Preface

It seems like Zoom does no longer allow you to convert the files just by clicking on them.

This guide explains how to convert .zoom files on macOS. Here you can find the guides for Linux and Windows.

I’m assuming that you’ve installed the Zoom client using the standard way.

Step 1

Terminal window with two command typed in. The first command is ‘cd /Applications/zoom.us.app/Contents/Frameworks’ and the second one is ‘open -a Transcode.app /Users/tim/Downloads/rec/double_click_to_convert_01.zoom’

Open the Terminal app and change to the Zoom-Frameworks folder cd /Applications/zoom.us.app/Contents/Frameworks (you can copy-paste the command from here). The commands need to be executed by pressing Enter. Now you can run the Transcode app which is included in Zoom. To do that you run open -a Transcode.app, followed by the .zoom file (if there are multiple of them, just use the first one). You can drag the file from Finder into the terminal to insert the path at the text cursor position. Confirm the command by pressing Enter.

Step 2

Dialog window with the title ‘Allow Zoom to access files and folders’, the text ‘Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy to grant access.’ and two buttons, ‘Cancel’ and ‘Open System Preferences’

This step may be necessary, depending on the folder the .zoom files are in. If this dialog appears, click “Open System Preferences”. If it does not, skip this step.

The Security & Privacy config window from macOS. A red circle highlights the lock symbol in the bottom left corner.

Click on the Lock icon in the bottom left corner and type in your password. Then select the “Full Disk Access” entry in the left list.

The Security & Privacy config window with the lock unlocked. In the left list the entry ‘Full Disk Access’ has been selected, in the right list the checkbox near ‘zoom.us.app’ has been enabled. Red borders highlight both selections.

Now you need to check the checkbox for “zoom.us.app”. Close the “Security & Privacy” window. The conversion automatically starts once the correct permissions are set.

Step 3

A Zoom windows showing the conversion progress. The title reads ‘Converting meeting recording’, the text reads ‘You have a recording that needs to be converted before viewing’.

Zoom now converts the files. This may take a while. Grab the beverage of your choice and wait.

Step 4

A Zoom window asking for the location to save the recordings in. The text reads ‘Save my recordings at:’, followed by an input box for the path with ‘/Users/tim/Downloads/rec/’ preinserted. The buttons are ‘Cancel’ and ‘Save’.

After the conversion, Zoom asks for the folder to put the converted files into. The default is the folder our .zoom files were in.

Step 5

A Finder window with the converted recordings, the files are: ‘audio_only_1.m4a’, ‘audio_only.m4a’, ‘playback.m3u’, ‘zoom_0.mp4’, ‘zoom_1.mp4’

The Zoom window closes and you can use the converted files.