Loom's official advice for email is not to embed the player. Its help page on embedding videos, GIFs and thumbnails says it directly: "Most email clients do not support this, so instead, we suggest using an embedded GIF thumbnail, as this option is accepted by more platforms."
That one sentence decides the whole approach. You are not trying to make a video play inside an inbox — you are trying to put something clickable in front of the reader that survives the trip. This guide walks the route Loom actually recommends, the one setting that breaks it on a named email client, and the narrower case where attaching the file is possible at all.
Before you start
Three things determine which of the routes below are open to you.
- Your plan and role. Attaching the video file requires downloading it first, and Loom restricts that. Its download page states: "The download feature is only available on Business, Business+ AI, or Enterprise plans. Users on the Starter Free plan can't download videos." The same page adds: "Creator Lites can't download videos on any plan."
- Your video's privacy setting. Loom notes that "If your video privacy setting is set to Open to Workspace or Restricted, the video preview will be hidden by default in embedded Looms." A locked-down video will not show a preview where you expect one.
- Whether the recipient is inside your workspace. A link is only useful if the person opening it is allowed to watch. Check the video's privacy level before you press send rather than after.
If you are on the free Starter plan, the attachment route is closed — the GIF-plus-link route below is the one that applies to you.
Step 1: Turn on the animated GIF thumbnail
Loom generates the animated preview for you rather than asking you to make one. From its guide to creating an animated GIF preview: "You can simply enable our Animated Thumbnail feature from your video settings. Once enabled, Loom will take the first few seconds of your recording and transform them into an animated video cover."
Note what Loom does not specify: it says "the first few seconds" and gives no exact duration, frame rate or file size. Do not plan around a specific number here.
Result: your video now has a moving cover instead of a still frame.
Step 2: Put the GIF in the email as a hyperlinked image
This is the part people get wrong, because it looks like an embed but is not one. Loom describes the mechanism precisely: "When sharing this way, the GIF is a looped segment of a Loom video that is hyperlinked."
So the email contains an image that loops, and clicking it opens the Loom page in a browser. Nothing plays inside the message itself. That is by design, and it is why this route works across more clients than a real embed — Loom's broader guidance is the same for websites: "In cases where you are unable to embed your video, we suggest using an embedded GIF, as this option is accepted by more platforms."
Result: recipients see motion in the message body and land on the video in one click.
Step 3: Warn Apple Mail recipients about remote content
Loom names one email platform specifically, which is unusually concrete for this kind of documentation: "Some email platforms, such as Apple Mail, require users to adjust settings in order to display a linked GIF. Double-check your settings to allow the loading of remote content and disable any restrictions."
The GIF is loaded from a remote URL, so a client that blocks remote content shows a blank box or a placeholder instead of your animation. If a colleague replies saying your email "came through empty," this is the first thing to check — and it is a setting on their side, not something you can fix from your Loom account.
Result: the difference between "my GIF is broken" and "their client blocked the image" stops being a mystery.
Step 4: Attach the file only if your plan allows downloads
Sometimes the recipient genuinely needs a file — an external reviewer with no Loom access, or an archive copy. Here is what Loom says you get.
The format is fixed. From the download page: "When you download a Loom, it is downloaded in the .MP4 format." Loom's encoding page adds that "The MP4 media encoding specs are similar to the RAW media recorded" — similar, not identical.
The file is not a full copy of the experience. Loom lists what gets left behind: "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 an attached MP4 arrives without captions. If the recipient needs subtitles burned into the picture, see how to get an SRT out of Loom and then burn the subtitles into the video.
There is also a ceiling: "you won't be able to download Loom videos over 20GB. (How big is 20GB? Approx. 3 hours recorded in 4K)."
Email attachments have their own size limits set by your mail provider, not by Loom, so check your provider's current figure. In practice a screen recording straight out of Loom is far larger than it needs to be for something that will be watched in a mail client window, and shrinking it first is what makes the attachment route viable:
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs entirely in your browser tab — the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally and handed back. Nothing is uploaded to a server, which matters when the recording is an internal walkthrough you were not planning to hand to a third party. If you would rather send a short looping clip of your own making instead of Loom's auto-generated cover, MP4 to GIF turns a downloaded segment into one.
Common mistakes
- Copying the thumbnail code when you wanted your custom image. Loom is explicit: "If you are looking to embed your video with your custom thumbnail, make sure you select Copy embed code ; do not copy thumbnail code . The thumbnail code will embed your video with a GIF thumbnail of the video rather than the image you uploaded as a thumbnail."
- Expecting the preview to look identical everywhere. Loom states that "we are not able to control or manage the dimensions of Loom video previews inside certain applications such as Slack." Sizing is the receiving app's call.
- Assuming an embed will simply work. Loom's own framing is that you can embed "into most websites and platforms. However, some websites and platforms do block the ability to embed videos."
- Attaching an MP4 and assuming captions rode along. They did not — see Step 4.
- Troubleshooting a blocked GIF on your own machine. If it renders in your sent folder, the problem is the recipient's remote-content setting.
FAQ
Can I embed a Loom video that plays inside an email? Loom's guidance is that "Most email clients do not support this," and it recommends an embedded GIF thumbnail instead, hyperlinked to the video. Treat the GIF-plus-link pattern as the supported route.
Why does my Loom GIF not show up in Apple Mail? Loom names it directly: "Some email platforms, such as Apple Mail, require users to adjust settings in order to display a linked GIF." It points to allowing the loading of remote content — a setting that belongs to whoever is reading the mail, not to you.
Can I attach a Loom video on the free plan? No — Loom states that "Users on the Starter Free plan can't download videos," and Creator Lite roles cannot download on any plan. Without a download there is nothing to attach, so share the link and GIF instead. More on that in why you can't download your Loom video.
Will the attached MP4 have subtitles? 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. See why a downloaded Loom has no captions.
How long can the GIF preview be? Loom only says it takes "the first few seconds" of the recording. It publishes no exact duration, so check the official documentation if you need a precise figure.
Sending a Loom by email comes down to one choice: a hyperlinked looping GIF for almost everyone, or a compressed MP4 attachment for the narrow case where the recipient needs a file and your plan permits a download. More walkthroughs like this one live in the how-to guides, and every browser-based converter and compressor referenced above is listed on all Clapr tools.
Quotes taken from Loom's official help center, checked 16 September 2026. Loom's pages have disagreed with each other before — verify against the current documentation before relying on a specific limit.
