Local recording, explained

Your internet connection will fail you. It's not a question of if, but when. Here's why local recording exists and why it matters.

The old way

Traditional video call recording works like this:

Your video gets sent to the cloud
Your guest's video gets sent to the cloud
The cloud combines them
You download the result

This works fine until someone's wifi hiccups. Then you get:

Pixelated video
Audio dropouts
Lost footage
Frustration

The local way

Local recording flips this around:

Video records directly to each person's device
In full quality, regardless of internet
Files upload after the call
You get pristine footage

Even if someone's connection drops entirely mid-call, their local recording keeps going. When they reconnect, it uploads.

Why isn't everyone doing this?

Good question. Local recording requires:

More complex software (browser-based recording is hard)
Trust that the upload will happen
Good user experience so guests don't mess it up

Some tools do it. We're one of them. It's not magic, it's just engineering.

The trade-off

There's one catch: you have to wait for uploads to complete. If a guest closes their browser before the upload finishes, you lose that footage.

We show clear progress indicators and warn people before they leave. Most guests wait the extra minute.

Bottom line

If you've ever had a recording ruined by internet issues, local recording is the solution. It's not a premium feature. It's how recording should work.

Elva records locally by default. Try it free.