What is async video?
"Async" is short for asynchronous: the sender and the viewer do not need to be online at the same time. You record your screen, your camera or both, send a link, and your teammate watches later. They can pause, rewatch, speed it up or reply in writing.
Async video messaging sits between a written message and a meeting. Text is fast to skim but bad at showing a bug or a design. A meeting shows everything but needs everyone in the same slot. A two-minute recording shows the screen, carries your tone of voice, and needs nobody else in the room.
Teams that work across time zones lean on it most. GitLab, which runs fully remote, lists recorded video next to messages as a normal way to work async in its public handbook.
When async video beats a meeting (and when it does not)
A useful test: if the conversation is mostly one person showing or explaining, record it. If it needs fast back and forth, meet.
| Situation | Better as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Walking through a pull request or design | Async video | Reviewers can pause and look closely |
| Weekly status update | Async video | Nobody has to sit through other teams’ updates live |
| Reporting a bug | Async video | Shows the exact steps and what went wrong |
| Handing work to another time zone | Async video | The next person starts with full context |
| Answering a customer “how do I” question | Async video | They see the clicks instead of reading about them |
| An outage or a deadline today | Meeting or call | Waiting hours for a reply costs too much |
| Brainstorming or early problem framing | Meeting | Ideas build on each other in real time |
| Difficult feedback or a tense topic | Meeting | Tone is easy to misread without a reply |
| A thread that keeps going in circles | Meeting | Ten minutes live can settle it |
The meeting cases above match the ones GitLab’s handbook calls out: urgent issues, creative work, early design, relationship building, and async threads that have stalled.
How to structure an async video: context, show, ask
Most unclear videos have the same problem: the viewer does not know why they are watching until minute two. Use three parts and say them in order.
- Context (10 to 20 seconds)
Say who it is for and why it matters. "Hi Sam, this is the checkout bug from yesterday’s ticket. I found the cause and need a call on the fix."
- Show (most of the video)
Share the screen and walk through it. Click slowly, point at what you mean, and narrate what you are doing. Close tabs and notifications first.
- Ask (10 to 20 seconds)
End with exactly what you need and by when. "Can you pick option A or B by Thursday? Reply in the thread." Put the same ask in writing next to the link.
How long should an async video be?
Aim for under two minutes for a quick update or question, and under five for a walkthrough. Wistia’s own data on videos hosted with it found that videos under a minute average a 52% engagement rate and that engagement drops after the five-minute mark (Wistia). Those are marketing videos, but the pattern holds for anything people choose to watch.
- If it runs past five minutes, split it into two or three videos, one per topic.
- Plan the three parts before you hit record. A few bullet notes are enough.
- Skip the long intro and the "can you see my screen" check. Nobody can answer you.
- Do not re-record for small stumbles. A natural take is fine for teammates.
How to get your async videos watched
- Title it like a subject line. "Checkout bug: pick fix A or B by Thu" beats "Recording 14".
- Add chapters to anything over two minutes. Viewers jump straight to the part they need.
- Include a transcript. People can skim, search, and watch with sound off. It also helps anyone who relies on captions.
- Send it where the work lives. Drop the link in the ticket, pull request or thread, not in a private message that gets lost.
- Show your face only when it helps. A camera bubble adds warmth to feedback and intros. For pure screen walkthroughs it is optional.
Async video communication norms for teams
Async video only saves time if the team agrees how to use it. Write these down in one place so new people know them too.
- Pick a reply window, for example "within one working day", so senders know when to follow up.
- Reply in writing by default. Record a video back only when you need to show something.
- Keep decisions in text. When a video leads to a decision, write it in the ticket or doc so it is searchable later.
- Agree which meetings become videos, such as status updates or demo days, and cancel them.
- Say when something is urgent. If it cannot wait, call instead of recording.
Async video tools: Loom and others
You do not need a special tool to start. Any screen recorder works as long as you can share a link. These are the common choices, with details from each vendor’s own pages (checked Oct 2026).
| Tool | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Loom | Screen and camera recording with share links. Free Starter plan: 25 videos per person, 5-minute recordings, 720p, transcripts. | Free; Business $18 per user/month; Business + AI $24 per user/month |
| Slack clips | Audio or video clips up to five minutes, with screen sharing on desktop, captions and transcripts. | Included on all Slack plans |
| Built-in recorders | macOS, Windows and ChromeOS all have a screen recorder. You save a file and upload it yourself. | Free with the OS |
On Loom, auto titles, summaries and chapters are listed only on the Business + AI and Enterprise plans (Loom pricing). For built-in options, see our guides to recording on a Mac and recording on Windows, or compare more options in Loom alternatives.
Where Clipfold fits
We are building Clipfold, a browser screen recorder (website and Chrome extension) for exactly this kind of async video. The share link is ready when you stop, and every recording comes with a transcript. Plans are per workspace with unlimited members and viewers, so the whole team can record without paying per seat. There is a free plan, and paid plans include an AI title, summary and chapters. Clipfold is launching soon: join the waitlist to lock in a founding price.