Are there any other options of downloading MS Teams Recordings other than to a MP4 recording?

Question

When I download the recordings into MP4, then transcribe them to MS Notepad, it comes out in gibberish. Are there any other options to simplify getting the recording transcribed?

Answer 1

Hi @Lizziesem, 

I hope you are doing well. 

Thank you for sharing the details about what you are seeing. It is completely understandable that this situation would be inconvenient, especially when the recording downloads successfully but the transcription result in Notepad does not come out in a readable format.

Based on the Q&A Assist answer, there are a few better options you can try that may help you get a much cleaner transcript: 

If transcription was enabled during the Teams meeting, please check the meeting chat or recording details first. In many cases, Teams allows the transcript to be downloaded directly as a .docx or .vtt file, which is generally much easier to review and use than trying to convert the MP4 manually in Notepad. 

If a transcript is not available from Teams, you can also try uploading the MP4 file to the Transcribe feature in Word on the web or OneNote on the web. That option is usually better suited for producing readable text from recorded content. 

 

Please try the options suggested in the Q&A Assist answer and see if one of them works better for your needs. 

I hope you found the answer helpful, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could mark it as accepted. This helps highlight the solution for others who may be searching for similar information in the community. Your contribution not only supports fellow users in finding the right guidance more quickly, but also helps build a more resourceful and collaborative space for everyone. 

If you have any further questions or would like help with any of the steps, please feel free to reach out and let me know. I’ll be happy to help.  

Thank you for your kindness and contributions to the forum.   

---

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.     

Answer 2

Yes. Besides downloading the MP4 video, Teams and Microsoft 365 provide built-in transcript download options that avoid manual transcription in Notepad.

1. Use Teams meeting transcription and download the text
   If transcription was turned on during the call/meeting:
   • After the call, open the Chat for that call.
   • There will be:
     1. A link to the recording.
     2. The transcript.
   • The transcript can be downloaded directly as .docx or .vtt (subtitle) files, which are much better for text processing than extracting from MP4.
2. Use webinar recording transcript download (for webinars)
   For Teams webinars using the classic calendar:
   • In Teams, select Calendar.
   • Right-click the webinar event and select Manage event.
   • Select Recordings.
   • Select Download transcripts.
   • Transcripts download as separate .docx and .vtt files if multiple transcripts exist.
3. Use Microsoft 365 “Transcribe” instead of Notepad
   If only the MP4 is available and there is no Teams transcript, use the Microsoft 365 transcription feature instead of Notepad:
   • In Word or OneNote on the web, go to Home > Dictate dropdown > Transcribe.
   • In the Transcribe pane, select Upload audio.
   • Upload the Teams .mp4 file.
   • The service supports .wav, .mp4, .m4a, .mp3 and produces a structured transcript directly in Word/OneNote, which can then be edited or copied as clean text.

These options avoid relying on Notepad to interpret audio and give direct text outputs (.docx or .vtt) that are easier to read and edit.

---

References:

• Record and transcribe calls in Microsoft Teams
• Manage webinar recordings in Microsoft Teams
• Transcribe your recordings