Upload MOV to Loom: How to Do It and Why It Fails

MOV is on Loom's official list of accepted upload containers. Loom's media specification table for uploaded videos reads: "Supported containers: MV, AVI, WEBM, MP4, MOV (Up to 4GB)". So a QuickTime file is not an unsupported format, and the .mov extension is almost never the thing that stopped you.

What stops MOV uploads is what is inside the file. This guide walks the upload end to end — what you need before you start, the properties Loom names as rejection causes, and the export Loom itself recommends when a file bounces.

Before you start

Four things decide whether the upload is even possible, all of them quoted from Loom's help centre:

• Your plan. Loom states that video uploading is available only to users on its Business, Business + AI or Enterprise plans, and adds: "Uploads are not available for Business + AI Trials." The Business plan FAQ carries a matching note: "Please note the Upload feature is temporarily unavailable for Business Trial users." A Starter (free) account cannot upload at all, so no amount of re-encoding will help there.
• Size and length. "Loom limits uploads to 4 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less." The same rule is restated for phones: "We do limit Mobile uploads to 4GB limit or 12 hours, whichever is less." Note the whichever is less — a 3 GB screen recording that runs 13 hours is still out.
• Your connection. Loom's upload troubleshooting page asks you to "Ensure a strong and stable internet connection with an upload speed of at least 5 Mbps."
• How many at once. "There is no limit to how many videos you can upload. However you can upload up to 10 videos at a time."

The three properties that produce "Failed to process"

This is the part worth memorising, because Loom publishes the exact numbers:

"You may receive a Failed to process message after attempting to upload a video. This most often occurs because the file is over 4 GB, its frames per second are over 60, or its resolution is over 4096 x 2160."

Three hard thresholds: 4 GB, over 60 fps, over 4096 x 2160. Read the wording carefully, though — Loom says this "most often occurs because", not that these are the only three causes. Its upload-failure article names a fourth kind of problem in passing: "There are times when an underlying property of your video is not supported (like the number of audio channels is too high) and this can only be fixed by running the media through Handbrake."

Here is why that matters specifically for MOV. A container is a wrapper; it says nothing about the frame rate, the resolution, the video codec or the channel count of the audio track sitting inside it. A .mov from a camera, a phone or a screen recorder passes Loom's container list on the extension alone while failing on a property the list never mentions. That is the whole mechanism behind "but MOV is supported".

What Loom turns your upload into

Loom's specification table for uploaded videos also documents the target it re-encodes to:

Every cell is quoted from that table. Loom adds that it "encodes the video and makes it available in all resolutions starting with the originally recorded resolution, down to 480p" — so your upload becomes a ladder of renditions, not a single file. ("MV" is how the container list is written on Loom's own page; it is reproduced here unchanged.)

Two notes on the table: the bitrate figure is "Variable bitrate" and Loom publishes no kbps number, and the audio row for uploads says one mono channel. Loom does not explain why, so take it as the stated spec rather than a rule with a documented rationale.

Convert the MOV first — Loom says so itself

This is not a workaround invented by a third party. Loom's own pages point at re-encoding before upload, in three places, in near-identical words:

"The Loom uploader is designed to handle a broad range of video formats, containers, and codecs. If the file you want to upload to Loom is not supported, or even if the quality of the uploaded video doesn't turn out quite right, try running your video through Handbrake ."

And, more concretely:

"HandBrake is a free tool that allows you to convert video from nearly any format to a selection of widely supported codecs. We recommend exporting your video using the media specifications in the above table (H.264/AAC to . MP4 file.)"

"The above table" is the one reproduced in the previous section: H.264 video, AAC audio, in an MP4. That is the destination, whatever tool you use to get there.

Try it right here

Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.

Loading tool…

This runs inside your browser tab — the MOV is read from disk, re-encoded locally, and handed back, so an unreleased demo or an internal recording never gets uploaded to a third party on the way to being uploaded to Loom. It outputs H.264/AAC MP4, which is the combination Loom names. The standalone page is at MOV to MP4 if you would rather bookmark it. If the file is also over 4 GB, video compression handles the size problem in the same pass.

The upload, step by step

1. Confirm the account can upload. Business, Business + AI or Enterprise, and not a trial seat.
2. Check the file against the four properties. Under 4 GB, under 12 hours, frame rate not over 60, resolution not over 4096 x 2160.
3. Re-export if any of them is out — or if you simply want the safest path. H.264/AAC in MP4, per Loom's recommendation above.
4. Upload on a connection with at least 5 Mbps up, in batches of no more than 10 files.
5. Leave it running. Loom: "Your videos will keep uploading even if you leave the upload modal. The uploads only stop if you select cancel."
6. Expect a wait after the transfer finishes. Loom: "Videos that are large in resolution, size, or duration will take longer to process and may remain in a processing state after uploading."

Common mistakes

• Trusting the extension. MOV being on the list means the container is accepted, not that the file's frame rate, resolution or audio channel count are.
• Treating the three thresholds as exhaustive. Loom's wording is "most often occurs because". A file inside all three limits can still be refused on another property.
• Cancelling because the modal is in the way. Closing the modal does not stop the upload; only selecting cancel does.
• Assuming upload is a transfer feature. Moving videos between accounts by download-and-re-upload "requires a paid Loom plan and paid seats on both the account you need to download content from and the account you will be uploading to."
• Planning to patch narration afterwards. Loom lists "Uploaded videos" among the cases where its text-to-speech fix is "currently not supported".

FAQ

Does Loom accept MOV files? Yes. Loom's media specification table for uploaded videos lists the accepted containers as "MV, AVI, WEBM, MP4, MOV (Up to 4GB)". MOV is on that list alongside MP4 and WEBM.

Why does my MOV fail to upload to Loom? Loom says a "Failed to process" message "most often occurs because the file is over 4 GB, its frames per second are over 60, or its resolution is over 4096 x 2160." It also names a case where "the number of audio channels is too high". None of those are visible from the file extension.

What is the maximum MOV size I can upload? "Loom limits uploads to 4 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less." The container list repeats the figure as "(Up to 4GB)", and mobile uploads carry the same rule.

Should I convert MOV to MP4 before uploading to Loom? Loom recommends it for files that are rejected or that come out looking wrong: "We recommend exporting your video using the media specifications in the above table (H.264/AAC to . MP4 file.)" Since Loom re-encodes to H.264/AAC regardless, handing it that combination up front removes a whole class of failure.

Can I upload a MOV on the Loom free plan? No. Loom states that uploading is available only on Business, Business + AI and Enterprise plans, and that "Uploads are not available for Business + AI Trials."

Will an uploaded MOV get Loom's AI features and a transcript? Loom states that "Loom AI is now available for externally uploaded videos, in addition to recordings made within Loom." Which specific features your workspace gets depends on plan, so check the current eligibility in the official documentation.

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Every figure above is quoted from Loom's help documentation on the Atlassian support site, checked 16 September 2026. Loom's pages have disagreed with each other on other numbers before, so verify against the current official documentation before relying on a detail. More procedures like this one are in how-to guides; if you need the file back out of Loom afterwards, see why you can't download a Loom video. Every browser-side converter we run is listed on all Clapr tools.