How to Download a Loom Video as MP4 (Even on the Free Plan)

To download a Loom video, open it in your Loom Library, click the menu above the video and choose Download. You get an MP4. That's the whole process, but only if you're on a paid Loom plan with the right role.

On the free Starter plan, nobody can download, not even the person who recorded the video. Viewers can only download if the owner switched downloads on and the viewer is signed in to a paid Loom account. That's why so many people go looking for a Download button that isn't there.

Here's the quick answer for each situation:

The rules in this table come from Loom's own download help page. The rest of this guide covers each path step by step. It also lists what the MP4 leaves behind (captions and chapters don't come with it) and what to do with the file once you have it.

How to download your own Loom video on a paid plan

If you're an admin or creator on a Business or Business+ AI plan, or an admin or member on Enterprise, the download is built in. According to Loom's help center:

1. Open your Loom Library.
2. Find the video and click the menu above it.
3. Choose Download. The file saves as an .MP4.

If you see a "Polishing pixels" message, Loom is still processing the recording. Wait a few minutes and try again.

Two roles can't download on any plan: Creator Lite and Viewer. On Education plans, only admins can. If the option is missing, check your role before anything else.

Takeaway: on a paid plan, the Download option is in the video menu. If it isn't there, your role is the likely reason, not the video.

How to download a Loom video someone shared with you

As a viewer, you need three things to be true at once:

• The owner turned on Allow downloads in the video's Settings (Audience tab).
• You're signed in to Loom.
• Your Loom account is on a paid workspace role, not Starter.

If you aren't signed in, you can't download, whatever the owner's settings are. Many people watch shared Looms logged out or on a free account, so this is the most common reason the button doesn't appear.

If you're the owner and want viewers to be able to download, open the video, go to Settings, switch on Allow downloads, then refresh the page.

Takeaway: if a shared video won't download, the quickest fix is usually to ask the owner to send you the MP4 directly.

How to download a Loom video on the free Starter plan

Loom's download page says plainly that on Starter, no one can download. That includes your own recordings. Starter also caps you at 25 videos and 5-minute recordings. Once you hit 25, you have to delete videos (archived ones count too) or upgrade before you can record again.

So if you want a backup before deleting old videos, a link-based downloader is the practical route. It works from the public share link instead of your account:

1. Make the link public. In the video's privacy settings, choose Anyone with the link. Loom says every plan can use this setting.
2. Copy the share link. It starts with https://www.loom.com/share/.
3. Paste it into a downloader. Poko's free Loom video downloader takes the link and returns the original MP4 that Loom serves. There's no sign-up, no browser extension and no watermark.
4. Download the file, then switch the privacy setting back if the video shouldn't stay public.

Step 4 matters. If the video is internal, don't leave it open to anyone with the link after you've saved it.

Takeaway: Starter users can still back up their own videos. Briefly make the link public, pull the MP4 from the link, then lock it again.

Why a link-based download beats screen-recording the playback

The workaround most people try first is recording the Loom player with a screen recorder. It works, but it costs you:

• Quality. You're capturing a re-encoded stream at your screen's size, not the original file.
• Time. A 20-minute video takes 20 minutes to capture, plus trimming.
• Clean-up. Browser tabs, cursor movement and notifications end up in the frame unless you crop them out.

A link-based download pulls the file Loom already serves, so it takes seconds and has nothing extra in the frame. Screen recording is still the only option when the link can't be made public and the owner can't send the file. If you do go that way, our guides for Mac and Windows cover capturing with sound.

Takeaway: use a screen recording only as a last resort. It's slower and lower quality than the file itself.

What doesn't come with the MP4

The download is the video and its audio. Loom's help page lists what stays behind on Loom:

• Closed captions. They aren't burned into the MP4.
• Chapters.
• Call-to-action buttons added to the player.
• Filler-word removal. The download has the original audio, ums included.

Trims you made in Loom are kept. The video keeps its original aspect ratio, so a recording that isn't 16:9 can look stretched in some players.

A few videos can't be downloaded at all: videos using Loom's personalization variables, meeting recordings (only the organizer can download those) and files over 20 GB, which Loom puts at about 3 hours of 4K.

If you need captions on the downloaded file, you'll have to add them again. Our guide to adding captions covers the options. For anything public, captions are worth the effort: viewers watching on mute and viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing rely on them.

Takeaway: treat the MP4 as raw footage. Captions, chapters and CTAs have to be rebuilt wherever the video goes next.

Download only what you have the right to keep

Being able to download a video doesn't mean you're allowed to reuse it. If the owner turned downloads off, that was probably on purpose. Before you save a video you didn't record:

• Your own recordings: fine to back up, including before you leave a job. Check your company's policy first, since work recordings usually belong to the company.
• A teammate's or client's video: ask first. A one-line message is quicker than explaining later.
• Anything you plan to publish: get written permission from the person who recorded it, and from anyone on camera.

Takeaway: if you'd be uncomfortable telling the owner you downloaded it, ask them first.

What to do with the Loom video after you download it

Most people download a Loom for one of three reasons: a backup, a move to another tool, or reusing a quick walkthrough as something public.

For the third one, the raw recording is rarely the finished product. It has your live pace, every pause and no branding. You can cut it by hand in any editor, or hand it to a tool built for raw recordings.

Poko's MotionCut takes an MP4 up to 200 MB. It transcribes it with word-level timing and adds punch-ins, layouts and motion graphics around what you're saying. It keeps your original voice rather than replacing it, so the video still sounds like you. If you'd rather turn the walkthrough into a step-by-step lesson, our tutorial video guide covers scripting and editing. To get several short clips out of one recording, see one demo, five clips.

Takeaway: decide what the file is for before you edit. A backup needs nothing. A public video needs captions, a tighter cut and your branding.

Your next step

Open the Loom you need and check two things: your plan and the video's privacy setting. If you're on a paid plan, use Download in the video menu. If you're on Starter or the button is missing, set the link to "Anyone with the link" and paste it into the free Loom downloader. Then set the privacy back to what it was.