Microsoft Teams does not save recordings to your computer. It saves them to OneDrive or SharePoint. A regular meeting recording goes to the OneDrive of the person who pressed record. A channel meeting recording goes to the SharePoint site for that team instead.
So there are two different places to look, and which one applies depends on the kind of meeting rather than anything you did.
For an ordinary meeting, the recording lands in the OneDrive of whoever started it, in a Recordings folder. Everyone else who was invited normally gets view access automatically, but the file belongs to the recorder's account.
For a channel meeting, it goes to the SharePoint document library of that team, in a Recordings folder. That one is easier to find later because it is tied to the team rather than to a person.
The quickest route to either is through Teams itself. Open the meeting in your calendar or the chat for that meeting, and the recording is linked there once processing finishes. That link is more reliable than guessing at folder paths.
Someone else recorded it. Then it is in their OneDrive, and if they did not share it, you cannot see it. This is the most common answer.
You were not able to record. Teams restricts recording by role, licence and administrator policy, and external guests usually cannot record at all. If the button was missing or greyed out, no file exists. Recording a Teams meeting when you are not the organizer covers what your role allows.
The person who recorded it has left. When someone leaves an organization their OneDrive is eventually removed, and recordings sitting in it go with it. This catches teams months later, when a handover has already happened and nobody thought about the recordings.
It expired. Teams meeting recordings can be set to delete themselves automatically after a set period, and administrators control that setting. This is worth understanding properly, because it removes files nobody chose to delete. There is more on it in what to do when a Teams recording has expired.
Check the OneDrive or SharePoint recycle bin first, since deleted files sit there for a while before being purged. If you are in a company account, an administrator may be able to look in a second-stage recycle bin that you cannot see, so it is worth asking rather than giving up.
Past that, it is gone. An expired recording is not archived somewhere else, and neither is one that disappeared with someone's departed account.
All of the above comes from the same root: the recording was made by your employer's system, stored in your employer's cloud, and governed by policies you did not set. That is entirely reasonable for company meetings. It is less reasonable for your own client calls.
Jotted records from your desktop instead of joining the call, so the file is written to your own disk as the meeting happens. No role requirement, no licence check, no expiry date, and nothing that disappears when someone else's account is closed. On the free plan nothing is uploaded anywhere. There is more on where recordings are stored and what happens if you cancel.
For today's missing file though, start in the meeting chat in Teams and follow the link from there.
In OneDrive or SharePoint rather than on your computer. A regular meeting recording goes to the OneDrive of the person who started it, and a channel meeting recording goes to the SharePoint site for that team.
Because it sits in their OneDrive and belongs to their account. Invited attendees usually get view access automatically, but if they did not, the person who recorded it has to share it with you.
Their OneDrive is eventually removed, and recordings stored in it go with it. Recordings that matter long term should be moved somewhere that is not tied to one person's account.
They can. Administrators can set meeting recordings to expire after a period, after which they are deleted without anyone choosing to delete them.
Check the OneDrive or SharePoint recycle bin first. In a company account an administrator may also be able to check a second-stage recycle bin you cannot see, so ask before giving up.
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