Video retention

Why 14, 30 and 90 days are the usual answers

Retention is a trade between storage cost and how late an incident surfaces. Footage is heavy, so every extra day kept is disk space paid for, but claims and complaints rarely arrive the same week as the event. A slip in the entrance can turn into a solicitor's letter a month later, and if the footage was overwritten on day 14 there's nothing left to review. Operators pick the shortest period that still covers how late their problems tend to show up, which is why 30 days is such a common default and sites with slower-burning disputes stretch to 90.

What UK guidance expects

The UK ICO's guidance expects retention to be proportionate to purpose: keep footage as long as you need it for the reason you're recording, and no longer. There's no single lawful number, so operators set their own period, write it down and stick to it. None of this is legal advice; if your cameras cover the public or your staff, the policy deserves a proper read of the guidance rather than a number copied from someone else.

Retention when AI reads the footage

Once footage is analysed, the descriptions and indexes derived from it are data too, and a sensible retention policy covers them alongside the video itself. In Svid the on-prem appliances default to 30-day retention and are configurable, including keeping everything; in cloud mode footage stays in the customer's account and can be deleted on request.