How long can a Teams recording be? about four hours each, by Microsoft's account.
Microsoft's documentation has given a maximum of about 4 hours per Teams meeting recording, after which the recording stops while the meeting can carry on, so a longer meeting needs the recording restarted and leaves more than one file. Packs start at $4 for 300 minutes, and credits never expire. The opening minutes are a free preview.
Teams in practice
Where the four-hour line bites, and how to work with it.
The cap is per recording
The limit applies to one recording, not to the meeting. An all-day session where someone presses record again after the cap ends up as two or three MP4s. Microsoft revises Teams regularly, so check its current documentation for the exact figure.
Where the file lives
Recordings are typically saved to the organiser's OneDrive or, for channel meetings, to the team's SharePoint site. Open the recording from the meeting chat or the Files tab and look for a download option; your organisation's settings decide whether it is offered.
Upload each part
Each MP4 goes in as its own file. This page's box takes up to 500 MB; a larger file continues on the upload page, up to 10 hours or 5 GB. The ceiling is 5 GB per file, which a 4-hour Teams recording almost always stays under.
Read the parts together
Each part comes back with a brief, chapters with timestamps, and the names, numbers and dates said. Participants are named in the summary, key quotes and chapters, so the afternoon's file picks up where the morning's ended.
Long Teams meetings
The built-in transcript is not the end of the story.
✗ Common frustrations
Things people run into with long Teams recordings.
- Recording stopped mid-meeting at the cap
- A transcript that was never switched on
- Recordings expiring before anyone reads them
- Downloads blocked by a policy nobody remembers
- Hours of video scrubbed for one decision
- Notes from part two missing part one
✓ With WhipScribe
Download the MP4s, upload them, read the result.
- Each recording handled whole
- Works on any recording you can download
- Text in about 2 minutes per audio hour
- Chapters to jump to each decision
- Brief and takeaways per part
- Exports in TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON
Sample output
Around the cap of a long planning session.
Illustrative lines written for this page; not from a real meeting or organisation.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $4 (300 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$4/300 min
5 hours of audio — $0.80 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 300 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$18/3,000 min
50 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 3,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$32/6,000 min
100 hours of audio — $0.32 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 6,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Teams recordings, the follow-ups.
What happens when a Teams meeting runs past the cap?
By Microsoft's account the recording stops and the meeting continues. Someone has to start recording again, which creates a new file; check the meeting chat or the organiser's storage for every part.
Do Teams recordings expire?
Many organisations have recordings set to expire after a period, and Microsoft has introduced default expiry settings in the past. If a long recording matters, download it soon after the meeting.
What does a full day in Teams cost to transcribe?
Packs start at $4 for 300 minutes, and credits never expire. Ten 3-hour steering meetings a month are 1,800 minutes, which the $18 pack (3,000 minutes) covers.
Should I join the parts into one file first?
There is no need. Uploading them separately costs exactly the same minutes and gives each part its own chapters. If you prefer one document, join the exports afterwards.
Can I record a Teams call with external guests?
Recording a call needs the consent the law where you and the participants are requires; Teams shows a banner, but announce it as well. WhipScribe never joins the call, it only reads the file you upload.
Is my recording used for anything else?
No. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training. For a team that records every week, a $19/month Workspace exists; one-time packs suit everyone else.
Related
More on Teams.
Teams cut your recording into parts? Upload each MP4.
Transcribe a Teams recordingOperated by Neugence Technology Pvt. Ltd. · contact@whipscribe.com · Security · Privacy · Terms