How to Transcribe a Zoom Recording After the Meeting

If you recorded to the cloud on a paid plan, Zoom can make the transcript for you as a VTT file. If you recorded to your computer, find the MP4 or M4A Zoom saved and transcribe it in your browser for free.

1. Find the file Zoom saved

Zoom's Managing computer recordings page gives the default folders:

• Windows: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Zoom
• Mac: /Users/[Username]/Documents/Zoom

Each meeting gets its own folder. If you moved the location, check Settings › Recording in the Zoom app, then click Open to jump straight there.

Zoom is clear on one point: "Local recordings exist only on the computer where they were created. Zoom does not retain a copy and cannot recover a lost local recording." So look on the laptop you recorded on.

2. Pick the right file

Inside the folder you'll usually see:

• The MP4. Audio and video.
• The M4A. Audio only, and smaller. Use this one for a transcript.
• chat.txt. The meeting chat, not a transcript.

Only see files ending in .zoom? The recording didn't finish converting. Zoom says recordings "should automatically convert after they are ended". If yours didn't, use Convert in the Zoom app, or double-click double_click_to_convert_01.zoom to start it by hand.

3. Or use Zoom's own transcript

Zoom's audio transcription needs "A Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account", with cloud recording and audio transcription both switched on. Cloud recording is for licensed users, and an owner or admin has to enable it.

If you have that, the transcript "appears as a separate VTT file" next to the cloud recording. It's in English by default, and you can change the language and regenerate it. Download the VTT from the web portal.

On a free Basic account you can still record to your computer. Computer recording "is not supported on iOS, iPad, or Android devices", though, so record on a laptop.

4. Transcribe it in your browser

1. Open the free media transcriber. It takes MP4 and M4A, plus MOV, WAV, WebM and other common formats.
2. Choose the M4A (or the MP4).
3. Wait the first time. Your browser downloads the speech model once. After that, the audio is transcribed on your device.
4. Keep the tab open. The text fills in as it goes. A long meeting takes a while.

Long silences are skipped. If the file has no speech at all, the tool says "No speech was found in this file."

5. Add speaker names yourself

The transcriber doesn't label who said what, and it doesn't translate. Read through and add names as you go.

If you turned on separate audio tracks before the meeting, Zoom saves one file per person, named like audioJohnSmith98796876.m4a. Transcribe each one to see exactly who said each line.

For research interviews, how to transcribe an interview privately covers checking and correcting the text.

6. Export it

• TXT for notes and documents. Words only, with no timestamps.
• SRT for video editors.
• VTT for players on a web page.

Transcribing a lecture file from your phone or laptop recorder? How to turn a lecture recording into study notes.

7. Ask before you share it

Zoom says it "will always notify meeting participants that a meeting is being recorded." A transcript is a new copy of what people said, so check they're happy before you send it on.

Recording a Google Meet instead? See how to record a Google Meet with audio.

Where your recording goes

The media transcriber runs in your browser, so your Zoom file stays on your device and never goes to our server. The page does load Google Analytics, which counts visits. More on the privacy page.

Next step

Found the M4A? Open the free media transcriber, choose the file and keep the tab open. It's free, with no signup.