Teams recordings take up a lot of storage. Without clear rules they sit in OneDrive and SharePoint for years. That's why new recordings get an expiration date: after a set number of days they're deleted automatically. This article explains how it works and how users and admins can change it.
How does expiration work?
- Every new recording gets an expiration date based on the meeting policy. By default that's 120 days.
- The owner sees the expiration date in the recording's details and gets a notification beforehand.
- After expiry the recording goes to the OneDrive or SharePoint recycle bin, where it can still be restored for a while.
- Recordings that existed before you changed the policy keep their old expiration date.
Change the expiration date as a user
- Open the recording in OneDrive or SharePoint.
- Open the file details (the i icon).
- Under Expiration date, change the date or choose that it never expires.
More in change the expiration date of a Teams recording.
Set the default as an admin
- Open the Teams admin center.
- Go to Meetings > Meeting policies and open a policy.
- Under Recording & transcription, find the setting that makes recordings expire automatically.
- Set the number of days, or turn automatic expiration off.
- Click Save.
With PowerShell:
Connect-MicrosoftTeams
Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity Global -NewMeetingRecordingExpirationDays 60With the value -1, new recordings no longer expire automatically.
Expiration or retention policy?
Expiration is a simple clean-up feature. If you must keep recordings for legal reasons, use a retention policy or retention label in Microsoft Purview. Retention always wins: a recording that must be retained isn't permanently deleted, even after its expiration date has passed.
| Goal | Use |
|---|---|
| Free up storage | Expiration in the meeting policy |
| Retain for compliance | Retention policy or label in Purview |
Also see where Teams recordings are stored and record a Teams meeting.
Read also
How to change the expiration date of a Microsoft Teams recording
Teams recordings in OneDrive and SharePoint: where are they?
Record, find and share a Microsoft Teams meeting
Nederlandstalige versie: Vergaderopnames automatisch verwijderen in Microsoft Teams