Turn Zoom recordings into short clips

Download the MP4 from your computer or the Zoom cloud and upload it. Clyper finds the moments worth posting, cuts each on whole sentences, frames whoever's talking and captions every word.

Upload your recording

MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 4 GB and 4 hours

Already on YouTube? Paste the link instead.

How to get your recording out of Zoom

Zoom records two ways. A computer recording works on every account, free included, but only from the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. A cloud recording needs a licensed user on a paid plan (Pro, Business or Enterprise), and works from the mobile app too. Both give you an MP4. A computer recording also saves an M4A of the sound alone, and a cloud one does with Record audio-only files on.

1
Set the layout before the call. For the cloud, sign in to the Zoom web portal, open Settings (in the left menu, or from your profile picture at the top right on Zoom's new portal), then Recording & Transcript. Check Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately, tick Active speaker under it, and for the slides, make sure Record active speaker with shared screen and Record thumbnails when sharing (some Zoom pages call it Record tiles when sharing) are on, so the speaker shows over the share. Click Save: Zoom says changes made after the meeting starts don't apply. A computer recording records what the person recording sees, so switch to Speaker view.
2
Record. As the host, click Record in the meeting controls (or More, then Record), then Record on this Computer or Record to the Cloud. Hosts and co-hosts can record to the cloud. For a computer recording, the host can let someone else record: in Participants, click More by their name, then Allow Record.
3
Computer recording: let it convert. When the meeting ends, Zoom converts the recording and opens its folder, Documents/Zoom by default. Don't shut down, sleep or close the laptop until it finishes: Zoom warns an interrupted conversion can leave the files corrupted for good. If one didn't convert, click Open recordings on the desktop app's Home tab, find it under Computer recordings and click Convert.
4
Cloud recording: wait for processing. Zoom says it takes about twice as long as the part recorded, occasionally up to 24 hours, and can email the host when it's done. It shows up only in the host's list, even when a co-host started it.
5
Download it. In the web portal, click Recordings & Transcripts in the left menu (on the new portal: your profile picture, Profile, then Recordings and Transcripts), open the Cloud recordings tab and click the recording's thumbnail. Click Download, then Download again to confirm. Each layout you chose comes as its own MP4: take the active speaker one, or the one with the shared screen when the slides matter.

Zoom's help pages give no time limit for cloud recordings, but an account can be set to delete them after a number of days. To keep one, find it in your recordings list, click the more icon and then Disable auto-delete, unless your admin has locked it. Zoom is moving accounts to a new web portal design in stages, so a menu may sit elsewhere on yours.

How it works

1
Upload the MP4
The active speaker file from the cloud, or the MP4 from your Zoom folder: up to 4 GB and 4 hours.
2
Get the clips
Clyper reads what's said, picks the moments that stand on their own, frames the speaker and captions every word.
3
Post them
Check each clip in the editor, download 1080 × 1920 MP4s and post them on LinkedIn, TikTok, Reels or Shorts.

What you get

On whoever's talkingEach time Zoom's speaker view switches is a new shot, and Clyper frames the face in it.
Slides, with the speaker on topWhen the only face on a shared screen is the speaker's small box in a corner, Clyper can stack them: the speaker in the top 1080 × 608, the middle of the slide below.
Every word captionedIn the call's language, 50+ supported, placed clear of TikTok's, Reels' and Shorts' buttons.
Whole sentencesEach clip runs 20 to 60 seconds, starts and ends on a full sentence, and gets a hook score.
Fix a nameCorrect a word the transcript missed, trim, or extend either end by up to 15 seconds.
No watermarkClean 1080 × 1920 MP4s that post as they are.

“Tripled our client load without hiring anyone. Clyper is basically a second team.”

Dan Reyes, lowkey media · 9 clients

Which Zoom layout makes the best clips

A vertical clip keeps about 32% of a wide recording's width, so what Zoom recorded decides how the clip looks:

Active speaker or speaker view: the best source. One person fills the frame, and the crop stays on their face.
Gallery view: Clyper centers on whoever's talking, but their tile is a small part of the picture, so blown up to fill a phone it looks soft.
Shared screen with the speaker's thumbnail: in a cloud recording, Zoom puts the thumbnail in the top-right corner at a fixed 224 × 126 pixels. When Clyper finds the face in it, the only one on screen, for most of the clip, it puts the speaker on top and the middle of the slide below; blown up from that size, the face comes out soft, and the slide's edges are cut off. A computer recording of a share shows participants' thumbnails with it instead; with more than one face on screen, Clyper doesn't stack.
Shared screen only: no face, so Clyper keeps the middle of the slide.

So clip the active speaker file, and use the shared screen one only where the slide is the point. Ask speakers to keep their camera on, face a window or a lamp, and use a headset or USB mic: Clyper finds the moments by what's said, so clear sound matters as much as the picture. Keep slide text big and near the middle. To build a speaker-over-slide clip by hand, use the free split screen video maker, and for a whole webinar see how to turn a webinar into clips.

Zoom's own highlights and Clips

Zoom has two features of its own for shorter videos. Smart recording, which uses Zoom's AI on Zoom Workplace Pro and higher plans with audio transcripts on, marks the most important parts of a cloud recording as highlights; you can adjust them and save them as a new video, filed under the original. And on a cloud recording's page, Add to Zoom Clips lets you trim it and save it to Zoom Clips.

Both suit a recap for people who missed the meeting. Clyper is for posting: separate vertical clips, each framed on the speaker and captioned, from a computer or a cloud recording, on any Zoom plan. For a posting routine, see how to repurpose video content, and for LinkedIn, how to post video on LinkedIn.

Zoom shows everyone in the meeting that it's being recorded. That's agreeing to a recording, not to being on TikTok. Before you post a clip, ask each person who's seen or heard in it: guests, customers, attendees whose questions you answer. If someone says no, pick another moment. Clip other creators' calls and webinars only with their permission; see is clipping legal.

Long calls, and the minutes before it starts

Clyper takes uploads up to 4 GB and 4 hours. For a longer or bigger recording, cut it into parts with the free video splitter: kept as they are, the parts are copied without re-encoding, so nothing is lost, and any length works. It also cuts off the minutes before everyone joins and the goodbyes at the end. A credit is a minute of video, so what you cut is credits you keep.

What it costs

A credit is a minute of video, so a plan is how much video you can clip in a month, however many clips it makes. A one-hour call uses 60 credits and can give up to 30 clips.

Starter
$20/mo
150 minutes, about 75 clips
Pro
$19/mo yearly
400 minutes, about 200 clips
Studio
$48/mo yearly
1,000 minutes, about 500 clips
Also as 2× or 4×, for more of both

See the plans in full

Questions

Can I make clips from a Zoom recording?

Yes. Download the MP4 and upload it to Clyper. It finds the moments worth posting, frames whoever's talking and captions every word: up to 30 clips from an hour-long call.

Where are Zoom recordings saved?

Computer recordings go to a Zoom folder in Documents on Windows, Mac and Linux, unless someone changed it in the desktop app's settings. Cloud recordings are in the host's Zoom web portal, under Recordings & Transcripts (Recordings and Transcripts on Zoom's new portal), on the Cloud recordings tab.

Can Clyper connect to my Zoom account?

No. Clyper doesn't connect to Zoom or open Zoom links. Download the recording and upload the file (MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 4 GB), or, if you posted the call on YouTube, public or unlisted, paste its link.

Which Zoom recording layout is best for clips?

The active speaker. Before the meeting, turn on Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately, with Active speaker ticked, in your cloud recording settings. For a computer recording, stay in Speaker view while you record.

Can I record a Zoom call on the free plan?

Yes, to your computer, from the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. Recording to the cloud needs a paid plan, and the phone app can only record to the cloud.

How long does Zoom keep cloud recordings?

Zoom's help pages don't give a fixed limit, but an account can be set to delete cloud recordings after a number of days. Download the ones you want to clip soon after the call.