How to Record a GoTo Meeting on Mac (and Skip the WebM File)

GoTo Meeting's Record button has two catches that only show up when you need it. First, it belongs to the organizer and co-organizers; everyone else in the meeting can't record. Second, when the organizer records to their own computer, GoTo saves the file as WebM, a format QuickTime Player won't open. GoTo's own help page tells you to find a third-party converter.

If you just need a clean MP4 of the call on your Mac, from whichever seat you're in, there are faster routes. Here are four, starting with the built-in one.

Quick comparison

Method 1: GoTo Meeting's built-in recorder

Before you press Record

• Your role. Only the organizer and co-organizers can record. If you're an attendee, ask the organizer to record and send you the file, or to make you a co-organizer.
• Desktop app for local recording. Recording to your computer only works in the GoTo desktop app. If you joined from Chrome or another browser, you'll only have cloud recording, if your account has it.
• Free disk space. GoTo asks for at least 5 GB free in the folder where local recordings go.
• Mac permissions. The GoTo app needs Microphone, Screen Recording and Camera turned on in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Without Screen Recording, shared screens come out blank.
• Your own audio service. If the meeting uses your own conference-call line instead of GoTo's audio, GoTo notes that cloud recordings won't include that audio conference.

Steps

1. Start or join the meeting in the GoTo desktop app.
2. If you want slides or an app in the recording, start sharing your screen first.
3. Click Record. The icon lights up and attendees get a notice that the meeting is being recorded.
4. To take notes as you go, hover over Record and choose Take notes.
5. To pause, click Record again. Pausing and resuming keeps everything in one file.
6. End the recording by clicking Record once more, or by ending the session for everyone.

Where the file goes

Cloud recordings appear in your GoTo account a few minutes after the session ends. Local recordings go to the folder you chose; by default that's your Documents folder.

Limits worth knowing

• WebM only for local files. You'll need to convert the file before QuickTime Player will open it.
• Length caps. A recording stops at 8 hours, or at 2 hours if nobody else joins, or at 20 GB.
• What's captured. The presenter's screen, the audio conference and any shared applications. You don't get a layout choice or any editing.

For a quick archive of a meeting you organised, that's fine. For anything you want to send to a client or a teammate, the WebM file is where the extra work starts.

Already have a WebM? Convert it to MP4

If the organizer has already sent you a GoTo recording, you don't need to re-record anything. The free command-line tool ffmpeg converts it in one line. Install it with Homebrew (brew install ffmpeg), open Terminal in the folder with the file, and run:

ffmpeg -i meeting.webm -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac meeting.mp4

-c:v libx264 re-encodes the video as H.264, which every Mac app understands, and -c:a aac does the same for the sound. -crf 20 keeps quality high; raise it to 23 or 26 for a smaller file. Expect the conversion to take a while for an hour-long meeting, because every frame is re-encoded.

Online converters work too, but think twice before uploading a client call or an internal meeting to a website you don't know.

Method 2: Screenify Studio (any seat, straight to MP4)

Screenify Studio records your Mac's screen and its sound at the system level. GoTo has no say in it, so it works whether you organised the meeting, joined as an attendee, or were dropped into the session from a calendar link. When you're done you export an MP4 that plays everywhere, or skip the file and send a link.

Steps

1. Download Screenify Studio and launch it before the meeting. Allow Screen Recording when macOS asks; if the setting doesn't seem to apply, quit and reopen the app.
2. Join your GoTo meeting.
3. In Screenify Studio, click Start Recording to open the recording HUD.
4. Pick Window, hover over the GoTo meeting window, and press Space to start. Other apps, your Dock and your desktop stay out of the frame. If you'd rather capture a region (say, just the shared presentation), choose Area and drag a rectangle around it; recording only that area keeps every pixel sharp instead of cropping later.
5. Switch on System Audio to capture everyone else in the call (macOS 13 or later) and Microphone for your own voice. The two are saved as separate tracks.
6. When the meeting wraps up, press Esc from any app to stop.

Northwind MeetFileViewWindow

Northwind Meet · Weekly sync

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FullscreenWindowAreaDeviceSystem AudioMicrophoneRecord0:42

Smart ClippingAI-powered silence & dead time detection

Talking Dead time

Apply 3 AI Suggestions — Remove 94s

1 Turn on System Audio + Microphone2 Window → hover the call → Space3 Esc to stop4 Smart Clipping cuts the dead time

Turning a 50-minute call into something people watch

• Silence removal. AI Smart Clipping detects dead air (the opening small talk while people trickle in, the long pause while someone finds a file) and trims it. Free on every plan.
• A cleaner voice. Noise Reduction removes everyday fan noise, hum and hiss from your microphone track on every plan. Pro's Studio mode also clears a loud fan and keyboard clatter.
• Readable screen shares. Press Z at the playhead to drop in a zoom segment, so a dense dashboard or code review is legible at the size people watch on.
• Subtitles. AI Captions (Pro) generate subtitles from the call on your Mac.
• A link instead of an attachment. In the export dialog, choose Shareable link rather than MP4. Screenify Studio uploads the video and gives you a URL. Free includes 3 links that stay live for 7 days; Pro removes both limits.

On plans: Screenify Studio's free plan records the full meeting with no time limit and exports 1080p videos up to 5 minutes with a watermark, which covers a highlight clip. Exporting the full call in 4K without a watermark is part of Pro: $19 a month, $119 a year, or $149 one-time.

Why this suits GoTo meetings

GoTo is common for sales demos, customer support sessions and webinars run by small teams. Those recordings have a second life: the demo goes to the prospect's boss, the support session becomes a help-center video. That second life needs a short MP4 or a link, not a raw WebM file that the recipient can't double-click.

Method 3: OBS Studio

OBS records any window with no limits and writes MP4 directly, so it avoids the WebM problem too. The cost is setup time.

Steps

1. Install OBS from obsproject.com, then grant Screen Recording and Microphone access when macOS prompts.
2. Create a scene called "GoTo" with the + under Scenes.
3. Add macOS Screen Capture as a source and point it at the GoTo meeting window.
4. Add macOS Audio Capture and choose the GoTo app, so remote voices are recorded. This needs macOS 13 or newer; older versions need BlackHole as in Method 4.
5. Add Audio Input Capture for your microphone.
6. In Settings → Output → Recording, pick mp4 as the format and a hardware encoder to keep the call smooth.
7. Click Start Recording as the meeting opens and Stop Recording when it ends.

Trade-offs

You get the full, unedited call. Trimming the first five minutes of waiting, or sending the result as a link, happens in other tools. And if GoTo opens screen sharing in a new window, your window source may keep pointing at the old one; recording the full display avoids that.

Method 4: QuickTime Player + BlackHole

QuickTime Player comes with every Mac and saves .mov files that open anywhere on macOS. Its gap is sound: by itself it can't record what the meeting plays through your speakers. BlackHole, a free virtual audio driver, fills that gap.

Route the meeting audio

1. Install BlackHole 2ch from existential.audio/blackhole.
2. In Audio MIDI Setup (Applications → Utilities), click + → Create Multi-Output Device.
3. Tick your headphones and BlackHole 2ch, keeping the headphones first.
4. Set System Settings → Sound → Output to that Multi-Output Device.

Record the call

1. Open QuickTime Player → File → New Screen Recording.
2. Under Options, choose BlackHole 2ch as the microphone.
3. Record the whole screen or drag around the GoTo window, then click Record.
4. Stop from the menu bar and save the movie.
5. Put Sound → Output back to your usual device afterwards; the volume keys don't control a Multi-Output Device.

Trade-offs

Your own voice isn't in the recording with this setup, because QuickTime's microphone input is now BlackHole. Combining both requires an Aggregate Device in Audio MIDI Setup, and then all voices share one track you can't balance later.

Which method should you use?

• You organised the meeting and only need an archive. Use GoTo's recorder. Cloud recording saves you the WebM step if your account includes it.
• You're an attendee, or you need to send the recording to someone. Use Screenify Studio. It records from any seat, removes the dead air, and gives you an MP4 or a link the other person can open without installing anything.
• You record long meetings every day and don't need editing. OBS costs nothing and has no length limit, as long as you're happy to set it up once.
• You need a recording right now and can't install much. QuickTime with BlackHole works, but plan five minutes for the audio routing and remember to undo it afterwards.

One more thing to settle up front is where the recording will end up. If it's going to a customer, record only the GoTo window rather than your whole display, so your other tabs, files and notifications never make it into the video in the first place.

Recording other people: get consent

GoTo's built-in recorder announces itself to attendees. Other recorders on your Mac don't, so letting people know is on you. Consent rules differ between countries and between US states, and some require every participant to agree. Your company may have its own policy on top. Say "I'm recording this so I can share it with the team" at the start, and you've covered yourself.

Troubleshooting

There's no Record button

You're an attendee, not an organizer or co-organizer. Ask the organizer to promote you, or record with one of the Mac methods above.

Local recording isn't offered in the browser

You joined from a web browser. Local recording needs the GoTo desktop app. Either switch to the app or use cloud recording if your account has it.

The recording is a .webm file I can't open

That's GoTo's local recording format. Convert it to MP4 before editing, or next time record with Screenify Studio or OBS, which save an MP4 from the start.

The recording stopped by itself

GoTo ends a recording at 8 hours or 20 GB, and much sooner, at 2 hours, when nobody else is in the meeting. That last one catches people who open the room early and start recording while they wait. Start recording once attendees have joined, or record with a Mac screen recorder, which keeps going until you stop it or the disk fills up.

The recording is blank where the shared screen should be

The GoTo app is missing the Screen Recording permission. Turn it on under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording, then quit and reopen GoTo.

Remote voices are missing from my screen recording

In Screenify Studio, turn on System Audio before you start (it requires macOS 13 or later). In OBS, open the macOS Audio Capture source and make sure GoTo is selected. With QuickTime, check that your output is the Multi-Output Device and that QuickTime's microphone is BlackHole.

The meeting window moved to another display

In Screenify Studio, Window capture follows the window, so dragging GoTo to your second monitor mid-call is fine. Just avoid resizing the window while recording: the video size is fixed when you start, and a resize leaves black bars. In OBS, re-select the window in the source if it goes black.

My voice echoes in the recording

Your microphone is picking up the meeting from your speakers. Wear headphones. In Screenify Studio, the meeting sound and your mic are separate tracks, so you can also lower the mic track afterwards without touching anyone else.

FAQ

Can attendees record a GoTo meeting?

Not with GoTo's recorder. Recording is limited to organizers and co-organizers. An attendee can record with a Mac screen recorder such as Screenify Studio, OBS or QuickTime with BlackHole, and should tell the other participants first.

Where are GoTo Meeting recordings saved on a Mac?

Local recordings go to the folder you selected, which is your Documents folder by default. Cloud recordings show up in your GoTo account a few minutes after the meeting ends.

Why is my GoTo recording a WebM file?

GoTo saves every local recording as WebM. To get an MP4, convert the file, or record with a tool that writes MP4 directly, like Screenify Studio or OBS.

How long can a GoTo Meeting recording be?

Up to 8 hours, or 2 hours if no one else is in the meeting, with a 20 GB size limit. Screen recorders on your Mac have no such cap; Screenify Studio records for as long as the meeting runs.

Can I record a GoTo meeting from Chrome?

Not to your computer. Local recording requires the GoTo desktop app. A Mac screen recorder captures the browser window just as well as the app.

Can I record a GoTo meeting for free on a Mac?

Yes. Organizers can use the built-in recorder. OBS and QuickTime with BlackHole are free for anyone. Screenify Studio's free plan records the full meeting; free exports are 1080p, up to 5 minutes, with a watermark, and Pro exports the full call in 4K without one.

Should I use cloud or local recording?

If your account has cloud recording and you're the organizer, it's the easier option: nothing to store, no 5 GB of free space needed, and the recording waits in your GoTo account. Local recording suits organizers whose plan lacks cloud recording, or who don't want the file stored with GoTo, and then the WebM conversion comes with it.

Does recording slow down the call?

A little, on older Macs. Close heavy apps, plug in your laptop, and in OBS use the hardware encoder. Turning off your own camera also frees up resources if the call starts lagging.

Related guides

• How to Record Internal Audio on Mac: the sound side of every method above
• How to Record Microsoft Teams Meetings on Mac
• How to Record a Zoom Meeting on Mac
• How to Record a Webinar on Mac