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Recording

Recordings can be enabled and are stored at /media/frigate/recordings. The folder structure for the recordings is YYYY-MM-DD/HH/<camera_name>/MM.SS.mp4 in UTC time. These recordings are written directly from your camera stream without re-encoding. Each camera supports a configurable retention policy. Frigate chooses the largest matching retention value between the recording retention and the tracked object retention when determining if a recording should be removed.

New recording segments are written from the camera stream to cache, they are only moved to disk if they match the setup recording retention policy.

tip

To keep a specific clip beyond your retention window, export it rather than increasing retention for the whole camera. Exports are saved separately and are never removed by retention.

H265 recordings can be viewed in Chrome 108+, Edge and Safari only. All other browsers require recordings to be encoded with H264.

Common recording configurations​

Most conservative: Ensure all video is saved​

For users deploying Frigate in environments where it is important to have contiguous video stored even if there was no detectable motion, the following configuration will store all video for 3 days. After 3 days, only video containing motion will be saved for 7 days. After 7 days, only video containing motion and overlapping with alerts or detections will be retained until 30 days have passed.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording.

  • Set Enable recording to on
  • Set Continuous retention > Retention days to 3
  • Set Motion retention > Retention days to 7
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention days to 30
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention mode to all
  • Set Detection retention > Event retention > Retention days to 30
  • Set Detection retention > Event retention > Retention mode to all

Reduced storage: Only saving video when motion is detected​

To reduce storage requirements, configure recording to only retain video where motion or activity was detected.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording.

  • Set Enable recording to on
  • Set Motion retention > Retention days to 3
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention days to 30
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention mode to motion
  • Set Detection retention > Event retention > Retention days to 30
  • Set Detection retention > Event retention > Retention mode to motion

Minimum: Alerts only​

If you only want to retain video that occurs during activity caused by tracked object(s), this configuration will discard video unless an alert is ongoing.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording.

  • Set Enable recording to on
  • Set Continuous retention > Retention days to 0
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention days to 30
  • Set Alert retention > Event retention > Retention mode to motion

Pre-capture and Post-capture​

The pre_capture and post_capture settings control how many seconds of video are included before and after an alert or detection. These can be configured independently for alerts and detections, and can be set globally or overridden per camera.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording for global defaults, or Settings→Camera configuration→(select camera)→Recording to override for a specific camera.

FieldDescription
Alert retention > Pre-capture secondsSeconds of video to include before an alert event
Alert retention > Post-capture secondsSeconds of video to include after an alert event
Detection retention > Pre-capture secondsSeconds of video to include before a detection event
Detection retention > Post-capture secondsSeconds of video to include after a detection event
  • Default: 5 seconds for both pre and post capture.
  • Pre-capture maximum: 60 seconds.
  • These settings apply per review category (alerts and detections), not per object type.

How pre/post capture interacts with retention mode​

The pre_capture and post_capture values define the time window around a review item, but only recording segments that also match the configured retention mode are actually kept on disk.

  • mode: all — Retains every segment within the capture window, regardless of whether motion was detected.
  • mode: motion (default) — Only retains segments within the capture window that contain motion. This includes segments with active tracked objects, since object motion implies motion. Segments without any motion are discarded even if they fall within the pre/post capture range.
  • mode: active_objects — Only retains segments within the capture window where tracked objects were actively moving. Segments with general motion but no active objects are discarded.

This means that with the default motion mode, you may see less footage than the configured pre/post capture duration if parts of the capture window had no motion.

To guarantee the full pre/post capture duration is always retained:

record:
  enabled: True
  alerts:
    pre_capture: 10
    post_capture: 10
    retain:
      days: 30
      mode: all # retains all segments within the capture window
note

Because recording segments are written in 10 second chunks, pre-capture timing depends on segment boundaries. The actual pre-capture footage may be slightly shorter or longer than the exact configured value.

Where to view pre/post capture footage​

Pre and post capture footage is included in the recording timeline, visible in the History view. Note that pre/post capture settings only affect which recording segments are retained on disk — they do not change the start and end points shown in the UI. The History view will still center on the review item's actual time range, but you can scrub backward and forward through the retained pre/post capture footage on the timeline. The Explore view shows object-specific clips that are trimmed to when the tracked object was actually visible, so pre/post capture time will not be reflected there.

Configuring Recording Retention​

Frigate supports both continuous and tracked object based recordings with separate retention modes and retention periods.

tip

Retention configs support decimals meaning they can be configured to retain 0.5 days, for example.

Continuous and Motion Recording​

The number of days to retain continuous and motion recordings can be configured. By default, continuous recording is disabled.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording.

FieldDescription
Enable recordingEnable or disable recording for all cameras
Continuous retention > Retention daysNumber of days to keep continuous recordings
Motion retention > Retention daysNumber of days to keep motion recordings

Continuous recording supports different retention modes which are described below.

Object Recording​

The number of days to retain recordings for review items can be specified for items classified as alerts as well as tracked objects.

Navigate to Settings→Global configuration→Recording.

FieldDescription
Enable recordingEnable or disable recording for all cameras
Alert retention > Event retention > Retention daysNumber of days to keep alert recordings
Detection retention > Event retention > Retention daysNumber of days to keep detection recordings

This configuration will retain recording segments that overlap with alerts and detections for 10 days. Because multiple tracked objects can reference the same recording segments, this avoids storing duplicate footage for overlapping tracked objects and reduces overall storage needs.

Can I have "continuous" recordings, but only at certain times?​

Using Frigate UI, Home Assistant, or MQTT, cameras can be automated to only record in certain situations or at certain times.

How do I export recordings?​

Footage can be exported from Frigate by right-clicking (desktop) or long pressing (mobile) on a review item in the Review pane or by clicking the Export button in the History view. Exported footage is then organized and searchable through the Export view, accessible from the main navigation bar.

Custom export with FFmpeg arguments​

For advanced use cases, the custom export HTTP API lets you pass custom FFmpeg arguments when exporting a recording:

POST /export/custom/{camera_name}/start/{start_time}/end/{end_time}

The request body accepts ffmpeg_input_args and ffmpeg_output_args to control encoding, frame rate, filters, and other FFmpeg options. If neither is provided, Frigate defaults to time-lapse output settings (25x speed, 30 FPS).

The following example exports a time-lapse at 60x speed with 25 FPS:

{
  "name": "Front Door Time-lapse",
  "ffmpeg_output_args": "-vf setpts=PTS/60 -r 25"
}

CPU fallback​

If hardware acceleration is configured and the export fails (e.g., the GPU is unavailable), set cpu_fallback: true in the request body to automatically retry using software encoding.

{
  "name": "My Export",
  "ffmpeg_output_args": "-c:v libx264 -crf 23",
  "cpu_fallback": true
}
note

Non-admin users are restricted from using FFmpeg arguments that can access the filesystem (e.g., -filter_complex, file paths, and protocol references). Admin users have full control over FFmpeg arguments.

tip

When hwaccel_args is configured, hardware encoding is used for exports. This can be overridden per camera (e.g., when camera resolution exceeds hardware encoder limits) by setting a camera-level hwaccel_args. Using an unrecognized value or empty string falls back to software encoding (libx264).

tip

To reduce output file size, add the FFmpeg parameter -qp n to ffmpeg_output_args (where n is the quantization parameter). Adjust the value to balance quality and file size for your scenario.

Apple Compatibility with H.265 Streams​

Apple devices running the Safari browser may fail to playback h.265 recordings. The apple compatibility option should be used to ensure seamless playback on Apple devices.

Syncing Media Files With Disk​

Media files (event snapshots, event thumbnails, review thumbnails, previews, exports, and recordings) can become orphaned when database entries are deleted but the corresponding files remain on disk.

Normal operation may leave small numbers of orphaned files until Frigate's scheduled cleanup, but crashes, configuration changes, or upgrades may cause more orphaned files that Frigate does not clean up. This feature checks the file system for media files and removes any that are not referenced in the database.

The Maintenance pane in the Frigate UI or an API endpoint POST /api/media/sync can be used to trigger a media sync. When using the API, a job ID is returned and the operation continues on the server. Status can be checked with the /api/media/sync/status/{job_id} endpoint.

Setting verbose: true writes a detailed report of every orphaned file and database entry to /config/media_sync/<job_id>.txt. For recordings, the report separates orphaned database entries (DB records whose files are missing from disk) from orphaned files (files on disk with no corresponding database record).

warning

This operation uses considerable CPU resources and includes a safety threshold that aborts if more than 50% of files would be deleted. Only run when necessary. If you set force: true the safety threshold will be bypassed; do not use force unless you are certain the deletions are intended.

Understanding storage usage​

The storage usage Frigate reports will not exactly match what the operating system reports with df or du. This is expected, not a bug. The sections below explain how Frigate derives its storage figures and why they differ from the disk's own accounting.

How Frigate measures recording usage​

The Recordings value on the Storage Metrics page (System→Storage) — and the per-camera Camera Storage breakdown — is the sum of the recording segment sizes Frigate has written, taken from Frigate's database. It is not computed by a scan of the disk. Frigate tracks usage this way by design: repeatedly walking the entire drive to total its size would keep hard drives spun up and add unnecessary I/O.

The disk total shown beside it, and the free-space figure Frigate uses to decide when to delete recordings, instead come from the operating system's report for the whole filesystem mounted at /media/frigate. As a result, the Unused value on the page is total disk capacity minus Frigate's recordings — not the drive's real free space, which will be lower whenever anything else is stored on the disk.

What counts toward usage — and why it won't match df​

Only recording segments (/media/frigate/recordings) are included in the recordings storage total. Plenty of other things consume real disk space but are not part of that number:

  • Snapshots and thumbnails (/media/frigate/clips) — see Snapshots. These are retained independently of recordings.
  • Preview videos and review thumbnails (also under /media/frigate/clips).
  • Exports (/media/frigate/exports) — exports are never removed by retention.
  • The database, downloaded detection models, and face / license plate training images (stored under /config).
  • Debug images from enrichments (/media/frigate/clips) — when enabled, License Plate Recognition's debug_save_plates and GenAI's debug_save_thumbnails save plate crops and request images for troubleshooting.

These files are the usual explanation for an "other" or seemingly unaccounted bucket of space — it is real, it is Frigate's, and it simply isn't part of the recordings total. They are also why comparing the Recordings figure to df -h always shows a gap: df additionally counts any non-Frigate data on the disk, filesystem overhead and reserved blocks (ext4 reserves ~5% for root by default, so a disk can read "full" before recordings approach the total), and recently deleted recordings whose space has not yet been reclaimed.

tip

The Storage page is not intended to be a system-wide disk monitor — it shows how much space Frigate's recordings use. To see true disk usage, use df -h (free space) and du -sh (per-directory usage) on the host.

Free space and the /media/frigate mount​

Frigate reports the capacity and free space of whatever filesystem is actually mounted at /media/frigate inside the container. If an external drive or network share isn't truly mounted there — a missing /etc/fstab entry, a share that was offline when the container started, or a host that doesn't pass the path through — the container falls back to the host's OS disk, and Frigate will correctly report that smaller disk instead of the drive you intended.

If the reported capacity doesn't match your drive, the mount is the place to look, not Frigate. Verify what is actually mounted from inside the container:

docker exec -it frigate df -h /media/frigate
docker exec -it frigate mount | grep media

See the storage mount layout for how the volumes are expected to be configured.

The /tmp/cache area is separate​

Recording segments are first written to /tmp/cache — a small, in-memory (tmpfs) area — before being checked and moved to /media/frigate/recordings. Because it is separate and small, /tmp/cache can fill up and produce No space left on device errors even when the recordings disk has plenty of room — they are different storage areas. See Recordings troubleshooting for diagnosing cache and slow-storage issues.

When the metrics don't match what's on disk​

Because usage is tracked in the database, deleting recording files directly on disk — or files left behind after an upgrade — will not update the reported usage, and can even push it above 100%. Frigate is unaware of files it didn't record and won't count or remove them automatically. Use Syncing Media Files With Disk to reconcile the database with what is actually on disk.

Will Frigate delete old recordings if my storage runs out?​

Yes. Frigate continuously checks the free space of the disk holding /media/frigate/recordings. This is different from adding up the size of every recording: free space is a single number the operating system already tracks, so Frigate can ask for it instantly without reading through your files or spinning up the disk — which is exactly why it relies on this check rather than scanning the drive. When less than roughly one hour of recording space remains — estimated from the current recording bitrate, not a fixed percentage — Frigate deletes the oldest recordings to reclaim space and logs a message. This emergency cleanup removes the oldest recordings first regardless of retention settings.

Two consequences follow from this being based on whole-disk free space:

  • Because the check uses the disk's real free space, anything filling the drive — including non-Frigate files — can trigger deletion of your oldest recordings.
  • Cleanup can run while a meaningful percentage of the disk is still free (for example, with high bitrates or many cameras), because the threshold is "less than ~1 hour of recording headroom," not "X% full."

Frequent emergency cleanups usually mean your configured retention exceeds what the disk can hold. Reduce your retention days so the normal retention cleanup keeps up and the emergency path rarely triggers.