Meetings · April 2026

How to Transcribe Zoom and Teams Recordings in 2026 (Free, Accurate)

By ScribeForge · April 18, 2026 · 7 min read

You recorded the meeting. Now you need the action items, decisions, and quotes — without watching the whole thing back. Here's how to get a full transcript of any Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams recording in under a minute, for free.

Where to find your meeting recording

Zoom

Local recordings: ~/Documents/Zoom/[date]/ — look for a file named meeting_audio.m4a or video1280.mp4
Cloud recordings: Zoom web portal → Recordings → Download the .mp4 or .m4a

Microsoft Teams

Go to the meeting chat in Teams → find the recording → click the three-dot menu → Download
Or find it in SharePoint/OneDrive: Recordings/ folder in the relevant Team channel

Google Meet

Recordings are saved to Google Drive → Meet Recordings/ → download as .mp4

Privacy note: Before transcribing a meeting, confirm all participants consented to recording. In many jurisdictions this is a legal requirement. Never upload a confidential meeting to a third-party tool without checking your organisation's data policies.

Prepare your file

ScribeForge accepts MP4 video files up to 25MB and extracts the audio automatically. Most meeting recordings exceed 25MB — here's how to compress them:

Quick compression with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i meeting.mp4 -vn -b:a 96k meeting_audio.mp3
The -vn flag strips the video track. A 60-minute meeting at 96kbps becomes ~43MB — still too large. Try 64kbps:
ffmpeg -i meeting.mp4 -vn -b:a 64k meeting_audio.mp3
At 64kbps, a 60-minute meeting is ~29MB. For very long meetings, split it: ffmpeg -i meeting.mp4 -vn -t 1800 -b:a 96k part1.mp3 (first 30 mins)

Don't have ffmpeg? Use HandBrake (free, GUI) or the online converter at cloudconvert.com.

Transcribe the recording

Go to ScribeForge

Open ScribeForge.io. No account or login needed.

Upload your file

Drag the .mp3 or .mp4 file onto the upload zone. The filename and size will confirm on screen.

Click Transcribe

Processing takes 5–20 seconds for a 30-minute recording. Grok STT handles multiple speakers and identifies turn boundaries.

Review and download

The full transcript appears with timestamps per segment. Scroll through the segments panel to find specific moments. Download as .txt for editing.

What to do with your meeting transcript

Extract action items with an LLM

Copy the transcript and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok with this prompt:

"Extract all action items from this meeting transcript. Format as: [Owner] — [Action] — [Deadline if mentioned]"

Find decisions

Use: "List every decision made in this meeting. For each one, note who proposed it and whether there was any disagreement."

Create a meeting summary

Use: "Summarize this meeting in 5 bullet points. Start with the main topic, then list 4 key outcomes."

Search the text

Open the .txt file in any text editor and use Ctrl+F to jump to any topic instantly — far faster than scrubbing through video.

Meeting transcription tools: 2026 comparison

Tool	Price	Account needed	Works with existing recordings?
ScribeForge	Free (2/day) · $9/50	No	Yes — any MP3/MP4
Otter.ai	$16.99/mo	Yes	Import (paid plan)
Fathom	Free (limited)	Yes (Zoom/Meet only)	Live only
Fireflies.ai	$18/mo/seat	Yes	Upload (paid)
Zoom AI Companion	Included in paid Zoom	Yes	Yes (Zoom only)

If you only occasionally need to transcribe a meeting, ScribeForge's free tier covers you without signing up for yet another subscription. If you need live transcription during calls, Fathom or Otter.ai are better fits.

Tips for better accuracy

Use headsets: Echo and room reverb are the #1 cause of transcription errors. Headset recordings are far more accurate than laptop mics.
Record in mono if possible: Most STT models process mono; stereo is converted anyway and just adds file size.
Remove music intros: If your recording starts with hold music or a jingle, trim it off first — it confuses the model.
Split at speaker changes: If multiple people spoke but the model doesn't separate them cleanly, manually note the speaker in the transcript based on timestamps.

Transcribe your next meeting recording — no account, no subscription, no upload limit tricks.

Try ScribeForge free →