# Issue with "&b" string replacing ellipsis in meeting transcripts

**URL:** <https://devforum.zoom.us/t/issue-with-b-string-replacing-ellipsis-in-meeting-transcripts/138668>\
**Category:** Meetings\
**Tags:** api\
**Created:** [November 12, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/issue-with-b-string-replacing-ellipsis-in-meeting-transcripts/138668 "2025-11-12T14:21:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bryanf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/bryanf/32/72242_2.png) [@bryanf](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/bryanf)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/issue-with-b-string-replacing-ellipsis-in-meeting-transcripts/138668/1 "2025-11-12T14:21:34Z")

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**API Endpoint(s) and/or Zoom API Event(s)**  
The transcript download API endpoint included in the recording.completed webhook event

**Description**  
We have a node.js application that downloads meeting transcripts from the Zoom API using the endpoint provided in the recording.completed webhook event.

We are seeing the string “b&” inserted into transcripts to replace the ellipsis when downloaded via the API, when comparing with the transcript downloaded from the Zoom web UI. Any pointers as to why this is happening?

**Error?**  
The string “b&” is inserted into the transcript to replace the ellipsis.

**How To Reproduce**

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/bryanf/32/72242_2.png) [@bryanf](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/bryanf)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/issue-with-b-string-replacing-ellipsis-in-meeting-transcripts/138668/2 "2025-11-12T15:53:44Z")

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Additional info, it appears we’re seeing the &b inserted where there is an ellipsis in the transcript downloaded from the Zoom web UI.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![amanda-recallai](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/amanda-recallai/32/44747_2.png) [@amanda-recallai](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/amanda-recallai)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/issue-with-b-string-replacing-ellipsis-in-meeting-transcripts/138668/3 "2025-11-13T02:48:12Z")

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Hi @bryanf, the first thing I’d check is whether the raw transcript file you download from the `download_url` (the VTT file that Zoom generates for [cloud recording audio transcripts](https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0064927)) actually contains `b&`, or if it only shows up after your Node.js processing step

If the VTT file looks correct and only your processed output has `b&`, it’s almost certainly an encoding/decoding issue on your side (for example double-decoding HTML entities or mishandling the Unicode ellipsis `…` when converting to plain text or JSON)

If `b&` is literally present in the raw VTT from the `recording.completed` webhook’s transcript download URL, that’s not documented behavior of the Get meeting recordings API, so I’d open a Zoom Support ticket and attach the meeting ID plus the original VTT file so they can treat it as a transcription/export bug