How to Fix Frigate Recording Gaps During High Motion
- Storage I/O can't keep up (slow disk)
- Disk write bottleneck under load
- Storage nearly full
Problem Description
Frigate recordings have gaps — missing seconds or minutes of video, especially during periods when multiple cameras detect motion simultaneously. The system cannot keep up with the combined CPU, RAM, and disk I/O demands of decoding, detecting, and recording multiple streams at once.
Why This Happens in Real Homes
Recording gaps during high motion in Frigate are typically an I/O bottleneck — when a lot is happening across cameras, the combined write load can exceed what the storage can sustain, so segments drop and gaps appear. Slow media (an SD card, a network share, or an overloaded disk) is the usual culprit, especially with high-bitrate cameras.
Move recordings to fast local storage (an SSD or a proper HDD rather than an SD card or a slow network mount), and make sure the disk can handle the combined write throughput of all your cameras at their bitrates. Keep storage headroom, lower recording bitrate where quality allows if you're I/O-bound, and reduce CPU load that could starve the recording process. Adequate, fast storage that keeps up with peak write load eliminates the gaps.
Symptoms
- Recording gaps during high motion
- Missing seconds in recordings
- Gaps when lots is happening
- Dropped recording segments
- Footage gaps under load
- Recording skips during activity
- Incomplete recordings
- Gaps at busy times
Recognize these? Here's what usually causes it.
Common Causes
- Storage I/O can't keep up (slow disk)
- Disk write bottleneck under load
- Storage nearly full
- Many cameras writing at once
- FFmpeg/segment writing issues
- High bitrate overwhelming the disk
- SD card / slow media
- CPU overloaded affecting recording
Most fixes happen in the first 3 steps.
Do not tune based on idle-time metrics only.
Tools & Requirements
Step-by-Step Solution
Check system resource usage during high-motion periods
When multiple cameras detect motion simultaneously, Frigate's CPU, RAM, and disk I/O spike. If the system cannot keep up: FFmpeg processes drop frames or crash, creating recording gaps. Monitor the Frigate system dashboard during a high-motion event (someone walking through multiple camera views). If CPU hits 95%+ or RAM is maxed: the system is under-resourced. Options: add a Coral TPU (offloads detection from CPU), add more RAM, or upgrade to an SSD for faster disk writes.
Check disk I/O throughput
Recording multiple high-resolution camera streams simultaneously requires significant disk write throughput. At 1080p with 6 cameras: peak write demand can reach 10-15 MB/s. Spinning hard drives struggle with sustained random writes, especially USB-attached drives. If using a USB HDD: recording gaps correlate with disk I/O bottlenecks. Upgrade to an internal SSD or NVMe drive for recording storage. SSDs handle concurrent writes without the seek-time penalties of spinning disks.
Reduce the record stream bitrate
If disk I/O is the bottleneck: reducing the camera's record stream bitrate decreases write volume. In your camera's web interface: lower the main stream bitrate from 4-6 Mbps to 2-3 Mbps. The video quality decrease is usually minimal at 1080p. You can also switch from VBR (variable bitrate) to CBR (constant bitrate) — CBR produces consistent disk write patterns that are easier for the storage system to handle than VBR spikes.
Set recording mode to motion-only instead of continuous
Continuous recording writes every second of video to disk, even when nothing is happening. Motion-only recording saves significantly: record: enabled: true, retain: mode: motion. Frigate still monitors all cameras continuously but only writes video to disk when motion is detected. This dramatically reduces disk I/O, storage consumption, and the chance of recording gaps during high-motion events because the write queue is smaller.
Separate storage paths for recordings and detect
If recordings and the Frigate database share the same storage device: database writes (event metadata, thumbnail generation) compete with recording writes. Put recordings on a dedicated drive: ffmpeg: output_args: record: -f segment -segment_time 10 -segment_format mp4 -reset_timestamps 1 ... and map the recording path to a separate volume. In Docker: add a second volume mount for recordings separate from the Frigate database.
Quick Solutions
Still having issues? This is usually the deeper cause below.
If the sensor still misses events after repositioning, check whether a scheduled 'home' or 'away' mode is overriding the sensitivity setting silently.
Capacity planning should include high-motion worst-case windows.
This issue almost always looks more complex than it is — the majority of cases trace back to a single setting, a stale credential, or a default that shipped wrong.
- Storage I/O can't keep up (slow disk)
- Disk write bottleneck under load
- Storage nearly full
- Many cameras writing at once
- FFmpeg/segment writing issues
Before you go — try one of these (they fix most cases).
Official Manufacturer Manual
Frigate provides official product documentation through their online manual rather than downloadable PDF. Access setup guides, troubleshooting steps, and product specifications for your Frigate High-Motion Recording.
Source: docs.frigate.video
Need More Help? Frigate Support
Note: The contact information below connects you directly to Frigate's official customer support team, not Trunetto. They can help with warranty claims, device replacements, and advanced technical issues.