How to transcribe a Zoom recording: Zoom's own transcript on a paid plan, or the audio file on a free one

Which route you have

Paid plan: Zoom's audio transcript

Zoom's article on audio transcription for cloud recordings lists the requirements: a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account, with cloud recording and audio transcription both enabled. On a team account, an admin may need to turn on "Create audio transcript" for you.

1. Make sure audio transcription is on in your Zoom web settings before the meeting. On a team account, your admin may need to allow it.
2. Start a cloud recording in the meeting, rather than a recording to your computer.
3. Wait for two emails. Zoom says you get one when the cloud recording is ready and a second when the audio transcript is ready; the transcript can take extra time to process.
4. Find the transcript. In the Zoom web portal, go to Recordings & Transcripts, open the Cloud recordings tab and click the meeting. The transcript is listed as a separate VTT file.
5. Download it and open it in a text editor or word processor.

Zoom's article says transcripts are generated in English by default and lists other supported languages, including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese and Arabic.

Free plan: record to your computer, then transcribe

Zoom's article on starting a computer recording says computer recording is available on a Basic (free) account and above, using the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux, but that computer recordings do not support audio transcription.

1. Optional: turn on separate audio tracks. In the desktop app's Recording settings, choose "Record a separate audio file for each participant." Each person's audio is saved in its own file, named with their name, which makes speakers easy to tell apart.
2. Record to this computer during the meeting.
3. Find the files in the default Zoom recording folder on your computer after the meeting.
4. Transcribe the audio file. Upload it to transcription software, send it to a human transcription service, or type it yourself. The transcription options guide compares the three, and how to transcribe an interview walks through doing it yourself.

Clean up the transcript

A Zoom VTT file is a list of short lines, each with a number and a timestamp. To make it readable:

1. Remove the timestamps and line numbers. Find and replace in a word processor works, or paste it into a transcription tool that imports VTT.
2. Join the lines into paragraphs, one paragraph per speaker turn.
3. Label the speakers consistently, by name or initials.
4. Check names, numbers and technical terms against the recording. Automatic transcripts get these wrong most often.
5. Check every quote you might publish against the audio, word for word.

If the transcript is for a book, how to turn a transcript into a chapter covers the edits from speech to readable prose.

Get a better recording next time

• Ask permission before you record, and say on the recording that everyone agreed.
• Use headphones so your speakers do not feed back into your microphone.
• Pick a quiet room and ask the other person to do the same.
• Avoid talking over each other. Crosstalk is where transcripts break down.
• Keep a backup. If the conversation matters, record a second copy on a phone as well.

The recording setup guide covers rooms, microphones and backups in more detail.