How to transcribe a Zoom recording (free and paid ways)

Short answer

On a paid Zoom plan, with Audio transcript turned on and the meeting recorded to the cloud, Zoom makes the transcript for you: open Recordings in the Zoom web portal and download it. For a local recording, or any audio file, run the recording's .m4a through a transcription app. On a Mac, Mac Note Taker does that on the device, with speaker labels, and nothing is uploaded.

Option 1: Zoom's cloud audio transcript (paid plans)

1. 01Sign in at zoom.us and open Settings > Recording.
2. 02Under Cloud recording, turn on Audio transcript. On a company account, an admin may have to allow it first.
3. 03In the meeting, choose Record > Record to the Cloud.
4. 04After the meeting, open Recordings in the web portal. The transcript shows up next to the video once Zoom has processed it, and you can download it as a .vtt file.

The limits: it needs a paid plan, only the host or someone with recording rights can record to the cloud, and it covers cloud recordings only. Local recordings never get a Zoom transcript. The .vtt file also carries a timestamp on every line, so expect some cleanup before you paste it into a doc.

Option 2: Save the live transcript during the meeting

If the host turned on captions, anyone in the meeting can open Captions > View full transcript while it runs. If the host also allows participants to save captions, a Save transcript button writes the text to your computer. It is free, but you have to save before the meeting ends, and it only exists when the host enabled it.

Option 3: Transcribe the recording file on your Mac

Local Zoom recordings, available on free and paid plans, land in the Zoom folder inside Documents once the meeting ends, one folder per meeting. Next to the video, Zoom normally saves an audio-only .m4a file, which is all a transcription app needs.

1. 01Open Documents > Zoom and find the folder named after the meeting's date and topic.
2. 02In Mac Note Taker, choose Import (from the menubar or the main window) and pick the .m4a file. A .mp3 or .wav works too.
3. 03Mac Note Taker transcribes it on your Mac, splits it by speaker, and writes a summary and action items with local Ollama or your own OpenAI key.
4. 04Name the speakers once. Their voices are remembered in later recordings, so the next transcript has names on it from the start.

Why transcribe on the device: a recording of a client, patient, or HR call is exactly the kind of file you may not want to upload to a transcription website. Local transcription keeps it on your Mac.

Which option fits

Skip the recording step next time

If what you really want is the transcript, not the video, you can skip Zoom's recorder. Mac Note Taker records both sides of the call from the Mac's own audio, as host or participant, with no bot in the call, and the transcript is ready when you hang up. The how-to for that is on our page on recording a Zoom meeting on Mac.