How to Edit a Zoom Recording

Zoom recordings have evolved into a powerful knowledge resource for businesses, educators, and creators — offering a treasure trove of insights, discussions, and content opportunities.

Unfortunately, not many have the time or patience to watch through hours of footage for a few valuable insights. I know I don’t.

But what if you could easily edit Zoom recordings to extract the key takeaways that are useful to your team or clients?

Don’t worry. I won’t suggest learning complex video editing software.

That’s expensive, time-consuming, and daunting, especially if you have a limited budget.

With modern tools and built-in features, you can now edit Zoom recordings faster than ever — saving time and creating more professional, shareable content.

These simple steps will allow you to edit, save, and share the most important moments of your meetings without any hassle.

Why Edit a Zoom Recording?

Have you ever watched a two-hour Zoom meeting to gather valuable information?

I did once – it felt like an eternity. Why would you want your audience to suffer the same?

Today’s audiences expect short, focused, and visually engaging content.

Editing your Zoom recordings allows you to deliver concise, high-impact videos that engage viewers instead of overwhelming them.

Editing Zoom recordings allows you to:

• Convert long-form meeting videos into bite-sized gems of knowledge. Edit videos to highlight important decisions and key takeaways that enhance viewer experience.
• Repurpose long-form webinars into exciting social media content. Create how-to videos for YouTube and Facebook and short clips for Instagram and YouTube Shorts. Edit Zoom recordings to boost your reach and amplify your message.
• Remove fluff and cut unnecessary content, such as greetings, interruptions, irrelevant comments, and dead air periods to make the content more engaging and effective.
• Increase engagement by presenting information in a polished, visually appealing way that builds brand credibility.
• Video editing allows you to tailor the message to suit your audience’s preference. Create summaries for your clients, how-to videos for customers, short engaging clips for prospects, and key insights and decisions for clients.
• Turn meeting highlights into video summaries or visual “meeting minutes” to track actions and decisions.

Don’t let your Zoom recordings go to waste. Edit them to unlock their full potential and elevate your communication and marketing to the next level.

How to Access Zoom Recordings

Zoom allows you to record your meetings whether you’re a free or paid user.

The key difference is that while paid users can store recordings both locally and in the cloud, free users can only save them on their local storage.

To access locally stored Zoom recordings, navigate to the Zoom folder under the Documents section on your computer.

Each recording is clearly labeled with the date and time, making it easy to identify. Whether you’re using Linux, Mac, or Windows, you’ll find your recordings neatly organized in this folder.

If you need to access your recordings from a different computer, cloud storage is invaluable.

To access recordings stored in the cloud, log in to your Zoom portal and go to the Recordings section.

Under Cloud Recordings, you’ll find all the meetings you’ve saved online.

Zoom’s Pro, Business, and Business Plus plans now include 10 GB of cloud storage by default, and you can purchase additional storage as needed.

If you have multiple recordings in the cloud, you can quickly locate a specific one using filters such as the topic, keywords, meeting ID, hostname, or date.

You can also use Zoom’s new AI Companion Search (available to paid users) to find recordings that mention specific phrases or topics discussed during a meeting — saving hours of manual review.

Zoom’s cloud storage also allows you to stream, download, and share your recordings with others.

Although streaming is allowed, we advise against it. Instead, edit your Zoom recordings to make them more focused, professional, and effective.

Now, let’s discuss how to edit your Zoom recordings to make the most of them.

How to Edit a Zoom Recording Stored Locally

You can start editing Zoom recordings inside the program.

This leading videotelephony software also offers basic video editing features. You can cut, trim, and even separate audio from video files.

The newly edited videos can either be used as they are or further improved using video editing software or services.

All edited videos can be saved as MP4 files for easy sharing and storage.

How to Edit Zoom Recordings within the Program

This leading videoconferencing platform also offers basic video editing tools — you can cut, trim, and even separate audio from video files.

Zoom’s built-in editor has improved — now allowing you to adjust playback speed, crop video dimensions, and automatically remove silence from your recordings.

• Log in to Zoom and navigate to the Recordings section on the left panel.
• On the right panel, you’ll see two tabs: Cloud Recordings and Local Recordings.
• Click on Local Recordings to view a list of your stored Zoom videos.
• Use the search function or scroll manually to locate the desired recording.
• On the same line as the video, click the Open button. This will open the folder containing your Zoom recording, inside your computer.
• Double-click the recording file to open it in the Zoom editor.
• Click on Edit and Create, then select an editing option.
• To trim a section of the video, choose the Trim option.
• In the video player, set the Start Time and End Time on the progress bar, then save the edited portion as a new video on your computer.

You can now use Zoom’s Smart Highlights feature to automatically identify key discussion points, such as decisions or action items, and trim around them. This AI-assisted feature saves significant time in post-editing.

How to Edit Locally Stored Zoom Recording using Specialized Video Editing Software

Use a third-party video editing program to access more advanced editing features.

• Open the Zoom folder that houses your recordings.
• Select the target file and import it into your video editing software.
• Use the trip and cut function and also the software’s other tools to improve the recording.
• Save the edited video as a new MP4 file, either in the same folder or in a different location on your computer.

Popular editing tools include Camtasia, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Premiere Pro, which now feature AI-powered tools to clean up audio, remove silences, and auto-caption in seconds.

How to Edit Zoom Recordings Stored in the Cloud?

If your needs are basic; trimming, converting long-form videos to short clips, and removing fluff, then use the editing features in the Zoom program.

• Open your Zoom program with your credentials.
• On the left panel, select Recordings.
• Two options appear – Cloud Recordings and Local Recordings. Click on Cloud Recordings.
• A list of all the Zoom recordings stored in the cloud will appear. Find the video you want to edit and click on the link.
• This will open a new page showing a small thumbnail of the video. Click the thumbnail to open the video.
• In the video player, locate the Scissors ✂️ Icon (the edit option) at the bottom right corner. Click the icon to edit the video.
• Adjust the two slides – start time and end time – and click Save to create a new video file.
• Note that editing the video will not modify the original Zoom recording.
• The edited version can be downloaded to your computer or shared online.

Zoom’s AI Companion for Cloud Recordings auto-generates smart chapters, transcripts, and meeting highlights — which you can use to skip to specific discussion topics or edit clips faster.

The cloud editor also supports auto-captioning in over 15 languages and integrates directly with YouTube, Google Drive, and Vimeo for seamless publishing.

What Can You Do with Zoom Recordings?

The Zoom program comes with limited editing features.

That said, combining Zoom recordings with a video editing program presents endless possibilities.

By editing and repurposing your recordings, you can expand your brand’s reach, create training resources, or produce polished marketing content.

Let’s find out how you can use editing to improve Zoom recordings.

Cut Recordings into Short Clips for Better Results

The hours of valuable recordings can be repurposed into short videos for your blogs, email marketing, and social media campaigns.

Short clips perform best on LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels — perfect for engagement and thought leadership.

With the help of a video editing program, you can cut Zoom recordings into multiple small clips.

If needed, these can be stitched together into guides, tutorials, and other forms of YouTube videos.

Zoom sessions are known for their authenticity.

They are filled with unwanted moments such as sneezing, yawning, greetings, swearing, bathroom breaks, and other fluff content.

With the trim function, you can remove all the unnecessary moments before sharing the content with others.

Enhance Video and Audio Quality

One of the program’s strengths is bringing together people from various places on one platform and at the same time.

The downside of this can lead to issues with audio and video clarity.

Additionally, there is every chance that one or more microphones might capture background noise.

Video editing services or software can clean up the video and audio before sharing the content.

Use AI noise reduction, automatic color correction, and subtitle generators available in most editing tools to make recordings crisp and professional.

Add Intros and Outros for a Professional Touch

Intros and outros are considered crucial elements of any professional video.

They are used in corporate videos, presentations, podcasts, instructional videos, and more.

Graphics at the start grab attention and set the mood for the video, while visuals at the end can be used to introduce a call to action.

Include your company logo, tagline, or call-to-action buttons to drive traffic and conversions.

Zoom sessions are normally devoid of these two essential elements.

With a video editing program, you can include a customized opening and ending to your videos.

Include Brand Elements in Your Videos

Adding brand elements such as a logo is the simplest way to make your Zoom edits more professional.

Brand elements also increase brand recognition and create a visual identity when sharing your videos with clients and customers.

Adding consistent brand elements — like lower-thirds, watermarks, and on-screen text — builds recognition and credibility across all your content platforms.

Add Subtitles for Better Reach

Subtitles increase the reach of your videos.

They make your Zoom videos more accessible to the segment of your audience that doesn’t speak your language.

Several free and premium editing programs generate near-perfect subtitles within minutes.

Tools like Canva Video Suite and Descript can automatically generate accurate subtitles in multiple languages, making your videos more inclusive.

The Best Software to Edit Zoom Recordings

The limitation of Zoom’s in-built editing features makes it necessary to use third-party video editing software.

A specialized editing program goes beyond the basic trimming and cutting of Zoom recordings.

Video editing programs have advanced significantly.

Nowadays, it’s possible to edit and improve any content with just a few clicks.

You no longer need technical expertise to edit videos.

Since Zoom recordings are typically in MP4 format, you can edit these videos with almost any editing program.

However, with so many specialized video editing programs available, selecting the right program can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

We plan to make life easy for you by sharing the best software to edit Zoom recordings.

We have chosen these because they are affordable, easy to use, and come with all the features necessary to edit and improve your Zoom recordings.

Eediting software has become more intuitive than ever. You can now edit Zoom recordings using desktop apps, online editors, or mobile tools — no technical expertise required.

Best Editing Programs for Your Computer (Non-Mac Systems)

Each editing program offers unique benefits to the users.

Hence, instead of one, we have selected three options to suit your various needs:

Camtasia

Camtasia is perfect for those with no video editing expertise or experience.

The program provides all the basic editing functionalities with a user-friendly interface, making it one of the best YouTube tools for creators.

It allows for cutting/trimming, audio cleaning and enhancements, and adding annotations and automatic captions speech-to-text transcription).

This premium editing program also leverages AI to generate video titles, descriptions, and chapters.

Camtasia integrates AI scene detection, which automatically identifies key moments in your recording and suggests highlight reels.

It also supports direct publishing to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and LinkedIn Video — a must for B2B content creators.

DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve is a fantastic budget-friendly option.

If you’re looking for great free software to get started, its free version has robust editing features to edit and enhance your Zoom recordings.

If you’re impressed with the basic features and want to upgrade to the paid Studio Version, you can buy the software by paying a one-time fee.

DaVinci Resolve 19 update adds Neural Engine 3.0, which automatically enhances clarity, stabilizes shaky footage, and even translates captions in real time.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is the software of choice for those seeking advanced editing features.

The program offers advanced color correction and adjustment features, complex video editing, advanced audio adjustments, and much more.

Includes Firefly AI integration, which lets you auto-edit based on transcript cues — for example, deleting filler words or creating short clips automatically

You can crop videos in Adobe Premiere Pro to achieve precise framing and composition.

While the software guarantees professional-grade video editing, it comes with a steeper learning curve.

Best Programs to Edit a Zoom Recording Online

Whether you choose to use an online video editor or a downloadable program depends on the complexity of your project.

If your editing requirements are minimal and infrequent, you can edit Zoom recordings online.

We have tested a dozen or so online programs and narrowed our choices to Type Studio and Flixier.

Type Studio

Type Studio is a user-friendly online video editor with all the basic editing functions.

Try Type Studio if adding intros and outros or creating quality subtitles is important to you.

This online editing program is free to use, but you need to create a free account to start projects and edit videos.

Type Studio includes Firefly AI integration, which lets you auto-edit based on transcript cues — for example, deleting filler words or creating short clips automatically

Flixier

We found Flixier to be a better option for editing Zoom recordings online.

In addition to basic editing, you can add special effects, transitions, and overlays.

To edit a video, click ‘Start Editing’ on their homepage, then ‘Create Project’.

Upload the Zoom recording, open the video in their editor, use the features in the toolbar to enhance the video, and then save and download the updated version.

The drag-and-drop editing style makes Flixier one of the easiest online video editors to use.

Flixier includes AI Smart Cut, which identifies silent or irrelevant sections for auto-trimming, and a Brand Kit for consistent visuals

Best Editor to Improve Zoom Recordings for Apple Users

Apple product users—whether it’s an iPhone, Mac, or iPad—need only iMovie to edit Zoom recordings.

The iMovie program offers a wide range of editing features to meet the needs of editors of all skill levels.

It includes all the basic features, such as trimming, zooming, audio adjustments, and adding transitions and special effects.

You can use iMovie to give your videos a more polished and professional look.

Once the recording is edited, the new video can be directly shared on all major social media platforms.

The 2025 iMovie update introduces Auto Captioning, Voice Cleanup, and Instant Story Mode, letting you turn your Zoom calls into shareable highlight reels in seconds.

Best Tool to Edit a Zoom Recording on a Phone

After using Instagram and TikTok, which allow video recording, basic edits, and adding filters, people now want the ability to edit Zoom recordings on their phones.

In this regard, Adobe Premiere Rush is the best app for editing Zoom recordings on a phone.

Both free and paid versions of Rush are available. It’s ideal for quick video edits, and once you’re done, share the new video on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

Note that the Zoom phone app doesn’t support storing your recordings locally; it only offers cloud storage.

However, the desktop app supports both cloud and local storage.

Use CapCut AI (a free alternative) if you want faster edits with auto-subtitles and trending video templates for TikTok and Reels.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you convert Zoom recordings to text?

Zoom provides two types of audio-to-text transcription services.

Many users prefer live transcription to boost accessibility and improve understanding of the discussion.

To enable live transcription, go to Settings, open the Meetings tab, click In Meeting (Advanced), and enable the options for Automated Captions, Full Transcript, and Save Captions.

To generate transcriptions of your audio recordings, enable the function by opening Settings, navigating to Recordings, and ticking the Create Audio Transcript checkbox.

To access the transcript, open the Zoom Recording page and click Download near the Closed Captions option.

It’s important to note that:

• Audio transcription is only available for paid users with Education, Business, and Enterprise accounts.
• Zoom transcriptions are not 100% accurate. The accuracy also depends on the audio quality of the recordings.
• You can download the captions only in VTT format.
• Zoom takes nearly twice the duration of the recording to transcribe the audio. For example, if the recording is 15 minutes long, the program requires approximately 30 minutes to convert the audio into text.
• Currently, Zoom supports only English audio-to-text transcription.

How can I stop other users from editing Zoom cloud recordings?

Zoom offers three types of roles for account holders: Owner, Administrator, and Member.

Although each role comes with default permissions, the owner can change permissions, including the ability to view and edit recordings.

The Zoom account owner can grant permission or prevent a user from editing cloud recordings.

What file formats are used for Zoom recordings, and how do they impact editing?

Understanding the various file formats you’ll encounter in Zoom will enable you to decide on the best tools and methods to edit and improve Zoom recordings.

All video recordings are saved in MP4 format, audio-only files are stored in M4A format, playlist files have an M3U extension, chat messages are stored as TXT files, and audio transcriptions and closed captions can be downloaded in VTT and CC.VTT formats, respectively.

Those who store Zoom recordings locally should note that an hour of screen recording uses approximately 20 MB of local storage, while video recordings take up about 200 MB per hour.

Additionally, it is not recommended to store your Zoom recordings on external storage devices.

Zoom’s AI tools can now auto-export recordings in vertical (9:16) or square (1:1) aspect ratios, making them easier to repurpose for TikTok, Reels, and LinkedIn Video.

Zoom also compresses files more efficiently — video files now average 120 MB per hour, down from 200 MB, without major quality loss.

Final Thoughts

Hope our little guide has made editing Zoom recordings easy.

Learning how to edit Zoom recordings is a valuable skill to possess. It’s not just about removing fluff or dead air.

Editing can enhance the content, make it more accessible, and be effective in achieving your goals.

In addition to discussing why and how to edit Zoom recordings, we also cover the best video editing programs for every device.

With today’s AI-powered tools, anyone can transform long, unedited Zoom calls into engaging, shareable content in minutes — without needing professional video editing experience.

In the age of AI and short-form content, those who can distill complex discussions into clear, visual storytelling hold a massive competitive edge.

So, start editing now and make the most of your Zoom recordings.