biyearly-mesothelioma790 Zoom Cloud Recording Download
Overview
Download recent Zoom cloud recordings, selecting the correct file type and skipping already-uploaded content. Optionally delete old recordings from Zoom after confirming they've been uploaded.
Which Recordings to Download
- "AI in Action Weekly Jam!" meetings → weekly demos/presentations
- Paper Club / guest sessions (e.g., "[Person] and swyx") → paper readings
- Skip recordings under ~10 minutes (test calls, false starts)
- Cross-check against existing YouTube content to avoid re-downloading
Choosing the Correct File Type
CRITICAL: Zoom offers 6+ file types per recording. Always download:
| File Type | Download? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shared screen with gallery view | YES | Screen share + all webcams |
| Gallery view | NO | Webcams only, no screen share |
| Shared screen with speaker view | NO | Only shows active speaker |
| Speaker view | NO | Single speaker webcam |
| Audio only | NO | No video |
| Chat file | NO | Text chat log |
Filename Identification
- Correct:
GMT[date]_Recording_gallery_[resolution].mp4— the_gallery_suffix (NOT_gvo_) - Wrong:
GMT[date]_Recording_gvo_[resolution].mp4—_gvo_= gallery view screen share
How to Download
- Navigate to
zoom.us/recording(log in via Google SSO if needed) - On each recording's detail page, locate the "Shared screen with gallery view" row
- Hover over the row to reveal the download button (appears on the right)
- Click download — file saves to ~/Downloads
- Wait for download to complete before moving to the next recording
Content Analysis via Frame Extraction
After downloading, extract frames to understand what each video contains:
# Extract 7 frames at ~5 min intervals (covers a ~1hr video)
for t in 60 300 600 1200 1800 2400 3000; do
ffmpeg -ss $t -i "video_file.mp4" -vframes 1 -q:v 2 "frame_${t}s.jpg" -y 2>/dev/null
done
Visually analyze the extracted frames to identify:
- Slide titles and presentation content
- Presenter names (from Zoom name labels in gallery view)
- Paper titles, arxiv links, or references visible on screen
- Demo names and tools being shown
- Participant names visible in the gallery
Save these notes — they feed into the youtube-publish skill for titling and description.
Deleting Old Recordings from Zoom
After confirming videos are successfully uploaded and published on YouTube:
- Navigate back to
zoom.us/recording - Select the recordings that have been uploaded
- User must perform the actual deletion (permanent deletion is a prohibited action)
- Inform the user which recordings are safe to delete
Troubleshooting
- Multiple recordings for same meeting: Zoom sometimes splits long meetings. Download all parts.
- "Shared screen with gallery view" not available: The host may not have shared their screen. Download "Gallery view" as a fallback and note this in the YouTube description.
- Large files (>2GB): Downloads may take several minutes. Don't start the next download until the current one finishes.