Loom exports captions as an SRT file, and whether you can download it depends on your plan and your role in the workspace. Loom's transcription page puts it in one sentence: "You can download an SRT file of your captions." The very next sentence is the one that catches people out: "Downloadable captions are only available to creators and admins on a Business/Business + AI plan, and members and admins on an Enterprise plan."
That is a narrower gate than the transcript itself. On the same page Loom writes that "Transcripts are available on all Loom plans (50+ distinct languages are supported)." So a free-plan user can have a perfectly good transcript on a video, watch it with captions on, and still have no way to export that text as a subtitle file. Seeing the words on screen and being allowed to download them are two separate permissions.
This walkthrough covers the click path, the three things that make the option disappear, and what to do with the SRT once you have it — including the part most people discover too late, that the MP4 you download from Loom does not carry the captions with it.
Before you start
Three conditions have to line up before the download option exists on a video.
1. The video actually has a transcript. If it does not, Loom lists the likely reasons: "this could be caused by a couple of different things such as the video length, a delayed processing time or the video was recorded before the transcript feature launched." Its own suggested fix is blunt: "To fix this: we recommend downloading the video and re-uploading it." Loom also warns that the spoken language has to be supported — "Unsupported languages (for example, Hebrew) will fail to produce transcripts, disabling all AI functionality."
2. Your plan and role qualify. Re-read the sentence at the top of this page. On Business and Business + AI it is creators and admins; on Enterprise it is members and admins. A paid workspace on its own is not enough — the seat you hold inside it matters.
3. Your admin has not switched downloads off. Loom has a workspace-level kill switch, and its scope is wider than it sounds: "Once disabled, users in your workspace will no longer have the ability to download videos and transcripts." That setting is itself limited — Loom says it "is available on Enterprise and Premium (Business+AI) plans" and "is available for Atlassian-managed workspaces only." If you meet every other requirement and the option still is not there, this is worth asking your admin about.
Step 1: Open the video and confirm captions exist
Play the video from its share page. Loom describes the player control directly: "At the bottom of the player, you can toggle closed captions (CC) on and off , and you can drag them around."
If there is no CC toggle at all, the transcript may be switched off at the video level rather than missing. Loom notes that "If you've disabled transcription from your video settings, your viewer will not see the option to watch your Loom with closed captions."
Step 2: Correct the text before you export, not after
This is the step that saves the most time. Loom ties the two artifacts together: "Captions are based on your video's transcript, so correcting the transcript will automatically correct the captions." Fix a misheard product name in the transcript editor and the exported SRT carries the fix. Fix it after exporting and you are hand-editing a subtitle file.
Two limits are worth knowing before you start editing. Loom says "you will only be able to edit individual words in your transcript, not the grammar (we currently don't support corrections to words containing special characters or diacritics - ü, ß, ñ, á, ç, ô, è)." So names with accents are the one category you may still have to repair in the SRT afterwards.
Step 3: Download the SRT
The path is short. In Loom's words: "To download, select the " ... " above your video and then Download captions ."
That menu sits above the video on its page, not inside the player controls. If you see the menu but not the caption entry, go back to the three conditions above — the button is gated, not hidden.
Step 4: Convert the file if your destination wants a different format
Loom's caption page names one export format: SRT. Plenty of destinations want WebVTT instead — HTML5 video tracks and several web players among them. That conversion is a text reshuffle, not a re-encode, so it takes a second and costs nothing in quality.
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs entirely in your browser tab; the file is not uploaded anywhere. If you would rather bookmark the standalone page, it is at SRT to VTT. For which player wants which extension, subtitle formats compared lays the differences out side by side.
The downloaded MP4 will not have your captions in it
This is the detail that sends people back to search. Loom is explicit about what survives a download: "While all video trims will be retained in the mp4-downloaded format, it's important to note that other Loom features, including CTAs, Filler Word + Silence removal, Chapters, and Closed Captions, will not be included in the downloaded file."
So if your plan is "download the Loom, post it on LinkedIn, captions included," the MP4 alone will not do it. You need the SRT as a separate file, and then either hand both to a platform that accepts a caption upload, or burn the subtitles into the picture yourself with burn subtitles to video.
Burning in is also the only route back into Loom itself. Loom states it plainly: "Users can't upload external subtitle files to Loom." A corrected or translated SRT cannot be fed back to the original video — if you want those captions visible on a Loom-recorded file, they have to be part of the frames.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a paid workspace is enough. The permission is written per role, not per plan alone: creators and admins on Business and Business + AI, members and admins on Enterprise.
- Expecting the MP4 to carry captions. It does not, per the quote above. Download the SRT separately, every time.
- Planning to re-upload an edited SRT. Loom does not accept external subtitle files, so budget for burn-in instead.
- Expecting a translated SRT. Loom is direct about transcripts: "No, Loom currently does not support transcript translation. You can only generate transcripts in the language spoken in the video." Viewer-side translation is a different feature — Loom says "Viewers can translate captions into the language of their choice," but adds that "translations are auto-generated by AI based on the video's transcript. If the creator's workspace doesn't allow AI, this feature will be unavailable to viewers of that video."
- Hoping to script a bulk export. On automation, Loom says "Loom does not offer a open API at this time," and that its SDK "is not an open API and does not provide the same functionalities as APIs." Caption export is a per-video, manual job.
FAQ
Can I download captions from Loom on a free plan? No. Loom limits downloadable captions to "creators and admins on a Business/Business + AI plan, and members and admins on an Enterprise plan." Transcripts themselves are available on all Loom plans, so you can still read and watch with captions — you just cannot export the SRT.
What caption format does Loom export? SRT. Loom's caption download instructions describe an SRT file and name no other export format on that page. If you need WebVTT, convert the SRT after downloading.
Why is the Download captions option missing from my video? Three usual reasons: the video has no transcript yet, your role or plan is outside the list above, or an admin has turned off downloads for the workspace — a setting that covers "videos and transcripts" together.
Do downloaded Loom MP4 files include the captions? No. Loom lists Closed Captions among the features that "will not be included in the downloaded file," alongside CTAs, Chapters, and Filler Word and Silence removal. Trims do survive the download.
Can I upload my own SRT file to Loom? No — Loom states that users cannot upload external subtitle files. To get custom captions onto a Loom recording, download the MP4, burn the subtitles in, and re-share that file.
Why did Loom transcribe my bilingual video in only one language? Loom describes its detection this way: "Loom automatically identifies the language of a video based on the first 30 seconds of audio," and adds that "Loom detects one language per video." The opening half-minute decides it.
Got the SRT and need it in another shape? Browse all Clapr tools, or see the rest of the how-to guides.
Quotes above come from Loom's official help documentation, checked 16 September 2026. Loom's plan tiers and role names have changed before — verify the current wording in the official documentation before relying on it.
