How to edit a Zoom recording
Last updated 2026-10-20
Yes. Zoom's built-in edit for a cloud recording is a trim, in the Cloud recordings tab of its web portal. Local recordings are plain MP4 and M4A files, by default in Documents/Zoom on a Mac, so any editor opens them. For a full edit, import the MP4 into Woven and cut, caption and clip it by chat.
Where Zoom saves a recording
Where the file lands depends on how you recorded. Zoom calls them computer recordings and cloud recordings.
- Find a computer recording. Open Zoom's Settings, go to the Recording tab and look under Local recording storage. The Storage location path shows the folder, and Open takes you there.
- File names. Zoom names files video or audio plus a random number, such as video98796876.mp4.
- Keep it on the Mac. Zoom warns that a storage location not physically on your device, such as a network drive, may cause problems.
- Cloud needs a paid plan. Zoom lists Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise for cloud recording. Download the files from the web portal before you edit them elsewhere.
| Type | Where it is | Files |
|---|---|---|
| Computer (local) | On your Mac, by default in the Documents/Zoom folder of your home folder | MP4 video, M4A audio and a chat text file; one M4A per participant if that option is on |
| Cloud | In the Zoom Cloud; open it from the Recording section of the Zoom web portal or from Zoom Hub | MP4 video, M4A audio and chat text, plus a VTT transcript and a CC.VTT closed-caption file when they exist |
What Zoom lets you edit
For cloud recordings, Zoom's web portal has a trim. It needs a supported desktop browser; Zoom says it does not work in mobile web browsers.
- Open it. Sign in to the Zoom web portal, click Recording, open the Cloud recordings tab, click the meeting topic and click the recording's thumbnail.
- Trim. Click the scissor icon and drag the blue sliders to set the start and end. Hover over an untrimmed part of the playback bar and click the plus icon to add a section, or click Remove on an existing one. Click Trim, then Trim again to confirm.
- Know the limits. Trimming overwrites the original recording and its audio and transcript files. You can trim a recording 5 times every 12 hours. Separate participant audio and in-meeting chat cannot be trimmed. A long recording can take about 2 hours, and viewers cannot watch it meanwhile.
- Restore. The Restore button under the playback brings back the original, but it permanently deletes the trimmed version.
A full edit: dead air, captions and short clips
Zoom's trim cuts the ends and a few chunks. It does not burn in captions or reframe the picture, and Zoom's page on managing computer recordings lists playing, sharing, converting and deleting, not editing. For the rest, edit a copy of the file in an editor. Zoom's own trim page suggests saving highlights as a new clip when you want the original left intact.
- Cut dead air. Start with the head: waiting for people to join and the check that everyone can hear. Then cut the long pauses and false starts. Leave short breaths between sentences so the voice still sounds like a person.
- Caption last. Caption the finished cut, not the raw recording, so the words match the edit. Zoom's VTT and CC.VTT files are separate files, not burned into the picture.
- Pull short clips. Choose one idea per clip. Start where the answer starts and end when the point lands. A horizontal recording needs a vertical crop for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.
Edit a Zoom recording in Woven
Woven opens Zoom's MP4 video and M4A audio files. Bring them in with Add, then Video or Audio, or drop them from Finder. Woven cannot import Zoom's VTT transcript or caption files as captions. Captions come only from Woven's own transcription, which has no speaker labels. There is no silence-removal command and no automatic clip finder. To cut dead air, ask in chat: Woven's AI agent reads the word timings from the transcript and trims to them. For clips, it proposes moments from the transcript, or you name them. The first transcription of a file uses credits. Later transcription or captioning of the same file costs nothing for those seconds.
Ask in chat
- Transcribe this Zoom recording and cut the long pauses.
- Remove the first two minutes of small talk and keep the rest.
- Suggest three moments for 30-second clips and wait for my pick.
- Make the picked clip vertical and add captions.
Or do it by hand
- 1Import. Drag the Zoom MP4 from Documents/Zoom onto the timeline, or use Add, then Video.
- 2Cut by hand. Put the playhead where dead air starts and press ⌘B, split again where it ends, then select that piece and press Delete. Slide the next clip back over the hole it leaves.
- 3Caption. Caption the finished cut through Generate captions in the + Add menu.
- 4Make it vertical. In Format, choose Vertical 1080x1920; the recording's sides fall outside the tall frame. Choose the part that stays in the Crop tab. A crop never follows the speaker, so split where they move.
- 5Export. Render the MP4 with Export, at 1080p or 1440p.
Common questions
Yes. Zoom can trim a cloud recording in its web portal. A local recording is an ordinary MP4 file, so you can open it in any video editor.
For a cloud recording, open it in the Zoom web portal, click the scissor icon, set the start and end, then click Trim twice. For a local recording, trim the MP4 in an editor.
By default in the Documents/Zoom folder of your home folder. In Zoom's Settings, the Recording tab shows the Storage location and an Open button.
An MP4 for audio and video and an M4A for audio only, plus a chat text file. Cloud recordings can also have a VTT transcript and a CC.VTT closed-caption file.
It overwrites the original and its audio and transcript files. Restore brings the original back, but it permanently deletes the trimmed version.
Zoom's caption and transcript files are separate files. To put captions on the video itself, generate them in an editor. Woven cannot import Zoom's caption files and makes its own.
Sources
- Getting started with computer and cloud recording - Zoom Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Managing computer recordings - Zoom Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Understanding recording file formats - Zoom Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Trimming cloud recordings - Zoom Support, checked October 19, 2026
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