Get a transcript from a Zoom recording, free
Zoom writes its own transcript only for a cloud recording, on a Zoom Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with the setting on, and only in English; a recording saved to your computer gets none. To get the words from the file you already have, drop its MP4, or the audio-only M4A, here. Burncaps writes every word as a script under the player; correct any word with a click, then download a text file, or SRT or VTT subtitles. Text and subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
The video never leaves your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone, it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the picture.
- Video never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- MP4 or M4A
- Text, SRT or VTT
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
Why a Zoom recording has no transcript
Zoom records in two places, and only one of them can come with a transcript. This is what Zoom's own help says, read on 3 November 2026:
| What Zoom's help says | Recorded to your computer | Recorded to the cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Who can record this way | Free and paid accounts, in the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux; not on iOS, iPad or Android | Paid accounts |
| Zoom's own transcript | None: audio transcription is one of the features computer recordings do not support | With Create audio transcript switched on, on a Zoom Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with cloud recording enabled |
| Languages | No transcript to have a language | Audio transcription supports only English |
| The files | video[number].mp4 (sound and picture) and audio[number].m4a (sound only), in a folder Zoom opens when it has converted the recording | The transcript is saved as a separate VTT file with the cloud recording |
| Captions from the meeting | If the host's settings allow Save closed caption as a VTT file, the meeting's closed captions are saved with the recording | The transcript can also be shown as captions in the video |
Where these facts come from
Zoom's own help centre: Enabling or disabling audio transcription for cloud recordings (updated 8 October 2026), Enabling or disabling computer recording (updated 15 October 2026) and Starting a computer recording, all read on 3 November 2026. Zoom changes its plans and settings often, so check its help before you rely on a row.
How to get the transcript from the file
- Find the recording. When a computer recording ends, Zoom converts it and opens the folder that holds the files. Zoom's help warns that shutting the computer down or closing a laptop while it converts can spoil the files.
- Drop the MP4 or the M4A on this page. Either one has the sound, which is all a transcript needs; the MP4 also keeps the picture, for captions or clips later. It opens in this page, and the video is never uploaded to us.
- Read and correct the script. Every word sits under the player. Click a word to correct it, and one click changes it everywhere it was heard. Type the names of the people on the call in Names to spell right and our AI spells them right in the script (only the text goes).
- Download the words. Press Text for a .txt file in paragraphs; tick Times in the Text file and each paragraph starts with its time in the recording, like [00:01:23]. Or press SRT or VTT for a time on every line.
Where the words go
The video stays in your browser. On a computer, English is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service, which is also offered for other languages and for recordings over ten minutes; on a phone the sound goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the picture, and passes them to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it. The script's text leaves your device only if you type names to spell right, choose a translation or choose Clips (it then goes to our AI); ticking Keep everything on this device stops that. Transcribe a video without uploading it shows how to check every request yourself.
Teams and Google Meet recordings
The same works for a recording from Microsoft Teams or Google Meet once it is a file on your computer: download it, then drop it here. Each app keeps its recordings, and its own transcripts, somewhere else, by its own help pages read on 3 November 2026:
| What its help says | Microsoft Teams | Google Meet |
|---|---|---|
| Where the recording is saved | The meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business; it also shows in the meeting chat | The meeting organiser's Google Drive, in the Google Meet folder, a sub-folder for each meeting |
| Who can record | People with an Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3, E5, F3, A1, A3 or A5 licence, or Microsoft 365 Business, Business Premium or Business Essentials, with recording enabled by an IT admin; not guests | Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Education Plus (staff licence), Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Workspace Individual, and Google One with 2 TB or more |
| Getting the file | By default only the organiser and co-organisers can download or delete the recording | In Drive, select the file, then More, then Download |
| Its own transcript | Transcription starts automatically when a meeting is recorded, with each speaker's name and a time stamp; after the meeting, organisers and co-organisers can download it as a .docx or .vtt file | Transcripts is a separate feature started during the meeting (Meeting tools, Transcribe), on a computer, laptop or Android device; the transcript is saved in the same Google Meet folder |
Use the meeting's own transcript when it has one
A transcript made by Teams or Meet names who spoke, which ours does not, so look for it first. Burncaps is for the recording that has none: a meeting where nobody started Transcripts, a transcript you cannot download, or a recording someone sent you as a file. The facts above come from Microsoft Support, Start, stop, and find meeting recordings in Microsoft Teams and Start, stop, and download live transcripts in Microsoft Teams meetings, and Google Meet Help, Record a video meeting and Use Transcripts with Google Meet, all read on 3 November 2026.
What the transcript holds, and who said what
The Text file is the transcript as paragraphs, in the language spoken, with your corrections and without any words you cut. A new paragraph starts where the speaker finishes a sentence and stops for about a second, or after five sentences without such a stop. SRT and VTT files put a time on every line, up to two lines of 42 characters, ready for a video player.
It does not name the speakers
The Text file does not name or label who is speaking, so a meeting's notes still need the names added. For a call where that matters, Zoom can help: its setting Record a separate audio file for each participant, in the desktop app's Settings under Recording, puts one file per person in an Audio Record folder, each named starting with the person's name (Zoom's help, read on 3 November 2026). Drop each file in turn and you have each person's words with their times. Each file is a recording of its own, so over ten minutes each one uses one of your free videos.
Long meetings: what is free
Up to ten minutes, a recording's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free (the text then ends at the last pause before ten minutes), and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card), or with Captions + Clips or Captions. A video over ten minutes opens on its clips, and its Whole video side holds the script and the files.
Before you drop a long meeting
A long recording takes a while to hear on your own computer, and our speech service is much quicker: before a recording over ten minutes is heard, a computer asks once which way to listen, each with its time, while your speech-service allowance covers it. Over ten minutes, Burncaps reads MP4, MOV, M4A, MP3 and WAV files with AAC, MP3 or plain sound in them. For an audio file from any other recorder, transcribe audio to text covers the formats.
Then cut the webinar into captioned clips
A video recording, a webinar, a coaching call or a talk, can also become posts. Choose Clips, and Burncaps finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and cuts each into a ranked, captioned 9:16 clip; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited. Clips are cut from the picture, so they need the MP4, not the M4A. Clips for coaches shows it on a weekly call.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
How do I get a transcript from a Zoom recording?
If it was recorded to the cloud with Create audio transcript switched on, Zoom saves an English transcript as a VTT file with the recording. If it was recorded to your computer, Zoom makes none: drop the MP4 or M4A from the recording folder on this page, correct any word with a click, then press Text, SRT or VTT. Text and subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
Why does my Zoom recording have no transcript?
Zoom's help, read on 3 November 2026, says its audio transcript needs a Zoom Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with cloud recording enabled, supports only English, and does not apply to recordings saved to your computer. Recording to your computer is open to free accounts; the transcript is not.
Where does Zoom save a recording on my computer?
When the meeting ends, Zoom converts the recording and then opens the folder that holds the files: video[number].mp4 has the sound and the picture, and audio[number].m4a has the sound only. Zoom's help says computer recording needs the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux, and is not supported on iOS, iPad or Android.
Can I transcribe a Teams or Google Meet recording?
Yes. Download the recording and drop the file here: Teams saves it in the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business, and Meet in the organiser's Google Drive, in the Google Meet folder. Teams' help says transcription starts automatically when a meeting is recorded, and organisers and co-organisers can download that transcript as a .docx or .vtt file, so look for it first.
Does the transcript say who is speaking?
No. The Text file holds the words in paragraphs and does not name or label who is speaking, so you add the names yourself. Zoom can save each participant's sound as a file of its own (Record a separate audio file for each participant); transcribing each one gives each person's words, but over ten minutes each file is one of your free videos.
Is my recording uploaded?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone (short pieces of sound, never the picture, to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it).
How long can the recording be?
Up to ten minutes, a recording's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free, and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card) or on a paid plan.
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.