How do I export a security camera clip for police or insurance?

The short answer. Export the clip from the recorder or the camera app itself, not from a screen recording. Pick the camera and the time, start a minute or two before the event and end a minute or two after, and save it at original quality in the system’s own export. Keep that original file untouched, give the police or the insurer a copy, and write down the camera name, the date and the time. IntegrateIT installs camera systems across the Kansas City metro on both sides of the state line, and the steps for UniFi Protect, Axis and Avigilon are below.

This page is general practice and the makers’ own instructions. It is not legal advice, and what a police department or an insurer asks for varies. The first thing to do is ask them what format and what delivery they want, and that call can happen while the export is running.

Do it today, not when the report is filed

Cameras do not keep footage forever. A recorder or a cloud service holds footage for a set time or until its storage fills, and then it records over the oldest. How long that takes depends on how the system was set up. So the order is: export first, call second. A clip that has been exported is safe even if the recorder overwrites the original an hour later.

Five rules that apply to every system

1. Export at original quality. Use the system’s own export function, not a screenshot or a phone recording of the screen. A screen recording is a copy of a copy, with lower quality and none of the details the recorder stores.
2. Include the time. Choose a window that starts before the event and ends after it, and write down the camera name, the date and the start and end time. Look at the recorder’s clock against your phone; if it is off, note by how much.
3. Keep the original. Save the first export somewhere safe and do not open it in an editor. Hand over a copy.
4. Do not edit it. No trimming in a video app, no brightening, no zooming in a way that replaces the file, no blurring a face. If someone wants a closer look, they can ask for it, and you hand over the original again.
5. Check that it plays. Open the exported file on a different computer before you hand it over. Some native formats need the maker’s own player, and that player has to travel with the file.

If more than one camera saw the event, export each camera separately and name the files for the camera and the time. A driveway camera and a front-door camera together tell a fuller story than either does alone.

What police and insurers usually ask for

Requirements vary by agency and by insurer, so treat this as a list of questions to ask, not rules. Ask which file type they accept, whether they want the system’s own player included, whether a USB drive, a download link or an email attachment is acceptable, and whether they want clips from other cameras around the same time. An insurer may also ask for the original clip and the date it was exported. Having the original saved answers most of those questions before they are asked.

Step by step: UniFi Protect

UniFi Protect is Ubiquiti’s camera platform, and the clip is exported from the Protect app or its web page. Ubiquiti’s help center describes two routes. In the mobile app, tap the Share icon and choose Export clip. In a web browser, open Playback or Find Anything, select the clip and use the Download icon. Check how recording is set before you count on footage between events, because a camera set to record only on events may have nothing else to export. Protect can also archive footage to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or a NAS under Settings, Off-Site Archiving, which gives you a second copy outside the recorder.

Step by step: Axis cameras

AXIS Camera Station Pro is Axis’s own recording software, and its export follows a few steps. In the Recordings tab, select the camera or view, show the selection markers and drag them to cover the footage you need. Open the Export tab, click Export, choose a folder and confirm. The export then appears in the Tasks tab. Your account needs permission to export, so check that before you need it.

The export options are worth knowing, because they change what the recipient can do with the file:

Option	What it does
Format	.asf, .mp4 or .mkv. MP4 exports do not include G.711 or G.726 audio.
Include AXIS File Player	Adds the Axis player to the export folder, so the recipient can open the file without installing anything.
Include notes	Adds your recording notes as a text file and as a bookmark in the player.
Add digital signature	Helps detect tampering. Available for .asf only; the player verifies it under Tools, Verify digital signature.
Export to Zip file	Packages the export as a Zip, with an optional password.

For a handover, one option is the digital signature on an .asf export with the player included, plus an MP4 copy for anyone who wants an ordinary video file. Ask the recipient which they prefer.

Step by step: Avigilon

Avigilon’s own guide describes a quick export. While you are watching the video, right-click the view or the timeline and choose Quick Export. In the Time Range for Export section, set the From, To and Duration fields, choose a file type, and optionally set a password for a native video export. Click Export and save the file. You can keep working while it runs. For several clips, use the Export tab, select the files, click Export and pick a folder.

The file type matters. Avigilon’s native format, AVE, plays in the Avigilon Player, which can check the file against tampering and can re-export it into other formats. The Player can be included with the export. AVI and MP4 are there for recipients who just want a video file, and each has its own quality or resolution settings. If the footage may contain identity data such as license plate or face recognition information, Avigilon shows a warning when the password and identity data boxes were not selected, so decide before you export who should receive it.

If your system is a cloud camera

If your camera keeps clips with the maker’s cloud service, look in its app for a download or share option. The same five rules apply: download the original clip, do not screen-record it, and note the camera and the time. Check how long the service keeps clips, because that setting decides how long you have. Our article on recorder versus cloud camera storage explains where footage lives in each case and why it matters when you need it.

Set it up now so the export is easy later

The worst time to learn your system is after an incident. A few minutes now makes the day easier:

• Do a test export of a short clip, play it on another computer and see what the file looks like.
• Check the clock on the recorder or the camera app against your phone.
• Name each camera for what it sees, such as driveway or front door, so exports are labeled correctly.
• Make sure an account can export. Some accounts can watch footage and not save it.
• Know the recording mode. A camera that records only on events may not have the minute before the event you need.

Footage is only as useful as the camera’s view and the light it had. Where cameras go is covered in where to put security cameras on a house, and why night footage is blurry covers the nights.

What we do

We design and install residential camera systems across the Kansas City metro, and the account, the clock and the camera names are what we look at when you ask us about exporting. (Residential surveillance, the whole service.) If you already have UniFi cameras, the Ubiquiti UniFi page explains how we work with that platform.

About IntegrateIT. We have integrated hundreds of homes across the Kansas City metro since 2021, from our showroom and design center in Overland Park, a Control4 Platinum Dealer with a Control4 Certified Showroom.

— Daniel Alon, co-founder, IntegrateIT. Overland Park, KS. November 2026.

Further reading

Where to go next if this article gave you the framework but you want the brand- or install-specific depth.

• Service: residential surveillance · Kansas CityCamera systems designed, installed and handed over so you can use them.→
• Article: recorder or cloud camera storageWhere footage lives, and what that means when you need a clip.→
• Article: where to put security cameras on a houseThe views that give you a clip worth exporting.→
• Article: why night camera footage is blurryLight, motion and settings behind the clip you cannot read.→
• Ubiquiti UniFi · Kansas CityThe platform behind UniFi Protect cameras.→
• Axis cameras and intercoms · Kansas CityThe Axis camera line we carry.→
• Avigilon video and access control · Kansas CityThe Avigilon video platform we carry.→

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