Introduction

The Zoom Transcript API is a powerful tool that allows developers to programmatically access transcripts of recorded Zoom meetings. It opens up a variety of opportunities for building applications that leverage meeting transcription data. In this article, we'll provide a comprehensive overview of the Zoom Transcript API, including a step-by-step guide on how to use it, common limitations to consider, and potential workarounds. We'll also dive into code examples and technical details to give you a solid foundation for working with this API in your projects.

What is the Zoom Transcript API?

The Zoom Transcript API is a REST API provided by Zoom that enables developers to retrieve transcripts of recorded meetings. It allows you to programmatically request a meeting recording and its associated transcript, which you can then parse and utilize within your own applications. The API returns the transcript data in a structured format, typically as a WebVTT or JSON file, making it easy to process and integrate into your software.

This API opens up a range of possibilities, such as automatically generating meeting notes, analyzing meeting content for insights, or integrating transcripts into productivity tools. For example, you could build an application that uses natural language processing techniques to extract key topics, action items, or sentiment from meeting transcripts, providing valuable analytics and summaries to users.

Getting Started with the Zoom Transcript API

To start using the Zoom Transcript API, you'll need to create a Zoom app and make API requests to retrieve meeting recordings and transcripts. Let's walk through the process step by step.

Creating a Zoom App

The first step is to create a new Zoom app in the Zoom App Marketplace. This app will serve as the authentication mechanism for accessing the Transcript API. Here's how to set it up:

  1. Go to the Zoom App Marketplace and click on "Develop" in the top-right corner.
  2. Click on "Build App" and select "JWT" as the app type.
  3. Fill in the required information, such as the app name and company details.
  4. Enable the necessary scopes for accessing meeting recordings and transcripts. You'll need the recording:read scope to retrieve recordings and the recording:read:admin scope if you want to access recordings of other users.
  5. Generate an OAuth access token for your app by providing the necessary credentials, such as the API key and secret.

Here's an example of generating an OAuth access token using Python and the requests library:

import requests
import json

client_id = 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID'
client_secret = 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET'

token_url = 'https://zoom.us/oauth/token'
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}
data = {
'grant_type': 'client_credentials',
'client_id': client_id,
'client_secret': client_secret
}

response = requests.post(token_url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(data))
access_token = response.json()['access_token']

Make sure to replace 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID' and 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET' with your actual Zoom app credentials.

Making API Requests for Meeting Recordings and Transcripts

With your Zoom app set up and OAuth access token generated, you can now make API requests to retrieve meeting recordings and transcripts. Here's an example of how to make a request using Python and the requests library:

import requests

access_token = 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'
meeting_id = 'YOUR_MEETING_ID'

url = f'https://api.zoom.us/v2/meetings/{meeting_id}/recordings'
headers = {
'Authorization': f'Bearer {access_token}',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
recordings = response.json()['recording_files']

Make sure to replace 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' with your actual OAuth access token and 'YOUR_MEETING_ID' with the ID of the meeting you want to retrieve.

The API response will contain a list of recording files associated with the specified meeting. Each recording file object includes details such as the file type, download URL, and recording start/end times.

Parsing the API Response

The Zoom Transcript API response contains details about the meeting recording and its associated files, including the transcript. The transcript file is typically provided in the WebVTT format, which is a standard format for representing timed text tracks.

Here's an example of what the response JSON might look like:

{
"recording_files": [
{
"id": "abcdef123456",
"meeting_id": "1234567890",
"recording_start": "2023-06-01T10:00:00Z",
"recording_end": "2023-06-01T11:00:00Z",
"file_type": "transcript",
"file_size": 12345,
"download_url": "https://example.com/path/to/transcript.vtt"
}
]
}

The recording_files array contains objects representing each file associated with the recording. To access the transcript, look for the object with "file_type": "transcript" and extract the download_url.

You can parse the API response using Python's json module:

import json

response_json = response.json()
recordings = response_json['recording_files']

for recording in recordings:
if recording['file_type'] == 'transcript':
transcript_url = recording['download_url']
break

This code snippet iterates over the recording files and extracts the download URL of the transcript file.

Accessing and Utilizing the Recording Files

Once you have the download_url for the transcript file, you can download it programmatically and work with the transcript data in your application. The transcript file is typically in the WebVTT format, which consists of timed text cues.

First, you need to install the webvtt-py library if you haven't already:

pip install webvtt-py

Here's how you can download the transcript file using Python and parse its contents:

import requests
import webvtt

transcript_url = 'https://example.com/path/to/transcript.vtt'
response = requests.get(transcript_url)
transcript_data = response.text

transcript = webvtt.read_buffer(transcript_data)

for cue in transcript.cues:
start_time = cue.start
end_time = cue.end
text = cue.text
# Process the transcript cue data as needed

In this example, we use the webvtt library to parse the downloaded transcript data. The webvtt.read_buffer() function takes the transcript data as input and returns a WebVTT object containing the parsed cues.

Each cue represents a timed portion of the transcript and includes attributes like start, end, and text. You can iterate over the cues and process the transcript data according to your application's requirements.

Real-World Example: Automating Meeting Note Generation

Let's walk through a practical use case of leveraging the Zoom Transcript API to automate meeting note generation. Imagine you have a tool that automatically creates a summary and extracts key points from a meeting based on its transcript. Here's how you could implement it:

  1. Set up a Zoom app and obtain an OAuth access token as described earlier.
  2. Retrieve the list of recordings for a specific meeting using the API.
  3. Identify the transcript file from the recording files and download it.
  4. Parse the downloaded transcript file to extract the text content.
  5. Apply natural language processing techniques to analyze the transcript text and generate a summary and key points. You can use libraries like NLTK or spaCy for this purpose.
  6. Store the generated meeting notes in a database or file system for later reference.

Here's a code snippet that demonstrates the process:

import requests
import webvtt
from nltk.tokenize import sent_tokenize
from nltk.corpus import stopwords
from heapq import nlargest

# Step 1: Set up Zoom app and obtain OAuth access token

# Step 2: Retrieve the list of recordings for a specific meeting
meeting_id = 'YOUR_MEETING_ID'
recordings_url = f'https://api.zoom.us/v2/meetings/{meeting_id}/recordings'
headers = {
'Authorization': f'Bearer {access_token}',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}
response = requests.get(recordings_url, headers=headers)
recordings = response.json()['recording_files']

# Step 3: Identify the transcript file and download it
transcript_url = None
for recording in recordings:
if recording['file_type'] == 'transcript':
transcript_url = recording['download_url']
break

if transcript_url:
response = requests.get(transcript_url)
transcript_data = response.text

# Step 4: Parse the transcript file and extract text content
transcript = webvtt.read_buffer(transcript_data)
transcript_text = ' '.join([cue.text for cue in transcript.cues])

# Step 5: Apply natural language processing techniques
sentences = sent_tokenize(transcript_text)
stop_words = set(stopwords.words('english'))

word_freq = {}
for word in transcript_text.lower().split():
if word not in stop_words:
if word not in word_freq.keys():
word_freq[word] = 1
else:
word_freq[word] += 1

max_freq = max(word_freq.values())
for word in word_freq.keys():
word_freq[word] = word_freq[word] / max_freq

sentence_scores = {}
for sentence in sentences:
for word in sentence.lower().split():
if word in word_freq.keys():
if len(sentence.split(' ')) < 30:
if sentence not in sentence_scores.keys():
sentence_scores[sentence] = word_freq[word]
else:
sentence_scores[sentence] += word_freq[word]

summary_sentences = nlargest(5, sentence_scores, key=sentence_scores.get)
summary = ' '.join(summary_sentences)

# Step 6: Store the generated meeting notes
meeting_notes = {
'meeting_id': meeting_id,
'summary': summary
}
# Store the meeting notes in a database or file system

In this code snippet:

Note that this is a simplified example, and there are more advanced techniques and libraries available for generating summaries and extracting key points from text data.

By automating the process of generating meeting notes, you can save time and effort in manually creating summaries and ensure consistent and comprehensive records of your meetings.

Zoom Transcript API Limitations to Consider

While the Zoom Transcript API provides valuable functionality, it's important to be aware of its current limitations. Let's discuss some key considerations:

English-Only Transcription

Currently, the Zoom Transcript API only generates transcripts for meetings conducted in English. If your meetings involve other languages, the API may not provide accurate or usable transcripts. Keep this in mind when planning your applications and use cases.

Transcript Availability Delay

There is a delay between the end of a meeting and the availability of its transcript through the API. The transcript is not generated in real-time during the meeting. Instead, it becomes available after the meeting recording has been processed, which can take some time.

The exact delay depends on various factors, such as the length of the meeting and the load on Zoom's servers. In general, you can expect the transcript to be available within a few hours after the meeting has ended. However, in some cases, it may take longer.

To handle this delay, you can implement a polling mechanism in your application where you periodically check for the availability of the transcript using the API. You can set a reasonable interval between checks based on your requirements and the expected processing time.

Paid Zoom Account Requirement

Access to meeting transcripts is limited to paid Zoom accounts. If you or your users have free Zoom accounts, you won't be able to retrieve transcripts using the API. Ensure that you have the necessary paid account privileges before integrating the Transcript API into your applications.

The specific paid plans that include transcript functionality may vary, so it's essential to refer to Zoom's documentation or contact their support for the most up-to-date information on plan requirements.

Recorded Meetings Only

Transcripts are only generated for meetings that are recorded. If a meeting is not recorded, there will be no transcript available through the API. This limitation is important to consider when designing your application and communicating with users.

Make sure to inform users that transcripts are only available for recorded meetings and provide clear instructions on how to enable recording for their meetings if they want to access transcripts.

Host-Only Transcript Access

Only the host of the meeting has access to the meeting transcript. Participants or other users cannot retrieve the transcript directly through the API. If your application requires transcript access for multiple users, you may need to implement additional permissions and sharing mechanisms outside of the Zoom API.

For example, you could build a system where the meeting host can grant access to specific participants or integrate with a file sharing service to distribute the transcript to authorized users.

Meeting Settings Configuration

For a meeting transcript to be generated, the meeting host must enable specific settings in their Zoom account. This includes enabling audio transcription and choosing to save the transcript along with the recording.

To enable transcription, the host needs to navigate to their Zoom account settings, go to the "Recording" tab, and ensure that the "Audio Transcript" option is enabled. Additionally, they should select the option to save the transcript when saving the meeting recording.

Ensure that meeting hosts are aware of these requirements and provide clear instructions on how to configure their settings to generate transcripts.

No Speaker Identification

The transcripts generated by the Zoom Transcript API do not include speaker identification. The transcript is a continuous text without any indication of who said what. If your application relies on attributing statements to specific speakers, you'll need to explore alternative solutions or implement speaker identification techniques separately.

One approach is to use the Zoom Meeting SDK, which provides access to real-time meeting events and can help identify active speakers. However, this requires a more complex integration and may have limitations based on the specific SDK features and platform support.

Alternatively, you can explore third-party speaker diarization services or implement your own speaker identification algorithms by analyzing the audio data alongside the transcript. This can be a complex task and may require advanced audio processing and machine learning techniques.

Alternative Approaches and Workarounds

If the limitations of the Zoom Transcript API pose challenges for your specific use case, there are alternative approaches and workarounds you can consider:

Live-Streaming with Zoom RTMP API

The Zoom RTMP live-streaming API provides a way to access meeting audio and video in real-time. By live-streaming the meeting content, you can potentially perform real-time transcription using third-party speech-to-text services. This approach can help mitigate the delay in transcript availability and enable live captioning or real-time analysis.

To use the RTMP API for live-streaming, you need to configure your Zoom account to allow live streaming and obtain the RTMP streaming URL. You can then use this URL to stream the meeting audio and video to a third-party service or your own server for real-time processing.

Here's a high-level overview of the steps involved:

  1. Enable live streaming in your Zoom account settings.
  2. Start a meeting and configure it to allow live streaming.
  3. Obtain the RTMP streaming URL from the meeting settings.
  4. Use the RTMP streaming URL to stream the meeting audio and video to a third-party service or your own server.
  5. Perform real-time transcription or analysis on the live-streamed content using speech-to-text services or your own implementation.

Limitations of RTMP Live-Streaming

While live-streaming with the RTMP API offers real-time access to meeting content, it comes with its own set of limitations and considerations:

Leveraging the Zoom Meeting Bot API

Another alternative is to use the Zoom Meeting Bot API to create a bot that joins the meeting and has access to the transcript. Meeting bots can interact with participants, retrieve meeting data, and potentially access the transcript in real-time. This approach allows for more control and customization over the transcript retrieval process.

To create a meeting bot, you'll need to use the Zoom Meeting SDK and register your bot with Zoom. The bot can then be added to meetings by the host or participants. Once the bot joins the meeting, it can listen for meeting events, retrieve the transcript, and perform any necessary processing or analysis.

Here's a high-level overview of the steps involved:

  1. Set up a Zoom developer account and create a new app with the Meeting Bot SDK.
  2. Implement your meeting bot using the Zoom Meeting SDK and register it with Zoom.
  3. Configure your bot's permissions and settings in the Zoom App Marketplace.
  4. Add the bot to the desired meetings using the meeting invitation or the Zoom UI.
  5. Retrieve the transcript using the bot's API callbacks or by polling for updates.
  6. Process and analyze the retrieved transcript data according to your application's requirements.

Limitations of Meeting Bots

While meeting bots offer a more interactive and customizable approach to transcript retrieval, they also have some limitations:

Conclusion

The Zoom Transcript API offers a powerful way to access and utilize meeting transcripts programmatically. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a Zoom app, make API requests to retrieve transcripts, and integrate them into your own applications. The API opens up opportunities for automating processes, analyzing meeting content, and enhancing productivity.

However, it's crucial to be aware of the current limitations of the Zoom Transcript API, such as English-only transcription, availability delays, paid account requirements, and the need for specific meeting settings. By understanding these limitations, you can make informed decisions and design your applications accordingly.

If the limitations pose significant challenges for your use case, you can explore alternative approaches like live-streaming with the RTMP API or leveraging the Meeting Bot API. Each approach has its own benefits and limitations, so evaluate them carefully based on your specific requirements.

To get started with the Zoom Transcript API, follow these steps:

  1. Sign up for a Zoom developer account at https://marketplace.zoom.us/.
  2. Create a new Zoom app and enable the necessary scopes for accessing meeting recordings and transcripts.
  3. Generate an OAuth access token for your app using the provided credentials.
  4. Make API requests to retrieve meeting recordings and transcripts using the access token and meeting IDs.
  5. Parse the API response to extract the transcript data and process it according to your application's needs.

Remember to handle API limitations gracefully, implement appropriate error handling, and provide clear communication to users about the availability and requirements of transcripts.