Can I record an interview?
Interviews are the one situation where asking is completely normal, so the consent question is usually straightforward. The obligations that catch people out come afterwards: what you may publish, what you promised about attribution and anonymity, and — for research — what your ethics approval actually permits.
Check your own situation
The answer depends on where you are, where everyone else is, and what you plan to do with the recording. The checker runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Check Recording RulesAsk properly, once, on the recording
The standard practice exists because it works:
"With your permission, I'd like to record this interview for accuracy. Please tell me whether you consent, and whether there are any limits on quotation or publication."
Two details make this better than a casual "mind if I record?":
- Get the answer on the recording. It takes three seconds and settles later disputes about whether permission was given.
- Ask about limits at the same time. Whether something is on the record, off the record, or on background is far easier to establish at the start than to reconstruct afterwards.
Recording is not publishing
This is the distinction that matters most for interviews. Permission to record is not permission to publish, and several jurisdictions restrict communicating or publishing a recording in a separate provision from the one covering the recording itself.
Beyond the recording statutes, publication can raise defamation, privacy and copyright questions, and can engage data-protection obligations for the material you hold about an identifiable person.
Where the interviewee is matters too
If you are interviewing someone in another state or country, more than one rule may be relevant. Which one applies is decided case by case. The practical answer is the same as the professional one: get clear, recorded consent from everyone, which holds up regardless.
Run the checker with your location and theirs to see the reviewed rule for each.
Research interviews
Academic and market research adds a layer: ethics approval, participant information sheets, consent forms, retention limits and anonymisation commitments. Those are contractual and institutional obligations, and they are frequently stricter than the law. Whatever you promised the participant about how long you would keep the audio is a promise you have to keep.
Vulnerable interviewees and minors
Where an interviewee is a child or is otherwise vulnerable, consent, safeguarding and child-protection considerations apply on top of everything else, and a child's own agreement may not be treated as valid consent.
Handling the audio
Interview audio often contains material the interviewee expects you to look after — a promise of anonymity is meaningless if the recording goes to a third-party service under terms you have not read. Transcribing on-device keeps it out of another company's systems, which is a smaller decision than it sounds until the interview is sensitive.
This page is general legal information, not legal advice. Rules differ by location and change over time, and an important situation deserves a qualified local lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need written consent to record an interview?
Not always, but recorded verbal consent at the start of the interview is straightforward and durable. For research, publication or anything sensitive, written consent that also covers use and retention is better.
Can I publish a recording someone agreed to be interviewed for?
Publication is a separate step from recording, with its own rules. Ask about quotation and publication limits when you ask about recording, and honour whatever you agreed.
What does 'off the record' mean legally?
It is a professional convention rather than a legal term, and different people mean different things by it. Agree explicitly what may be used and how it may be attributed rather than relying on the phrase.
Can I record an interview with someone in another country?
More than one rule may be relevant, and this tool does not determine which applies. Clear recorded consent from the interviewee is the approach that works across the widest range of rules.
Related guides
Go deeper
After consent is handled
BlackBox records and transcribes on your device without automatically uploading conversations to BlackBox servers. That limits how far audio travels — it does not replace consent, workplace, privacy or disclosure obligations.