Start recording

Description

You can call this method to start a cloud recording task.

After you successfully call the StartRecord method, the Cloud Recording will record the audio and video streams and whiteboards in the room based on the specified recording parameters.

Warning

Each recording task may last up to 24 hours. When the recording duration reaches the maximum, the recording task automatically ends.
ZEGOCLOUD recommends that each of your recording tasks call the Stop recording method to stop recording to avoid additional costs for continued recording.

Request method and endpoint

Request method: POST
Request URL: https://cloudrecord-api.zego.im/?Action=StartRecord
Transmission protocol: HTTPS
Rate limit: 50 requests/second

Request parameters

Listed below are the parameters specific to this request. For the list of common request parameters, see Accessing Server APIs - Common parameters.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
RoomId	String	Yes	Room ID.
RecordInputParams	Object	Yes	Recording task input parameters. For details, see RecordInputParams member parameters.
RecordOutputParams	Object	No	Recording task output parameters. For details, see RecordOutputParams member parameters.
StorageParams	Object	Yes	Recording task storage parameters. For details, see StorageParams member parameters.

RecordInputParams

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
RecordMode	Int	Yes	Recording mode. 1: single-stream recording 2: mixed-stream recording
StreamType	Int	No	Recording type of a media stream. This parameter is valid only for audio or video streams. For whiteboards, only video files will be recorded. 1: only audio files 2: only video files 3 (default value): combined audio and video files 4: separate audio and video files
RecordStreamList	Array of Object	No	List of streams to be recorded. This parameter is valid only in single-stream recording mode. For details, see RecordStreamList member parameters. If the parameter is not specified or set to an empty list, all streams in the room will be recorded by default.
FillBlank	Bool	No	Whether to automatically fill in the gap when the stream is interrupted, the default value is false, which means no filling. true: When the user's streaming is interrupted, it will be automatically filled in. The effect of automatic filling depends on the recording mode. Single-stream recording: It only works for audio streaming. Note If the streaming end only publishs a video stream, or the recording media type is only recording video, automatic filling will not be possible. During the interruption, the ZEGOCLOUD server will add silent frames to the audio until the same stream ID is used to publish the stream in the room again. In the end, the same recording file will retain the normal streaming content and silent frames. Mixed-stream recording: During the interruption, the video will pause at the last frame (by default) or display the background image of the stream. In addition, if there is no audio content in the mix-stream, the server will add silent frames until the same stream ID is used to push the stream in the room again. In the end, the same recording file will retain the normal streaming content, filled-in frames, and silent frames (if any).If you need to use the stream's background image as the filling, please refer to the parameter descriptions of DefaultMixStreamBackgroundImage and BackgroundImage. The setting of the stream's background image will only take effect when performing mix-stream recording (i.e., when the value of RecordMode is 2). false (default value): no. When the user resumes the streaming, a new recording file is generated. There are two possible timing for the filling during interruption: Automatic stop of cloud recording due to the timeout of the room without a stream, see the definition of MaxIdleTime. Manually stop the cloud recording.
FillFrame	Object	No	Settings for filling in screens after the camera is turned off while the audio streaming continues. This parameter is valid only in mixed-stream recording mode. For details, see FillFrame member parameters.
RecordMuteAudio	Int	No	Whether to record audio frames in mute mode. This parameter is valid only in the following scenarios: a single stream is recorded; only audio files are recorded and they are stored in MP3 format. 1 (default value): yes 2: no
RecordMuteAudioSplitThreshold	Int	No	Mute time threshold for automatically split recording files, in seconds. When the mute duration of a stream reaches this threshold during the recording, a new recording file will be generated. This parameter is valid only in the following scenarios: a single stream is recorded; only audio files are recorded; the recording file is stored in MP3 mode and `RecordMuteAudio` is set to `2`. If this parameter is set to 0, a separate recording file is generated immediately when a stream is muted. If this parameter is set to 0 or a negative value, the recording file will not be split.
HasWhiteboard	Bool	No	Whether to record a whiteboard. true: yes false (default value): no If this parameter is set to `true`, the `Whiteboard` parameter is required.
Whiteboard	Array of Object	No	Whiteboard parameter, which is required when `HasWhiteboard` is set to `true`. For details, see Whiteboard member parameters.
MaxIdleTime	Int	No	Maximum duration with no stream or whiteboard after which cloud recording automatically stops, in seconds. The default value is `30`. The value must be greater or equal to 5, and less than or equal to 86400 (24 hours). Note: This parameter is valid only when there is no stream or whiteboard in the room.
MaxRecordTime	Int	No	Maximum duration of a recording task. Recording automatically stops when the duration reaches the maximum, in seconds. The default value is `86400`. The value must be greater or equal to 300 and less than or equal to 86400 (24 hours).
MixConfig	Object	No	Mixed-stream settings. This parameter is required when `RecordMode` is set to `2`. For details, see MixConfig member parameters.

Warning

FillBlank and MaxIdleTime have different application scopes.
- FillBlank: applies to the stream. Assume that FillBlank is set to true. When the streaming is interrupted, the system supplements blank screens as long as the recording task is still ongoing. In this case, the interrupted streaming status will not affect the judgment of whether there is a stream in the room.
- MaxIdleTime: applies to the recording task. When the duration with no stream in a room exceeds the maximum specified by MaxIdleTime, the recording task ends.
In mixed-stream recording mode, when StreamType is 1, only audio files are recorded and the whiteboards are not.

RecordStreamList

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
StreamId	String	Yes	ID of a stream to be recorded.

FillFrame

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
FrameFillMode	Int	No	Screen filling mode. 1 (default value): Fill in the last frame. 2: Fill in a frame of the specified color. 3: Do not fill in any frame.
FrameFillColor	Int	No	Color of the frame to be filled in. This parameter is valid only when `FrameFillMode` is set to `2`. The default color is black. The first three bytes specify the RGB color code and the fourth byte is fixed at 0, that is, 0xRRGGBB00.

Note

For web projects, FrameFillMode can only be set to 2 and the color of the frame to be filled in can only be black.

Whiteboard

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
HorizontalRatio	Int	Yes	Width of the original whiteboard.
VerticalRatio	Int	Yes	Height of the original whiteboard.
Width	Int	No	Resolution width of the output whiteboard video in single-recording mode. The default value is `1280`.
Height	Int	No	Resolution height of the output whiteboard video in single-recording mode. The default value is `720`.
WhiteboardId	String	No	Whiteboard ID. If a whiteboard must be recorded immediately after the start of recording, this parameter is required. If no whiteboard needs to be recorded immediately after the start of recording, this parameter is not required and the whiteboard ID can be specified later when necessary by calling the Update the whiteboard method.
BackgroundColor	Int	No	Whiteboard background color, default is white. The first three bytes represent the RGB color value, and the fourth byte is fixed as 0, i.e. 0xRRGGBB00.
IsPPTAnimation	Bool	No	Whether to record dynamic PowerPoint presentations, default is false. true：Recording of dynamic PowerPoint presentations, supports recording of animation effects and videos in PPT. false：Do not record dynamic PowerPoint presentations, animation effects and videos in PPT will not be recorded.
PPTAnimationFps	Int	No	The frame rate for recording dynamic PowerPoint presentations, default is 15, valid range is [1,30].

MixConfig

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
MixMode	Int	No	Layout. 1: customized layout. In this layout, `MixInputList` is required. 2 (default value): grid layout 3: horizontal layout 4: vertical layout 5: floating layout
MixInputList	Array of Object	No	Customized layout parameters. For details, see MixInputList member parameters.
FillMode	Int	No	(Used when `MixConfig`'s `MixMode` is not `1`.) Filling mode when the aspect ratio of a video stream is different from that of the screen. 1 (default value): cropping. In this mode, the video stream is scaled equally to fully fill in the screen and the content outside the screen will be cropped. 2: scaling. In this mode, the video screen is scaled equally to fill in the screen and black borders will be filled in along all sides.
MixOutputStreamId	String	Yes	Stream ID in mixed-stream recording mode, which will be used as a part of `OutputFileRule`.
MixOutputVideoConfig	Object	No	Output video parameters. When `StreamType` is `2`, `3`, or `4`, this parameter is required. For details, see MixOutputVideoConfig member parameters.
MixOutputAudioConfig	Object	No	Output audio parameters. For details, see MixOutputAudioConfig member parameters.
MixOutputBackgroundColor	Int	No	Recording background color, which is black by default. The first three bytes specify the RGB color code and the fourth byte is fixed at `0`, that is, 0xRRGGBB00.
MixOutputBackgroundImage	String	No	URL of the background image of a video canvas. We recommend that the resolution of the background image be the same as the output video resolution. If the resolutions are different, the background image will be stretched or compressed to fully fill in the screen. The background image can be in JPG or PNG format. The maximum image size is 5 MB. If the background image download fails, the setting will be invalid. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported.
MixMaxResolutionStreamId	String	No	Stream ID of the large screen when `MixMode` is set to `3`, `4`, or `5`.
MixOutputWatermarkImage	String	No	URL of the watermark image. It is recommended that the size of the watermark image be consistent with the config of the watermark image. If they are not the same, the watermark image will be stretched to fill the watermark layout. The watermark image can be in JPG and PNG. The maximum image size is 5 MB. If the watermark image downloading fails, the setting will be invalid. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported.
MixOutputWatermarkImageConfig	Object	No	Watermark layout configuration. See MixOutputWatermarkImageConfig member list.
DefaultMixStreamBackgroundImage	String	No	URL of the default background image of a stream. Assume that FillBlank is `true`. When the specified stream does not exist or the streaming is interrupted and the recording mode is mixed-stream recording, the background image specified by this parameter will be displayed. For a customized layout, if BackgroundImage is specified for a stream ID, the specified background image will be displayed preferentially. It is suggested that the size of the background image should match the size of the stream. If they are not consistent, the background image will be stretched or compressed to fill the stream. The background image can be in JPG or PNG format. The maximum image size is 5 MB. If the background image downloading fails, the setting will be invalid. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported.
IsAlwaysMix	Bool	No	Whether to start recording immediately after the start of the recording task. The default value is false, which means that recording starts after the stream publishing in the room has started. true：Start recording immediately after the start of the recording task. false：Start recording after stream publishing in the room has started.
MixOutputWatermarkTimestampConfig	Object	No	Time watermark configuration. After configuration, the time watermark will be displayed in the upper right corner of the video in the format of yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm . See MixOutputWatermarkTimestampConfig member list for details.
RecordSoundWave	Bool	No	Whether to record sound wave information after the recording task starts. The default value is false. true: After the recording task starts, the sound wave information of all streams is recorded every 1 second. false: After the recording task starts, no sound wave information is recorded. The sound wave information will be written to a separate file in JSON format. The file name is the same as the recording file name with the .sw extension. After the recording task ends, it will be uploaded to the specified cloud storage location together with the recording file.
SoundWaveType	Int	No	Sound wave information type. Note: This parameter only takes effect when `RecordSoundWave` is set to `true`. 0: Record stream ID information (default value). Example: `{"time":10, "sound_wave":[{"stream_id":"s1", "volume":0}]}` 1: Record user ID information. Example: `{"time":10, "sound_wave":[{"user_id":"u1", "volume":0}]}`
StreamConfigList	Array of Object	No	Custom stream configurations. See StreamConfigList member parameters for details.
ClearInputStreamTimeout	Int	No	The timeout for waiting for the input stream, in milliseconds. During this time, the ZEGOCLOUD server will wait to receive the input stream before starting the mixing process. If the timeout is reached and the input stream is still not received, the mixing will start automatically.

MixInputList

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
StreamId	String	No	ID of the stream to be recorded. If this parameter is not set, streams will be recorded based on the time order of the stream-publishing in the room.
ViewType	Int	No	Type of content to be displayed on a screen. 1 (default value): audio and video 2: whiteboard The value `2` is valid only when whiteboard recording is enabled. This parameter can be set to `2` for only one screen. Otherwise, an error will be returned.
Top	Int	Yes	Y-axis coordinate of the upper left corner of a screen on the canvas. The value ranges from 0 to 1920 and can't exceed the value of `Bottom` or the canvas height.
Left	Int	Yes	X-axis coordinate of the upper left corner of a screen on the canvas. The value ranges from 0 to 1920 and can't exceed the value of `Right` or the canvas width.
Bottom	Int	Yes	Y-axis coordinate of the lower right corner of a screen on the canvas. The value ranges from 0 to 1920 and can't exceed the canvas height.
Right	Int	Yes	X-axis coordinate of the lower right corner of a screen on the canvas. The value ranges from 0 to 1920 and can't exceed the canvas width.
Layer	Int	Yes	Layer priority of a screen. When an overlap occurs between two screens, the one with a larger value of `Layer` will be displayed on top.
FillMode	Int	No	(Used when `MixConfig`'s `MixMode` is `1`.) Filling mode when the aspect ratio of a video stream is different from that of the screen. 1 (default value): cropping. In this mode, the video stream is scaled equally to fully fill in the screen and the content outside the screen will be cropped. 2: scaling. In this mode, the video screen is scaled equally to fill in the screen and black borders will be filled in along all sides.
BackgroundImage	String	No	URL of the background image of a stream. This parameter is valid only when StreamId is set. When the specified stream specified for a customized layout does not exist or the streaming is interrupted, the background image specified by this parameter is displayed. It is suggested that the size of the background image should match the size of the set stream screen. If they are not consistent, the background image will be stretched or compressed to fill the entire screen. The background image can be in JPG or PNG format. The maximum image size is 5 MB. If the background image download fails, the setting will be invalid. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported.

MixOutputVideoConfig

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Width	Int	Yes	Resolution width of the output video, in pixels. The value must be less than or equal to 1920 and the product of the values of `Width` and `Height` can't exceed 1920 x 1080. Otherwise, an error message will be returned.
Height	Int	Yes	Resolution height of the output video, in pixels. The value must be less than or equal to 1920 and the product of the values of `Width` and `Height` can't exceed 1920 x 1080. Otherwise, an error message will be returned.
Fps	Int	Yes	Frame rate of the output video. The value ranges from 5 to 30 and the default value is `15`.
Bitrate	Int	Yes	Bit rate of the output video, in bps. If you want to set the bit rate to 1.5 Mbps, this parameter must be set to `1500000`, that is, 1500 x 1000.

MixOutputAudioConfig

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Bitrate	Int	No	Audio bit rate, which is 48000 bps by default.

MixOutputWatermarkImageConfig

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Left	Int	Yes	The x-axis coordinate of the upper left corner of the screen on the canvas, the value range is [0, 1920], which cannot exceed the value of Right and the width of the canvas.
Top	Int	Yes	The y-axis coordinate of the upper left corner of the screen on the canvas, the value range is [0, 1920], which cannot exceed the value of Bottom and the height of the canvas.
Right	Int	Yes	The x-axis coordinate of the lower right corner of the screen on the canvas, the value range is [0, 1920], which cannot exceed the width of the canvas.
Bottom	Int	Yes	The y-axis coordinate of the lower right corner of the screen on the canvas, the value range is [0, 1920], and cannot exceed the height of the canvas.

Please refer to Set mixed-stream layout - Customize the video layout for information related to the coordinate system.

StreamConfigList

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
StreamId	String	No	Stream ID.
StreamType	Int	No	The stream recording type. This parameter only takes effect when the StreamType of RecordInputParams is 3 or 4. 0: Default type. 1: Audio. 2: Video. 3: Audio and Video.

If the StreamId in the StreamConfigList is empty, it indicates that the default value for the parameters is set. Other streams not appearing in the StreamConfigList will use the default value.

MixOutputWatermarkTimestampConfig

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
FontSize	Int	Yes	Font size, range of values [12, 100], unit: px.

RecordOutputParams

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
OutputFileFormat	String	No	Format of an output recording file. The options are `mp4`, `flv`, `hls`, `jpg`, and `mp3`, and the default value is `mp4`. If this parameter is set to `mp4` or `flv` and `StreamType` is set as `4`, an audio file in AAC format will be generated.
OutputFolder	String	No	Output directory of a recording file stored on a third-party cloud storage platform. The root directory is used by default.
OutputFileRule	Int	No	Naming rule of a recording file. The default value and the only value that is supported currently is `1`. That is, the naming rules for different recording modes are as follows: Single-stream recording mode: TaskId_RoomId_UserId_StreamId_Type_UTC Mixed-stream recording mode: Taskid_RoomId_MixOutputStreamId_Type_UTC Single-stream recording with whiteboard: Taskid_Roomid_whiteboard_Type_UTC The meanings of file name fields are as follows: Type: file type, which can be `V` (video), `A` (audio), and `VA` (video and audio). UTC: UTC time when recording starts for the file. The time zone is UTC+0 and the time is composed of year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond. MixOutputStreamId: same as that specified in `MixConfig`. whiteboard: fixed part in the file name
SnapshotInterval	Int	No	Screen capture interval, in seconds. This parameter is valid when the recording file is generated in JPG format. The value ranges from 5 to 3600 and the default value is `10`.
CallbackUrl	String	No	Customized callback URL. The callback URL configured when the service is enabled will be used if this parameter is not set. HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported.
FragmentSeconds	Int	No	Duration of each video segment in seconds. The value should be between 2 and 60, with a default value of 15. Note: This parameter only takes effect when `OutputFileFormat` is set to "hls".
RealtimeUploadFragment	Bool	No	Duration of each video segment in seconds. The value should be between 2 and 60, with a default value of 15. Note: This parameter only takes effect when `OutputFileFormat` is set to "hls".
ShortFragmentPath	Bool	No	Whether the .m3u8 file saves only the filenames of video segment files (e.g., .ts files), instead of the paths to the video segments. Note: This parameter only takes effect when `RealtimeUploadFragment` is set to "true".

StorageParams

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Vendor	Int	Yes	Recording file storage service provider. Currently, the following service providers are supported: 1: Amazon S3 2: Alibaba Cloud OSS 3: Tencent Cloud COS 4: Qiniu Cloud KODO 5: Alibaba Cloud VOD 6: Tencent Cloud VOD 7: Huawei Cloud OBS 8: Google Cloud Storage 9: China Mobile Cloud EOS 10: Storage service provider using S3 protocol, you need to fill in the `StorageParams` member parameter `EndPoint`.
Region	String	No	Region.
Bucket	String	No	Bucket.
AccessKeyId	String	No	Access key. We recommend that you provide an access key with the write-only permission.
AccessKeySecret	String	No	Secret key.
AlibabaCloudVodParams	Object	No	Storage information when Alibaba Cloud VOD is used. For details, see AlibabaCloudVodParams member parameters.
TencentCloudVodParams	Object	No	Storage information when Tencent Cloud VOD is used. For details, see TencentCloudVodParams member parameters.
EndPoint	String	No	When `Vendor` is set to 10, fill in the address of the storage service that uses the S3 protocol.

Warning

When Vendor is set to 1, 2, 3, 4 ,7, 9, and 10, Region, Bucket, AccessKeyId, and AccessKeySecret are required.
When Vendor is set to 5, AlibabaCloudVodParams is required. Currently, only MP4 and FLV files can be uploaded.
When Vendor is set to 6, TencentCloudVodParams is required. Currently, only MP4, FLV, JPG and MP3 files can be uploaded.
When Vendor is set to 8, recording files will be stored in Google Cloud Storage, and you need to configure the following parameters:
- Bucket: the bucket name. You can create a bucket as instructed in Create buckets.
- AccessKeyId: the ID of the hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) key of Google Cloud Storage.
- AccessKeySecret: the secret of the HMAC key of Google Cloud Storage. Create and obtain your key as instructed in Manage HMAC keys for service accounts.
When Vendor is set to 10, Bucket and EndPoint are required.

AlibabaCloudVodParams

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Region	String	Yes	Region, such as cn-shanghai.
AccessKeyId	String	Yes	Access key.
AccessKeySecret	String	Yes	Secret key. We recommend that you provide an access key with the write-only permission.
Title	String	Yes	Video name.
StorageLocation	String	Yes	Fixed parameter.

TencentCloudVodParams

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SecretId	String	Yes	Access key.
SecretKey	String	Yes	Secret key. We recommend that you provide an access key with the write-only permission.
Region	String	Yes	Region, such as ap-shanghai.
SubAppId	Int64	No	Sub-application ID.

Sample request

Request URL

Untitled

https://cloudrecord-api.zego.im/?Action=StartRecord
&AppId=1234567890
&SignatureNonce=15215528852396
&Timestamp=1234567890
&Signature=7a2c0f11145fb760d607a07b54825013
&SignatureVersion=2.0
&IsTest=false

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Request message body:

For Amazon S3, Alibaba Cloud OSS, Tencent Cloud COS, Qiniu Cloud KODO, Huawei Cloud OBS, or China Mobile Cloud EOS

For Alibaba Cloud VOD

For S3 protocol storage service providers

Response parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
Code	Int64	Return code.
Message	String	Description of the request execution result.
RequestId	String	Request ID.
Data	Object	Response object.
└TaskId	String	Task ID assigned by the cloud recording service. The value is a 16-byte character string. The task ID is the unique identifier of a recording lifecycle and becomes meaningless after the recording ends.

Sample response

The following is a response example of the StartRecord method:

Untitled

{
    "Code": 0,
    "Message": "succeed",
    "RequestId": "abcd123",
    "Data": {
        "TaskId": "XXXXXXXXXXXX"
    }
}

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