Recordings in their native Blackboard Collaborate format cannot be watched on mobile devices. However, with the Recording Converter, they can be converted to MP3 and MP4 formats, which can be viewed on any device that supports playing MP3/MP4 formats. This includes iOS and Android devices and most other mobile devices that are Internet enabled (or that have the ability to sync files from a desktop system). The files can be streamed from the hosted Streaming Service or downloaded and synced locally for playback when offline.

There is a limit to the number of MP4 views (including downloads) that are allowed by your institution per year (the default is 10,000 views per year per login group). If you reach this limit, you will receive an error message instructing you to view the original recording (VCR file) instead.

Only Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing version 11 or higher recordings can be converted using the Recording Converter.

Not all institutions support conversion of recordings to MP3 and MP4 formats, so consult your system administrator for details on availability of the Recording Converter and Streaming Service at your institution.

  • MP3 files - MP3 files contain Audio content only. Audio in this case means audio generated by pressing the Talk button. Any audio that comes from other sources, such as playing multimedia files, is not captured in a separate audio stream and cannot be converted to an MP3 file.
  • MP4 files - MP4 files contain the Audio, Whiteboard and Application Sharing content. All other information (including Chat, Polling, emoticon feedback, Web Tour, Video and Multimedia content) will not be retained in the converted MP4 format. The original, native Blackboard Collaborate recording (VCR file) should be viewed to see this content.

To convert pre-version 11 Blackboard Collaborate recordings to MP3 and MP4, or to convert to other file formats, use Blackboard Collaborate Publish. Learn more about Publish (available in English only).

Session owners (or their Managers and Administrators) can convert their recordings from the My Recordings page. 

To convert a recording, simply click the Convert button for the format you need.

It generally takes just a few minutes to convert a recording to the MP3 format. Converting to the MP4 format will take more than double the length of the original recording (so a 1-hour recording will take more than two hours to convert). However, if there is a high volume of conversion requests from others, it may take even longer.