# Introduction Stream offers several recording types to suit different use cases: - **Composite recording:** Creates a recording file using a headless browser that uses a composition layout. There are several types of layouts that you can choose from and styling options that can be changed including custom CSS. - **Individual recording:** Creates one or more files for each participant in a call. You can capture audio-only, video-only, and/or a combined audio+video file. This is useful if you want to have audio/video in separate files. - **Raw recording:** Creates a zip file containing raw data from all participants. This is the most cost-effective option and gives you maximum flexibility for custom post-processing. Post-processing is necessary to create audio/video playable files. - **Frame recording:** Captures periodic still images (frames) from each participant's video and delivers them in real-time via webhooks. Ideal for live moderation and AI-powered content analysis during calls. It is possible to have more than one recording for the same call (eg. composite and raw) running at same time. It is not possible to have multiple recordings of the same type on the same call run at same time. ## Quick comparison | **Type** | **Output** | **Pricing** | **Typical latency** | **Best for** | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | | Composite | 1 file (audio/video or audio-only) | Most expensive | ~5 minutes | Ready-to-share video or audio-only | | Individual | Up to 6 files per participant | Cheaper | ~5 minutes | Editing, AI processing | | Raw | 1 archive + metadata (optionally audio-only) | Cheapest | ~5 minutes | Lowest cost, custom post-processing, infrequent usage | | Frame | JPEG images via webhook | Cheapest | ~5 seconds | Live moderation, AI analysis | ### Composite Recording (Audio-only or Audio/Video) Composite recordings are created using a web-app and a headless browser, this makes them very easy to use and convenient if you need something similar that can be configured easily and with minimal effort. This type of recording is also the most expensive and cannot be used if you need to process audio/video for each participant individually. Common use-cases: - **Team meetings and all-hands:** Capture the entire meeting with all participants visible in a single video, ready to share with those who couldn't attend. - **Webinars and training:** Record presentations and educational sessions in a format that's immediately ready for playback and distribution. - **Legal compliance:** Document formal proceedings with all parties visible in a single, timestamped recording for regulatory requirements. [Learn more about composite recording](/video/docs/api/recording/composite/) ### Individual Recording This type of recording gives you 1 or more files for each participant in a call. These files can be used without any processing. This type of recording is usually cheaper than composite. Common use-cases: - **Post-production editing:** Record each participant separately for professional video editing with individual audio control and camera switching. - **Content moderation:** Review and moderate individual participant contributions more effectively than composite recordings, with easier isolation of specific content. - **AI and LLM processing:** Process individual tracks for transcription, summarization, sentiment analysis, or action item extraction—easier to attribute content to specific speakers than with composite recordings. [Learn more about individual recording](/video/docs/api/recording/individual-track/) ### Raw Recording With raw recording you receive low-level data and metadata in a zip-file. You must use a CLI tool to process the zip-file and extract audio/video. You can use this if you want to have redundancy, or if you need to archive all calls but only access them infrequently. Common use-cases: - **Maximum flexibility:** Allows you to re-encode, debug, replay sessions, and generate any other recording type in post-production with full control over encoding options and quality settings. - **Redundancy:** Call recordings can fail, you can use raw recording next to composite/individual as a cheap fallback. - **Cost-effective archival:** Store at the lowest cost while preserving the ability to generate recordings later as requirements change. [Learn more about raw recording](/video/docs/api/recording/raw/) ### Frame Recording Frame recording gives you still frames every few seconds for all participants in a call. This is very useful if you want to perform video moderation in real-time. If you use Stream moderation for video, it uses this recorder to capture images. [Learn more about frame recording](/video/docs/api/recording/frame-recording/) ## Pricing Considerations Understanding the cost of different recording types helps you choose the most cost-effective option for your use case: In this guide, a 'track' refers to a single participant's audio, video, screen-share-audio or screen-share-video stream. - **Composite recording:** Priced per minute of call duration. Costs vary by output quality (audio-only, SD, HD, FHD, 4K) due to real-time transcoding and compositing. - **Individual recording:** Priced per minute of each audio and/or video track recorded. Cost scales linearly with the number of participants and tracks. For calls with many participants, individual recording can become more expensive than composite recording since you pay for each track separately. However, for single-participant or small group calls, it may be more cost-effective than high-quality composite recordings. - **Raw recording:** Priced per minute of call duration, raw recorder is counted as participant and cost will align with this. This is the most cost-effective option since it requires minimal processing—just capturing raw data into a single archive per call. Note that you may need to invest in post-processing infrastructure to generate playable files. - **Frame recording:** Priced per minute of call duration, frame recorder is counted as participant and cost will align with this. When choosing a recording type, balance convenience against cost. Composite recordings provide immediate usability at a fixed cost per call (varying by quality). Individual and raw recordings offer more flexibility but with costs that scale per participant. For large calls, composite may be more economical. For smaller calls or when maximum flexibility is needed, individual or raw recordings may be preferable. --- This page was last updated at 2026-06-23T15:37:00.268Z. For the most recent version of this documentation, visit [https://getstream.io/video/docs/react/recording/introduction/](https://getstream.io/video/docs/react/recording/introduction/).