How to transcribe a Zoom meeting to text: recorded in the cloud or on your computer

The two ways to turn a Zoom meeting into text

Zoom only transcribes cloud recordings by itself; recordings on your computer are transcribed with another program. This is the difference, according to Zoom's official help, checked on 17 October 2026:

If your account is a paid one and the meeting has no sensitive data, Zoom's transcript is the shortest route. If your account is free, or you prefer the recording not to stay on a third-party server, the route is to record on your computer.

If the meeting is on Teams or Google Meet, each has its own rules: we explain them in how to transcribe a Teams meeting and in how to transcribe Google Meet to text.

How to turn on audio transcription in the cloud

Zoom's audio transcription is turned on in the web portal, not in the app. The steps in its official help are these (the names may vary slightly depending on the portal's language):

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal with your account.
2. Click your photo or your initials, at the top right, and choose Settings.
3. In the side menu, go to Recording.
4. Under General, check that cloud recording is turned on. If the option is greyed out, the account administrator has locked it and you will have to ask them.
5. In the advanced cloud recording settings, tick Create audio transcript and save.

From then on, every meeting you record in the cloud will have its transcript. Zoom warns that the transcript may take a while longer than the recording itself to become available.

How to set Zoom's transcript to Spanish

Zoom generates the transcript in English unless you tell it otherwise, and that is the most common reason for a meeting in Spanish to come out as meaningless text. To change it:

1. In the web portal, go to Recordings & Transcripts and open the cloud recordings tab.
2. Click the name of the meeting.
3. Hover over the audio transcript file and choose Change language.
4. Select Spanish and save. Zoom transcribes the audio again in that language.

A warning: Zoom's own help pages don't agree. The one on using the transcript includes Spanish among 19 languages, and the one on enabling it says it only supports English. If the option to change the language doesn't appear in your account, the safe route is recording on your computer.

Where the transcript is and how to get it into Word

Zoom's transcript is in the web portal, next to the recording, as a VTT file. When you play the recording in the portal, the text appears on the right, and you can correct sentences and give a name to each Unknown Speaker (unidentified speakers) with the pencil that appears when you hover over them.

The VTT file (WebVTT) is a W3C subtitle format: plain text in blocks, each with the time it starts and ends and what is said in that interval. Zoom says it opens with a text editor or a word processor. To get a clean document:

1. Download the VTT file from the meeting's list of recordings.
2. Open it in Word (or in Notepad and copy the content into Word).
3. Remove the timing lines if you don't need them, or keep them if you will have to cite a specific moment of the meeting.

The difference between VTT and SRT, and what timestamps are, are explained in the dictation and transcription glossary.

How to transcribe a Zoom recording saved on your computer

Recording on your computer is available for any Zoom account, including the free Basic one, from the desktop app. It doesn't work in the phone app. When the meeting ends, Zoom saves the recording in a folder on your computer, with two files you can use to transcribe: the MP4, with video and audio, and the M4A, audio only and lighter.

With that file you have three options:

1. Word's Transcribe feature in Microsoft 365, which uploads the audio to Microsoft's cloud and has a monthly quota of minutes. The steps are in how to transcribe audio in Word.
2. An online transcription service, to which you upload the file. We compare the most widely used ones, and where the recording ends up with each, in transcribing audio to text: Otter, Happy Scribe or local.
3. An app that transcribes on your computer, without uploading the file to any server.

Why a meeting transcript comes out wrong

A meeting transcript almost always comes out wrong because of the audio, not because of the program. The most common faults and how to avoid them:

• Voices talking over each other. When two people speak at once, any system mixes up the speakers and loses words. Taking turns improves the text more than changing tools.
• A laptop microphone in a meeting room. If several people share one computer, the built-in microphone picks up echo. A desk microphone close to whoever is speaking fixes it; we compare the types in which microphone to choose.
• The wrong language. In Zoom's transcript, always check that it is set to Spanish (if the meeting was in Spanish) before reading it.
• Proper names and technical terms. They are the ones most often wrong. Check the transcript with the recording alongside before quoting a sentence.

In short

Zoom transcribes meetings recorded in the cloud if you have a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account and turn on Create audio transcript; the transcript comes out in a VTT file and, by default, in English, so for a meeting in Spanish you have to change it to Spanish. With any account, including the free one, you can record on your computer and transcribe the MP4 or the M4A with a program, without the recording going through Zoom's servers.

Sources: Zoom, Using audio transcription for cloud recordings, Enabling or disabling audio transcription for cloud recordings, Enabling or disabling computer recording and So You've Made a Zoom Recording… Now What? (updated in May 2021). W3C, WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format. Checked on 17 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Does Zoom transcribe meetings for free?

No. Zoom's audio transcription needs a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account. With the free Basic account you can record the meeting on your computer and transcribe the file with another program.

Why does Zoom's transcript come out in English?

Because Zoom generates it in English by default. In the web portal, in the cloud recording, choose Change language on the transcript file, select Spanish and Zoom generates it again.

What format does Zoom download the transcript in?

In a VTT file, a plain text subtitle format with timestamps. It opens with a text editor or with Word.

What files does Zoom leave when you record a meeting on your computer?

An MP4 with video and audio and an M4A with audio only. Both work for transcribing; the M4A is lighter.

Can you record a Zoom meeting to your computer from the phone?

No. Recording on your computer works with the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux, not with the app for iOS or Android.