How to transcribe a Zoom or Teams recording on a Mac
The short answer
Zoom makes a transcript only of cloud recordings, on a paid plan, when the host has turned on Create audio transcript; it arrives as a VTT file beside the recording. A Zoom recording saved to your Mac gets no transcript from Zoom. In Microsoft Teams, recording a meeting starts transcription, and the organizer can download the transcript as a .docx or .vtt file after the meeting. For a recording without a transcript, Flit, a local dictation app for Mac, transcribes the saved MP4 or M4A file on the Mac itself.
How to get a transcript of a Zoom cloud recording
- Before the meeting, sign in to the Zoom web portal and open Settings → Recording.
- Under Advanced cloud recording settings, select Create audio transcript. It cannot be changed during a meeting.
- In the meeting, choose Record to the Cloud. Cloud recording needs a Pro, Business or Enterprise account, and you have to be the host.
- After the meeting, wait for Zoom’s email saying the transcript is ready. It can take longer than the recording.
- Open Recordings & Transcripts → Cloud recordings in the web portal and click the meeting.
- The transcript is a separate VTT file in the list. Download it, or open it in any text editor.
If the Create audio transcript option is greyed out, your account administrator has locked it.
Whether you get a transcript depends on two things: where the recording was saved, and what your plan and your administrator allow. The table sorts out the common cases, from Zoom’s and Microsoft’s own help pages.
Do you get a transcript?
| Recording | Transcript from the meeting app | If not |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom, saved to the cloud | Yes, as a VTT file, if Create audio transcript was on and the plan is paid | Transcribe the downloaded file |
| Zoom, saved to your Mac | No. Zoom says computer recordings do not support audio transcription | Transcribe the MP4 or M4A in Documents/Zoom |
| Zoom, no recording at all | A meeting transcript saved as a .txt file, if the host turned it on | Nothing to transcribe afterwards |
| Teams, recorded | Yes. Recording starts transcription, and the organizer downloads .docx or .vtt | Generate one from the recording in OneDrive or SharePoint |
| Teams, transcribed but not recorded | Yes, from the meeting’s Recap | Download it from Recap |
Zoom: where a recording on your Mac is saved
Free and paid accounts can record to the computer. Zoom’s page on finding recordings gives the default folder on a Mac as /Users/[Username]/Documents/Zoom. You can change it in Zoom’s Settings, on the Recording tab, under Local recording storage.
Zoom saves the meeting as an MP4 video, named video followed by a number, and as an M4A file with the sound only, named audio followed by a number. Its page on file formats lists both. Zoom converts the recording after the meeting ends, and warns that closing your laptop interrupts the conversion.
What Zoom does not make for a computer recording is a transcript. Its page on computer recording lists audio transcription among the features computer recordings do not support, and says to use cloud recording if you need it.
Zoom: the cloud transcript, and its limits
The audio transcript needs a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with cloud recording turned on, and the setting has to be on before the meeting starts. Zoom’s page says the transcript appears as a separate VTT file in the list of recorded meetings, and that you get an email when it is ready.
On languages, Zoom’s own pages disagree. One says audio transcription only supports English. Another says transcripts are made in English by default and lists 19 languages you can change to. If your meetings are not in English, test one before relying on it.
Zoom: saving a transcript during the meeting
Since May 2026, captions can no longer be saved after a meeting ends. In their place is a Meeting transcript setting, which a host or administrator has to turn on, on a Pro, Business or Enterprise account. Zoom’s page says that once it is on, you save it from More → Transcript → Save transcript, and a .txt file is saved to your Mac, in the same Documents/Zoom folder.
The host decides who may save it: only the host, the host and co-hosts, or more people.
Teams: the transcript after the meeting
In a work or school Teams account, recording a meeting starts transcription automatically, and you can also transcribe without recording, from More actions → Transcribe. Microsoft’s page says the transcript is available in the meeting event on the calendar right after the meeting, and that by default the organizer and co-organizers can download it as a .docx or .vtt file.
- Open Chat in Teams and find the meeting’s chat.
- Open Recap, then Transcript.
- Click Download and choose .docx or .vtt.
Teams: when there is no transcript
Transcription is a policy your IT administrator controls, and Microsoft notes that if recording is on but transcription is off, the recording has no transcript file. Live transcription is only available in Teams for desktop.
The recording itself is an MP4 in the organizer’s OneDrive, or in the channel’s SharePoint site. The owner of the video can generate a transcript from it later, from the video’s settings, in OneDrive or SharePoint’s player, and download captions as a WebVTT file.
One limit matters for doing it yourself: Microsoft says only the meeting organizer can download a recording. If you were a participant, you have to ask them for the file.
Transcribe the recording on your Mac
Flit is a dictation app with a Transcribe tab. Hand it the MP4 or M4A Zoom saved, or the MP4 the organizer shared, and the transcript comes back on the Mac, with nothing uploaded.
- Drop the file from Documents/Zoom on the Transcribe tab, or on the Flit icon in the menu bar.
- A two-hour recording took about three and a half minutes at the Clean formatting level in our tests, and you can keep working while it runs.
- The transcript is split into paragraphs where the speaker paused, and saved as a text file in a folder you choose.
- Export it as Markdown, or as SRT and VTT with timestamps.
- It works with any plan, any administrator settings, and no connection.
- Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.
Good to know
- Flit does not say who said what. Zoom and Teams transcripts can name speakers; Flit’s is one flow of text.
- Flit does not join or record the meeting. You need the recording file first.
- Recording other people may need their consent where you are. That is for you to check.
- Which languages a recording can be in depends on the voice model you choose: Parakeet Ultra covers 25 European languages, Cohere Transcribe 14, Qwen3-ASR 30, Whisper 99 and Omnilingual more than 1,600, with accuracy that varies by language.
- Flit runs on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, and its voice model is a download of about 0.5 to 2.8 GB that you choose once.
Questions people ask
Does Zoom transcribe local recordings?
No. Zoom says computer recordings do not support audio transcription, and points to cloud recording if you need it.
How do I get a transcript of a Zoom recording?
Turn on Create audio transcript in the web portal under Settings → Recording before the meeting, record to the cloud, then download the VTT file from Recordings & Transcripts. It needs a paid plan.
Where are Zoom recordings saved on a Mac?
By default in /Users/[your name]/Documents/Zoom, as an MP4 video and an M4A audio file. You can change the folder in Zoom’s Settings → Recording.
How do I download a Teams meeting transcript?
Open the meeting chat, then Recap → Transcript → Download, and choose .docx or .vtt. By default only the organizer and co-organizers can download it.
Can I transcribe a Teams recording after the meeting?
The video’s owner can generate a transcript from the recording in OneDrive or SharePoint, unless the organization has turned that off.
Is there a way to transcribe a meeting recording without uploading it?
Yes. Flit is a local dictation app for Mac with a Transcribe tab: drop the MP4 or M4A on it, and the transcript comes back on the Mac. Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.