How to download call recordings from VICIdial

There are two ways to get a recording off a VICIdial server. For one or two files, use the Admin Recordings report in the browser — it gives you a play link and a download link without touching the command line. For anything bigger, go straight to the filesystem via SCP or SFTP. Both methods are covered here. For background on how Call recording works end-to-end, see VICIdial call recording explained.

Method 1 — Admin Recordings report

The Recordings report is the right tool when a manager or QA analyst needs to pull a specific call they can identify by agent name, date, or phone number.

1. Log in to the VICIdial admin panel.
2. Go to Admin > Reports > Recordings.
3. Set your date range, then optionally filter by agent user, campaign, or phone number.
4. Click Submit. Results show filename, agent, duration, and a play or download link.
5. Click the download icon next to any row. The browser pulls the file in the format stored on disk.

**Heads up:** The report only shows recordings that have a row in the recording_log table. Files that exist on disk but were never logged — for example, after a server crash mid-call — will not appear here. You would need to find those directly on the filesystem.

Method 2 — SCP or SFTP direct filesystem access

When you need more than a handful of files, skip the UI and pull from the filesystem. Completed recordings land in /var/spool/asterisk/monitorDONE/YYYY/MM/DD/ after the call ends. You can navigate that tree using SFTP interactively or transfer specific files with SCP.

Grab a single file that matches a phone number with SCP:

scp admin@dialer:/var/spool/asterisk/monitorDONE/2026/06/24/SALES-18005551234*.wav ./

Or open an SFTP session to browse interactively and pull files one by one. Both approaches require SSH access to the server. Coordinate with your sysadmin if SSH access is locked down or if the asterisk user's files require a group permission change before your account can read them.

WAV vs MP3 — what format you actually get

The Recording format (WAV/MP3) setting in Admin > Servers > Edit Server controls the on-disk format. The download link in the Admin report serves whatever format is stored — there is no automatic transcoding through the UI. Your options:

• WAV (PCM) — highest quality, roughly 1 MB per minute. Best for voice analytics tools that need uncompressed audio.
• GSM WAV — about 125 KB per minute. Adequate for compliance review and manual QA listening.
• MP3 — roughly 60 KB per minute, generated via post-call conversion. Smallest download size, easiest to email or share.

If your server stores GSM but a compliance tool requires WAV, convert locally with sox: sox input.gsm output.wav

flowchart TD
    A[Need a recording] --> B{How many files?}
    B -- One to five --> C[Admin Reports > Recordings]
    C --> D[Filter by date, agent, or phone]
    D --> E[Click download link in browser]
    B -- More than five --> F[SSH to dialer server]
    F --> G[Navigate to monitorDONE/YYYY/MM/DD]
    G --> H[SCP or SFTP transfer to local machine]
    E --> I[File saved locally]
    H --> I

Permissions and access controls

• **SSH key vs password:** Some VICIdial deployments disable password authentication. Make sure your SSH key is added to the server's authorized_keys file before you urgently need a recording.
• **File ownership:** Recording files are typically owned by the asterisk OS user. If your login account cannot read them, add it to the asterisk group or configure sudo-enabled rsync for the transfer.
• **Audit trail:** The Asterisk uniqueid logged in recording_log ties each file back to a specific call in the vicidial_log table. VICIdial also logs when someone plays a recording through the UI. Direct SCP transfers bypass that log, so document them separately if your compliance policy requires a full access trail.

Need to pull many days at once? Bulk downloading recordings for a date range covers rsync and tar-based approaches for large exports.

If you would rather not manage file access yourself, our hosting plans include a recordings portal with role-based access so supervisors and managers can download files without needing SSH.