The short answer
If you host on a paid plan, use Zoom's own transcript. Zoom's documentation says the Meeting transcript setting needs a Pro, Business or Enterprise account and has to be turned on by a host or an admin. In the call you click More, then Transcript.
If you are a guest, or on a free account, you often cannot get a file at all. Zoom says participants may be able to ask the host to start a transcript, and the host can decline. Zoom's note on the May 2026 change says participants cannot save or download captions, which scroll back only three minutes.
Fraze is a Mac and Windows app that writes down whatever your computer plays, including a Zoom call, as it happens. Nothing joins the meeting, the host enables nothing, and the words never leave your machine. Each session is saved and can be exported.
What Zoom itself can give you
| What you get | What it needs | |
|---|---|---|
| Automated captions | Live captions, three minutes of scroll back, nothing kept | Automated captions enabled on the host's account |
| Meeting transcript | A transcript panel and a .TXT file | Pro, Business or Enterprise, started by the host |
| Cloud recording transcript | A VTT file next to the recording, after the meeting | Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise, with audio transcription on |
| Meeting summary with AI | A summary, and a transcript if retention is allowed | A paid Zoom Workplace plan |
| Fraze | A live transcript saved on your computer | Nothing inside Zoom |
Captions and transcripts used to be one thing in Zoom and are now two. Zoom's documentation says the old Full transcript and Save captions settings were removed and replaced by one Meeting transcript setting, in a gradual rollout between 24 and 26 May 2026. Captions are for reading along and can no longer be saved. A transcript is the copy you keep.
The host's account can also limit captions so that only the host, or the host and co-hosts, may switch them on. Then everyone else can only ask the host to enable them.
How to transcribe a Zoom meeting as the host
Switch the setting on once
In the Zoom web portal, open Settings, then Meeting, and turn on Meeting transcript under In Meeting (Advanced). It is off by default. An admin can set it for the whole account and lock it. Sub-settings decide who can read a transcript during the call and who may save a copy.
Start it in the call
In the meeting toolbar click More, then Transcript. The Transcript panel opens to the right of the meeting window and fills in while people talk. When you stop it, Zoom offers to delete the transcript.
Take the file
Click Save transcript at the bottom of the panel for a .TXT file, which lands in the Zoom folder in your Documents. If you recorded to the cloud with audio transcription on, Zoom emails you when the recording is ready and again when the transcript is. It is a VTT file in your list of recordings.
What you can do when it is not your meeting
You can turn captions on for yourself, unless the host's account keeps that for the host. You can also click More, then Transcript, then Request transcription. The host gets a prompt and can start the transcript or decline. Whether you may read the transcript panel, or save it, is set by the account hosting the call.
Captions are not a way around that. Zoom's note on the change says participants cannot retain, save or download captions as a post-meeting asset, and that the scroll back covers the past three minutes.
That is why people end up with a note taker bot. A bot joins as a participant, so everyone sees it in the list and the host can remove it. These services usually process the audio on their own servers.
How Fraze transcribes a Zoom call from your side
Choose what it listens to
Pick system audio and Fraze writes down everything your computer plays: the Zoom desktop app, Zoom in a browser tab, or a webinar you are only watching. On a Mac you can pick the Zoom app on its own.
Press start
Lines appear about half a second to a second after a speaker pauses. A small caption window can float over Zoom, and a translation can run under each line.
Keep the text
The session is saved in a history list on your computer, and you can copy or export it. Names and terms that come out wrong can go into a custom vocabulary list.
Nothing joins the call, so the participant list looks the same to everyone else. There is no Zoom setting to change and no Zoom plan to buy. Speech recognition and translation both run on your machine, so after the first language download it works with Wi-Fi off. One plain point: in some places you have to tell people before you transcribe a conversation.
When Zoom's own transcript is the better pick
- You host on a paid plan and only want the file. Zoom already has it.
- You need to know who said what, or you want a summary and action items. Fraze has neither.
- The meeting already happened. Fraze is live only and cannot take a recording as a file.
- The transcript has to sit with the meeting for the whole team. Fraze saves to one computer.
If you want summaries, shared links and something that runs in a browser, Verli is the cloud version from the same company, at verli.app. More languages, but the audio goes to the cloud.
What it costs
The first 30 minutes are free on every account, with no card. After that it is $29.99 once or $2.99 a month. Both are unlimited, because the work happens on your computer and there is no per-minute meter. A free Fraze account is required. It carries the plan and never sees audio or transcripts.
Questions
Does Zoom transcribe meetings?
Yes, but not by default. Automated captions run live and are not kept. A meeting transcript is the saved copy. A host or admin has to turn it on, and it is listed in Zoom's documentation for Pro, Business and Enterprise accounts. A cloud recording can be transcribed too, on Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise accounts.
How do I transcribe a Zoom meeting for free?
Zoom's documentation lists meeting transcripts and cloud recording transcripts for paid accounts only, so on a free account you cannot start one yourself. The free route is to transcribe the audio on your own computer. Fraze writes down what your computer plays, and the first 30 minutes are free with no card. After that it is $29.99 once or $2.99 a month.
Can I transcribe a Zoom meeting if I am not the host?
Not through Zoom on your own. You can request that the host start a transcript and they can decline. Their account settings decide whether you may read it during the call and whether you may save it. Fraze needs only the audio you can already hear, so being a guest makes no difference.
Where is the transcript after a Zoom meeting?
If you saved it from the panel during the call, it is a .TXT file in the Zoom folder inside your Documents. If you recorded to the cloud with audio transcription on, Zoom emails you a link when the recording is ready and another when the transcript has processed. The transcript is a VTT file listed with the recording in the web portal.
Can Fraze transcribe a Zoom recording I already have?
Not as a file. Fraze is live only and has no upload. You can play the recording on your computer and let Fraze caption it as it plays, which gets you the text, but it runs at the speed of the recording.