Preserve Loom videos and embedded links before downgrading

Preserve important recordings while your account can still download them, then test both the saved files and the places people watch them. Keep Loom where essential recordings, captions, feedback or embedded links lack a working destination. A video that plays on your laptop has passed only the first part of the archive test.

This guide concerns an existing library. For the separate decision about making new recordings, see Loom alternatives you may already own. The checks here are proposed user-run tests; we have not downloaded your recordings or changed an account.

Confirm the change you intend to make

Loom's current instructions distinguish legacy billing from Atlassian-managed billing. In the Atlassian flow, downgrading to Starter and continuing to cancellation are separate choices. Only Atlassian billing or organisation admins can cancel those subscriptions. Loom's downgrade and cancellation routes.

Write down the workspace, billing owner, current role, intended change and effective date shown in the account. Reducing a role, downgrading a workspace and deleting an account are different operations. Do not apply a downgrade article's access promise to a different operation.

For a Starter downgrade, Loom says existing videos remain accessible even when the library exceeds twenty-five; new recording is blocked until the count is reduced below the limit or the plan is upgraded. Its separate Starter FAQ counts archived videos toward the limit. Downgrade access, Starter FAQ.

That is a reason to investigate a smaller retained Loom role, not a reason to skip preservation. It does not establish that every customer embed, future download or collaboration feature will meet your needs after the change. Record those as separate acceptance questions.

Check download access before scheduling the downgrade

Loom lists Business/Business+ AI admins and creators, and Enterprise admins and members, as eligible to download. Starter users and Creator Lites cannot download. Education admins are listed separately in its permission table. Download eligibility.

Confirm the current plan and role with the workspace owner, including any download restrictions. A video being visible in your library is not enough. Do not assume that changing another person's role transfers ownership or gives you their download rights.

Loom also excludes videos using Variables and files over 20 GB from normal downloads; only the meeting organiser can download a Loom meeting recording. Download limits. Put affected recordings in an exceptions list and seek an authorised resolution before relying on an archive deadline.

Choose a representative sample before working through the whole library: an old training video, a customer-facing embed, a restricted internal clip and a recording with important captions or feedback. Add a long recording if that is common in your work.

One recording can have several assets

Create an inventory with the original Loom URL, title, creator, workspace, intended viewers, business purpose and archive owner. Record where the recording is embedded or linked. Then track the following assets separately; “video exported” is too broad a completion status.

Asset	What to preserve or test
Video	Saved file, duration, readable screen detail and intended edited version
Audio	Audible speech and required system sound in the saved recording; any separate audio requirement remains its own task
Captions	Caption file when available, language, timing and destination-player support
Transcript	Readable text, corrections, speaker context and source reference
Comments and decisions	Required feedback, author, date and relevant playback time, with an approved preservation method
Share links and embeds	Old URL, every known referring page, new destination and person able to update that page

Loom downloads video as MP4. Trims are retained, but closed captions, chapters, calls to action and filler-word/silence removal are not included in that downloaded file. What the video download contains.

Loom documents copying transcript text and downloading captions separately as SRT. Caption downloads are available to Business/Business+ AI creators and admins, and Enterprise members and admins. Transcript and caption controls.

Check each saved asset. A transcript is not a timed caption track, and an MP4 is not evidence that a separate audio file was exported. Where essential feedback cannot be exported through a confirmed route, agree an authorised manual record and retain the original until that record is accepted. We have not established a complete comments-export route from the documentation used here.

Keep a restricted original copy and a working copy for conversion or upload. Use stable inventory identifiers so a caption file cannot accidentally be paired with a different revision. Record missing assets explicitly rather than substituting an AI summary for unavailable speech or feedback.

Separate archive viewing from website hosting

An internal archive may need only authorised colleagues to locate and play a file. A customer-facing webpage needs a maintained player, appropriate access and a page owner who can replace its embed. Test those as distinct jobs.

Loom's webpage instructions use its embed code and describe an anyone-with-the-link privacy setting for general viewing. The embed URL can also carry a start timestamp and other playback parameters. Loom webpage embedding.

Search the website editor, help centre and maintained documents for Loom URLs. Record the exact referring page, player or plain link, start time if relevant, intended audience and editor responsible for the update. Include links in onboarding templates and support replies. For previously sent emails or third-party pages you cannot edit, decide whether continued Loom hosting is a required dependency.

Do not widen a private video's audience merely to make a new embed work. The destination must support the intended audience; otherwise retain the existing arrangement. Saving an MP4 elsewhere does not itself replace an embed that still points to Loom.

Run a viewer acceptance test

Ask someone other than the exporter to use the destination with their normal account. For public material, also test the actual public viewing path without an owner's login. For restricted material, confirm that an unauthorised reviewer cannot open it.

Have the viewer play the beginning, middle and end, seek to a useful instruction, check sound and read small screen text. Test captions in the destination player and compare a few important words and timings with the recording. Check a decision that relies on comments, using its preserved record. A file existing in storage does not pass these tests by itself.

Next, open the real page containing the replacement embed on the devices the audience uses. Check playback, access, caption controls, start time and the fallback link. Have the backup maintainer update one test page using the inventory instructions. Record failures rather than describing the destination as equivalent to Loom.

Keep Loom if an essential recording cannot be preserved, viewers cannot use the destination, feedback loses necessary context or too many live links remain unmanageable. Frequent library revisions and a valuable established viewing experience are also reasons to retain it.

Cut over in small groups, with a return path

Preserve the original videos and old embed references through the pilot. Move a small group of pages, record each change and verify it before continuing. If playback or permissions fail, restore the previous embed while the original remains available and fix the destination. Do not delete old videos simply to reduce the count before acceptance.

Reconcile recordings and edits made after the first inventory. Assign a continuing owner for storage, permissions, backups and link checks. After any approved plan change, repeat the relevant access tests; documented account access is not an executed test of your viewers' paths.

Calculate same-period recurring reduction = current Loom charge − remaining Loom charge − incremental replacement costs. Count added storage, hosting, player or caption services once, and separate migration labour from recurring maintenance. Use renewal terms to identify when cash outgoings actually change. If some links still require Loom, include that retained charge before reviewing the decision in the subscription audit.