---
title: What Zoom gives you
description: "Zoom has three transcript-ish artifacts. Only one of them is free of cloud recording."
---

# What Zoom gives you

Zoom has **three** transcript-ish artifacts, not one. Different prerequisites,
different endpoints, different costs. Picking the wrong one is the main way this
goes sideways.

| # | Artifact | Recording? | Format | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloud recording audio transcript | **Yes** | VTT | `/meetings/<id>/recordings` |
| 2 | AI Companion meeting summary | No | JSON | `/meetings/<id>/meeting_summary` |
| 3 | **AI Companion retained transcript** | **No** | VTT | `/meetings/<meeting-uuid>/transcript` |

**Row 3 is what we take.** Settled.

## Why route 3

```text
  ROUTE 1                              ROUTE 3
  ───────────────────────────          ───────────────────────────
  needs cloud recording        ✗       no recording object       ✓
  eats pooled storage quota    ✗       no storage quota          ✓
  someone must press Record    ✗       auto-start does it        ✓
  video you didn't want        ✗       text only                 ✓
```

Route 1 makes you buy video storage to get text, and it depends on a human
remembering a button.

The catch on route 3: the transcript is a byproduct of AI Companion **meeting
summary** running. If a host must press a button to start the summary, you have
swapped one forgettable button for another. Auto-start is a requirement of this
design, not a nicety — see
[Zoom settings](/be-pipeline-meeting-transcripts/zoom-settings).

## The claim is verified

A Zoom staffer in the dev forum confirmed retrieving an AI Companion transcript
over the API after enabling *"Allow meeting hosts to retain and access meeting
transcripts"*, with no cloud recording involved (devforum thread 136510). A
second thread says the same: retrievable "without a recording object present"
(thread 142661). The admin surface exists too — Account Management → Recording
and Transcript Management → **Transcripts**, searchable by meeting ID or host
email, with *"no limit on the date you can specify"* (support article KB0076632).

Careful: plenty of blog and forum prose says flatly "transcripts require cloud
recording." That is true of the `/recordings` endpoint and false of
`/meetings/<meeting-uuid>/transcript`. Do not let a search snippet talk you out
of route 3.

## Plan floor

| Thing | Minimum plan |
|---|---|
| Retain AI Companion transcripts | Pro and above (KB0076631) |
| AI Companion meeting summary | eligible paid Workplace plans; not Basic |
| Cloud recording + audio transcript | Pro and above (KB0064927) |

**Zoom Pro is the floor for every route.** The 2026 repackaging moved the old AI
Companion add-on tiers into "ZoomMate". We do not need it — meeting summary and
transcript retention are in the base paid plan.

## Retention

Zoom does not auto-delete unless an admin sets a policy. AI Companion
transcripts appear to have no date ceiling **[SPEC]**. Do not rely on it. Our
copy is the archive — that is the point of the whole pipeline.