Upcoming Change to Zoom Cloud Retention Length

The date of this change has been extended to February 5. Read the latest update for more information.

As a result of COVID-19 and a shift to online and hybrid learning, Ohio State's use of Zoom has grown exponentially over the past several months. Because many class lectures and university events have been recorded with Zoom, this also means our use of the Zoom cloud is quickly approaching our storage limit.

Beginning December 18, recordings saved to the Zoom cloud will be retained for 120 days, down from the current 270 days. If we do not reduce our use of the temporary storage provided by the Zoom cloud, new recordings will not be saved. We have decided to make this change between semesters to prepare for continued Zoom use in spring without affecting recordings from the current term.

When this change goes into effect on December 18, all existing recordings that have been in the Zoom cloud for more than 120 days will be deleted as well.

What will be affected?

• Any existing meetings or webinars recorded on or before August 20 will be removed on December 18, as they will now be outside the 120-day retention window.
  • Keep in mind, this also means that any links to these recordings will no longer be valid.
• After December 18, your remaining recordings will be removed once they pass the 120-day mark. For example, a meeting recorded on September 1 will be removed from the Zoom cloud on December 30.
• All new meetings and webinars recorded to the Zoom cloud will remain for 120 days.

What should I do?

• Review your cloud recordings and decide what you need to move to a permanent storage solution.
• Review any shared links to Zoom cloud recordings and update those links to reflect the chosen permanent location of the recordings.

Where should I store recordings long-term?

While the Zoom cloud is great for temporary storage and sharing class recordings with your students during the current semester, there are other options if you need to keep recordings and share them again in future semesters:

• Mediasite: This tool is ideal for sharing videos with students. You can upload your recordings and other media directly to mediasite.osu.edu and then embed your recordings in Carmen. Mediasite also allows for organization of content through folders, catalogs and channels, to meet a variety of sharing needs. Any class lectures or other academic recordings should use Mediasite for long-term storage.
• YouTube: If you plan to share meetings or webinars with external audiences, YouTube is an option for hosting and sharing recordings long-term. However, YouTube should not be used for class lectures or academic recordings.
• OneDrive: You can utilize OneDrive for Business if you intend to archive content recorded with CarmenZoom.

Visit the Teaching and Learning Resource Center to learn more about saving and sharing Zoom cloud recordings using Mediasite and Carmen.

Keep in mind, the Zoom cloud has always been a temporary storage solution. If you are recording your class sessions to share with students during the current semester, the new retention schedule of 120 days will meet that need. If you plan to share content semester-over-semester, you will need to select a permanent storage location that works best for you.

We understand that there are several changes happening this year, and that this change may seem inconvenient. However, we must reduce our use of the Zoom cloud in order to support the academic mission of Ohio State, and this change will help us be better stewards of our limited resources.

Questions about this change or using Mediasite to store Zoom cloud recordings can be directed to mediasite@osu.edu.