Overview
Panopto, the vendor behind Pitt’s Lecture Capture system used for Canvas instructional recordings, as well as the default solution for saving Zoom meeting and webinar recordings, recently ended unlimited storage for all customers. Therefore, while Pitt Information Technology (IT) remains committed to allowing generous storage for instructional content, please be aware of the following changes that will occur later this year.
Recordings in Panopto
Effective July 1, 2023, unviewed instructional recordings will be deleted after 30 months.
Unviewed recordings will first be archived after 18 months. Once archived, recordings will remain available for an additional 12 months. Recordings that have not been viewed or restored after the combined 30-month period are permanently deleted.
- This applies to all recordings in Panopto, created by Zoom, Canvas, or the Panopto recorder.
- All Zoom instructional recordings in Canvas continue to be saved to Panopto.
- Any recording in active use will remain available indefinitely — until 18 months after it is last viewed.
- Recordings that have been reference copied will not be archived if the reference copy remains active.
- Archived recordings can still be accessed within the 12-month archive period but may take up to 48 hours to be restored. Any authenticated user with Viewer access or above may restore an archived recording.
- Any viewing of a recording within 30 months of its previous viewing will restart the 30-month clock. Playing a recording for a few seconds counts as a view.
- All recordings last viewed on or before January 1, 2022, were archived on July 1, 2023, and will be deleted on July 1, 2024.
- No notifications will be sent when recordings are archived or deleted.
Example: A recording last viewed on March 15, 2024, will be archived on Sept. 15, 2025, and purged on Sept. 15, 2026.
Pitt IT recommends storing the recording somewhere else if there may be long periods of time between viewings, such as a course taught every three years. This storage limit for Panopto has no impact on recordings moved to other systems, such as your PC, OneDrive, SharePoint, or a website.
Manage Recordings in Panopto
The following actions may be taken in Panopto:
- Review recordings in your folders.
- You can find them by logging into Panopto directly or through myPitt (my.pitt.edu) and clicking the My Folder link on the left side of the page once in Panopto.
- You can also take advantage of the Browse menu option, then select the My Folders tab to search for files and other file locations, such as course folders, that you have Creator access to.
- You may request a report from the Technology Help Desk to see when recordings were last viewed.
- Delete recordings that you no longer need. Deleted recordings are moved to the Panopto Recycle Bin. From here, these recordings can be restored for up to 90 days, then they are permanently deleted.
- Download recordings to store them somewhere else, such as OneDrive. Please keep the following additional information about downloads in mind:
- Bulk download of Panopto recordings is not available.
- Captions, slides, and analytics need to be downloaded separately.
- Embedded quizzes cannot be downloaded.
- The default download output it set to “Side-by-Side”, meaning that primary and secondary streams are downloaded in one video file with the streams side-by-side. If separate streams are required, the output setting needs to be changed for the recording. Additional information is available from Panopto support.
- There is no automatic process to move recordings to OneDrive, or any other service.
- Restore recordings from the archive that you need to be available on demand.
- Archive recordings manually that you do not need in the next 18 months.
Zoom Meeting and Webinar Recordings
Also beginning on July 1, 2023, Zoom meeting and webinar recordings made outside of Canvas will be stored in Zoom instead of Panopto. After 30 days, recordings stored in Zoom will automatically be moved to the Trash, where they will be held for an additional 30 days before they are permanently deleted.
- Recordings in your Zoom trash can be recovered until the end of the 30-day period. You will receive a warning message seven days before the recording is purged.
- Zoom meeting and webinar recordings saved on or before June 30, 2023, will remain in Panopto for 30 months.
- Beginning July 1, 2023, users who wish to continue storing Zoom webinar and meeting recordings in Panopto may opt in to do so. You may also download recordings to your device or upload to other cloud storage, such as OneDrive.
- Local recordings are saved to your device and are not affected by these guidelines.
- Any Zoom webinar and meeting recordings that remain in Panopto after July 1, 2023, are subject to the changes above.
Example: A Zoom meeting that is recorded on June 1, 2024, from outside Canvas, will be moved to the trash folder on July 1, 2024, and purged on July 31, 2024.