paid plans, and even then it skips a transcript. This guide covers two routes: recording the call yourself with OBS Studio, and the automatic route where the recording starts on its own.
Record it yourself with OBS
OBS Studio is free, open source, and packaged for every major distro. The catch is audio: point OBS at the right source, or you will only capture your own microphone.
- 1
Install OBS Studio
Install OBS from your package manager (apt, dnf, pacman) or as a Flatpak. The Flatpak build works fine for screen capture; for window capture on Wayland it also pulls in the PipeWire portal it needs.
- 2
Add a screen or window capture source
In OBS, add a 'Screen Capture (PipeWire)' source on Wayland, or 'Screen Capture (XSHM)' on X11. Pick the display or the Zoom window. If the preview is black on Wayland, the portal permission was denied. Remove the source and add it again to get the picker.
- 3
Capture the call audio, not just your mic
Add an 'Audio Output Capture' source. Set its device to the monitor of your speakers. In PulseAudio or PipeWire this is the '.monitor' device that mirrors whatever is being played. That gives you the other participants. Add a second 'Audio Input Capture' source for your microphone.
- 4
Set output format and start recording
Under Settings, Output, set the recording format to MP4 and pick a hardware encoder (VAAPI on AMD/Intel, NVENC on NVIDIA) so the encoding does not stutter. Click Start Recording before you join the call, and Stop when it ends.
- 5
Transcribe the recording
OBS gives you a video file, not a transcript. To get text, run the audio through whisper.cpp locally, or use any transcription tool you trust. This is a separate step you repeat after every call.
The audio trap on Linux
On Linux, your microphone and the sound coming out of your speakers are two separate things. A recorder that grabs only the microphone captures your voice but not the other people on the call. To record what you hear, you capture the monitor source.
Both PulseAudio and PipeWire expose a '.monitor' device for every output. It is a loopback of whatever is playing, Zoom's incoming audio included. In pavucontrol you will see it on the Recording tab; on the command line it shows up under 'pactl list sources'. Point your recorder there and mix it with the mic, and you capture the whole conversation.
The faster route: let Autorec do it
Autorec is a desktop app that handles the capture, the audio routing, and the transcript for you. It runs natively on Linux.
- 1
Install and launch Autorec
Download the .deb or .rpm package, install it, and start the app. It sits in your system tray and waits.
- 2
Join your Zoom call as usual
Autorec watches for the Zoom window and starts recording on its own. It captures the call window and mixes your microphone with the speaker monitor source, so both sides are in the file. No bot joins the meeting.
- 3
Get the video, transcript, and summary
When the call ends, Autorec stops recording and transcribes the audio on your machine with whisper.cpp. You end up with an MP4, a .txt and .srt transcript, and an AI summary, all on your disk and nothing uploaded.
Common problems
The recording has no sound from other people
You captured the microphone instead of the speaker output. Add an audio source pointed at the '.monitor' device for your active output, or check that your recorder is set to the monitor rather than the mic.
The recording only has the other people, not me
You captured only the monitor source. You need both: one source for the monitor and one for your microphone, mixed together. In OBS that is two separate audio sources on the same scene.
The video is choppy or dropping frames
Software encoding is fighting the CPU with Zoom. Switch the encoder to VAAPI or NVENC, drop the recording to 30 fps, and close other heavy apps. On a laptop, plug in, since power-saving governors throttle the encoder.
Questions people ask
Is it legal to record a Zoom meeting?
Consent rules vary by country and by state. In many places you must tell the other participants you are recording, and in some you need their agreement. Check the rules where you and they are located, and ask before you record.
Can I record a Zoom meeting on Linux without a paid Zoom plan?
Yes. Zoom's own local recording is limited by plan, but a desktop recorder like OBS or Autorec captures the call window and audio regardless of which Zoom plan you have. It records the meeting from outside Zoom.
Will the host see that I am recording?
A desktop recorder like OBS or Autorec captures the window from your computer, so Zoom shows no recording indicator and no extra participant. That is a courtesy question, not a technical one. Tell people anyway.
Does Autorec work on Wayland?
Autorec's detection and capture target X11. On a Wayland session many distros run XWayland, which Zoom uses, so capture generally works. If you hit issues, an X11 session is the most reliable.
Keep reading
For the longer story behind local recording, see our guide: the complete local meeting recording guide
Skip the setup
Autorec detects the call, records it to your disk, and transcribes it on your machine. No bot joins the meeting and nothing is uploaded. The free tier covers 3 recordings every 24 hours, up to 40 minutes each.