diff --git a/src/backend/core/api/viewsets.py b/src/backend/core/api/viewsets.py
index 5fcf6bbf..75880908 100644
--- a/src/backend/core/api/viewsets.py
+++ b/src/backend/core/api/viewsets.py
@@ -340,8 +340,9 @@ class RoomViewSet(
                 status=drf_status.HTTP_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
             )
 
-        if settings.METADATA_COLLECTOR_ENABLED and recording.options.get(
-            "transcribe", False
+        if settings.METADATA_COLLECTOR_ENABLED and (
+            recording.mode == models.RecordingModeChoices.TRANSCRIPT
+            or recording.options.get("transcribe", False)
         ):
             try:
                 MetadataCollectorService().start(recording)
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/recording/components/TranscriptSidePanel.tsx b/src/frontend/src/features/recording/components/TranscriptSidePanel.tsx
index ef715fd0..b9d447f1 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/recording/components/TranscriptSidePanel.tsx
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/recording/components/TranscriptSidePanel.tsx
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ export const TranscriptSidePanel = () => {
           ...(!isLanguageSetToAuto && {
             language: selectedLanguageKey,
           }),
-          transcribe: true,
           ...(includeScreenRecording && {
+            transcribe: true,
             original_mode: RecordingMode.Transcript,
           }),
         }