How to recover or download a Teams video recording that has expired

For Microsoft Teams Free, an expired recording cannot be recovered or downloaded: recordings remain in the meeting chat for 30 days and must be downloaded before they expire.^1^

The recording card remaining in the group chat does not mean that the video is still stored in OneDrive or available on Microsoft 365 servers. After expiration, Teams Free no longer provides access to the recording.^2^

If this was actually a work or school account

The recovery process is different for organizational Microsoft 365 accounts. Expired recordings are moved to the recycle bin of their storage location:

• Non-channel meeting: organizer’s OneDrive.
• Channel meeting: channel’s SharePoint site.^3^

For a normal meeting:

1. Sign in to OneDrive using the meeting organizer’s work or school account.
2. Open Recycle bin.
3. Find the recording, normally an .mp4 file.
4. Select it, and then select Restore.

For a channel meeting:

1. Open the Teams channel.
2. Select Shared or Files → More → Open in SharePoint.
3. In SharePoint, open Recycle bin.
4. Select the recording and choose Restore.

Recovery is time-sensitive. Personal OneDrive recycle-bin items are normally deleted after 30 days; work or school account items are normally deleted after 93 days unless the administrator changed that setting. Once purged from the recycle bin, recordings cannot be recovered.^3^

If this was a work or school account and the file is absent, ask the Microsoft 365 administrator to check the SharePoint site collection recycle bin or any organizational retention/backup system. That option does not apply to a standard Teams Free recording.

For future Teams Free recordings

Before the 30-day expiration:

1. Open the meeting chat.
2. Locate the recording.
3. Select Download beneath its date and time.
4. Save the file to local or backed-up storage.^1^

Watching the recording does not extend its expiration date.

References

1. Desktop
2. Find a recording that expired - Microsoft Q&A
3. Manage Teams recording expiration policy