# ZipCourse

> ZipCourse is an e-learning course builder that runs in the web browser at https://zipcourse.app/. It turns PowerPoint (.pptx), PDF, video, audio, images and quizzes into SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, cmi5, xAPI and HTML5 packages for any learning management system (LMS). Building and previewing are free with no account; exporting a course uses one credit, from £5 for 3 courses.

Key facts:

- The editor is the home page, https://zipcourse.app/. There is nothing to install; it works in current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
- Course content never leaves the user's computer. Courses are kept in the browser's storage and in course files (.zipcourse.zip) the user saves. The ZipCourse server only receives the user's email, a random course ID and salted one-way fingerprints of the course.
- Learner data never reaches ZipCourse. Exported courses report to the customer's own LMS or learning record store.
- Inputs (PowerPoint animations and exact layouts don't come across):
  - PowerPoint (.pptx): Each slide becomes an editable slide with its title, text, bullet points, links, tables, main picture and speaker notes. Embedded video and audio come across too.
  - PDF: A whole document as one slide that learners can read and scroll.
  - Images and animated GIFs: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and SVG, one slide each, with alt text and optional narration.
  - Video: MP4 (H.264) or WebM, with captions from a .vtt or .srt file.
  - Audio: MP3, M4A, WAV, Ogg and more, as a slide or as narration on an image slide.
  - Video and podcast links: A link or embed code from YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud, or a link to an audio file. It plays from that site, so learners need to be online.
  - Quizzes: Single answer, several answers, and true or false, built in the editor or imported as JSON (an AI assistant can write it from your document).
  - Text: Text slides written in the editor, or .txt and Markdown files.
- Outputs: SCORM 1.2; SCORM 2004 (2nd, 3rd and 4th editions); cmi5; xAPI (Tin Can); Web (HTML5). One format per download.
- Course rules: pass mark, completion rule (viewed every slide, finished the quizzes, or both), free or linear navigation, feedback, retries, attempt limits, results page.
- Slides: any slide but a quiz or game can have notes that learners open under it (labelled Transcript on video and audio slides). Web and email addresses typed into slide text, quizzes and notes become clickable links; to link words instead, put them in square brackets with the address in round brackets straight after; web links open in a new tab so the course keeps its place in the LMS. Only http, https and mailto links work.
- Quizzes: if a learner submits with questions unanswered, each one is boxed and labelled "Needs an answer". The Submit button sits on the right and is the same amber in every course.
- Games: 32 built-in 30-second games (arcade: Neon Snake, Whack-a-Bug, Meteor Dodge, Pixel Dash, Kart Rush, Jump Quest, Star Blaster, Cell Block; casual: Boba Catcher, Shape Sorter, Purr-fect Stack, Juice Slice, Bubble Pop, Merge Drop; timing: Lock Picker, Perfect Pour, Beat Lanes, Mini Golf, Hoop Shot; maths and logic: Quick Maths, Higher or Lower, Next in Line, Memory Grid, Make Ten, Odd One Out, Pipe Flow; words: Vowel Drop, Same or Opposite, Spelling Bee, Odd Word Out, Finish the Phrase, Word Wheel). A course can offer a bonus game to learners who get every question in a quiz right on their first attempt, and can have game slides anywhere. Learners can skip any game. Scores go to the LMS as separate records (numeric interactions in SCORM, "scored" statements in xAPI and cmi5) and never affect the quiz score, pass or completion. Word games are in English.
- Branding: logo, colours, font and corner style, with a palette generator whose palettes all pass WCAG contrast checks (body text 7:1).
- Preview plays the course with a log of what the LMS would record. Without credit it shows the first 5 slides.
- Pricing: credit packs of 3 credits for £5, 7 credits for £10, 20 credits for £25. ZipCourse Pro: £15 a month for 15 credits (£1 a course); £150 a year for 180 credits (£0.83 a course); cancel any time. Prices are in GBP, USD, EUR and include VAT or sales tax where it applies. The smallest top-up is £5.
- One credit exports one course in every format, with up to 10 edited versions (a version is an edit when at least 50% matches the paid version), unlimited learners, and packages that never expire. Downloading the same version again is free.
- Credits last 12 months from purchase. Unused credits can be refunded within 14 days of buying them, self-service from Account. Used credits are not refundable; faulty exports are always put right.
- Exported packages carry an ECDSA-signed licence for that exact version, checked offline in the learner's browser; packages work without contacting ZipCourse.
- Accounts: sign in with an emailed six-digit code (no passwords). Account lets users change their sign-in email, see and sign out devices, download their data, delete the account, and open Stripe's billing page for receipts, invoices, card details and Pro.
- Payments are by Stripe (Stripe Managed Payments, with Stripe as merchant of record).
- Not offered: team or multi-user accounts, LMS hosting or learner tracking by ZipCourse, real-time collaboration, or a desktop app.
- Support: support@zipcourse.app, or the contact form at https://zipcourse.app/contact, answered within one working day. Discounted bulk credit packs for groups of people (packs of 200, 300, 500 or 1,000 credits), and an education discount for recognised schools, colleges and universities (with proof of status), are available: ask through the contact form. There are no other licence models.

Common questions:

- **Do I need an account to try ZipCourse?** No. Open the editor and build: everything is free until you export. You sign in, with a code sent to your email, when you export, top up or open Account.
- **Which LMSs does it work with?** Any LMS that accepts SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 or cmi5 packages: Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace (D2L), TalentLMS, Docebo, Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, LearnUpon, Absorb, Totara and many more. For a learning record store, use xAPI. Test a package on your LMS, or in a free SCORM Cloud account, before sharing it with learners.
- **What is a credit?** One credit exports one course in every format, with up to 10 edited versions and unlimited learners. Credits come in packs from £5 for 3 courses, or with Pro.
- **I spotted a typo after exporting. Do I pay again?** No. Fix it and export again: a changed version counts as one of the course's 10 edits as long as at least 50% of it matches the version you paid for. Downloading the same version again, in any format, is always free.
- **Do exported courses stop working if I stop paying?** No. Packages never expire, and they check their licence in the learner's browser without contacting ZipCourse.
- **Do you see my course or my learners' results?** No. Your course is built and kept on your computer, and results go from the course to your LMS only. Our server receives a random course ID and scrambled fingerprints that can't be turned back into your content.
- **Can I import PowerPoint?** Yes, .pptx files. Each slide becomes an editable slide with its title, text, bullet points, links, tables, main picture and speaker notes, and embedded video and audio. Animations and exact layouts don't come across: export those slides as pictures from PowerPoint instead. Old .ppt files need saving as .pptx first.
- **How big can videos be?** ZipCourse sets no limit, and video is packed without being re-encoded. Your LMS will have an upload limit, often between 100 MB and 2 GB, so check it before you export a long video course.
- **Can I use YouTube, Vimeo or podcast links?** Yes. Press + between slides, choose Video or audio link, and paste a link or embed code from YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud, or a link to an audio file. It plays from that site, so learners need to be online and the video or episode must be public or unlisted. Test it on your LMS, as some LMSs and networks block these sites. The video guide shows how.
- **Can slides have links?** Yes. Type a web or email address into a text slide, a quiz or a slide's notes, and learners can click it. Web links open in a new tab, so the course keeps its place in your LMS. To link words instead of showing the address, put the words in square brackets with the address straight after them in round brackets. Links in PowerPoint files come across when you import them.
- **Is there an example course I can try?** Yes. Our free courses page has three short Microsoft 365 Copilot prompting courses made with ZipCourse. Try them in your browser, download them as SCORM 1.2 or cmi5 for your LMS, or open their project files in the editor and make them your own. They are exactly what ZipCourse exports.
- **Which browsers can I use?** Current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS. Chrome and Edge can save straight back to your course file; other browsers download a copy each time you save.
- **Can I work on a course on two computers?** Yes. Save the course file and open it on the other computer with Open. Courses aren't synced through our server, by design.
- **Can I add games to a course?** Yes. ZipCourse has 32 built-in games of 30 seconds each, from arcade and timing games to maths and word games. Turn on Bonus games in the Course tab to reward learners who get every question in a quiz right first time, or add a game slide anywhere. Learners can always skip a game. Scores go to your LMS as records of their own and never change whether a learner passes or completes.
- **How do I make a quiz from a document with AI?** In the editor, open Quizzes and download the ready-made prompt. Give it, with your document, to Claude or another AI assistant, check the questions it writes, then paste the JSON it gives you into ZipCourse. The guide has the details.
- **Can I get a refund?** Yes, for unused credits within 14 days of buying them, from Account. Credits you've used can't be refunded, and if an export is faulty we'll fix it or refund it whatever the date.
- **How do I cancel Pro?** In the editor, open Account, then Billing, receipts and Pro. That opens Stripe's billing page, where you can cancel or change your plan. Pro stays on until the end of the period you've paid for, and credits you've had stay until they expire.
- **Where are my receipts and invoices?** Every payment is emailed a receipt. You can also download receipts and invoices in Account, Billing, receipts and Pro.
- **How do I change my email address?** Open Account and choose Change sign-in email. We send a code to the new address; your credits, Pro and courses move with you. Changing the email on Stripe's billing page only changes where receipts go.
- **Can a team share an account?** An account belongs to one person and their email. Colleagues can share course files and each export with their own account. Team accounts are on our list: tell us if you need them.
- **How do I delete my account?** Open Account and choose Delete my account. If you have Pro, cancel it first. We keep payment records for six years because tax law requires it, no longer linked to your email.

## Product

- [How it works](https://zipcourse.app/how-it-works): importing, video and podcast links, branding, course rules, games, preview, export formats and where work is kept
- [Pricing](https://zipcourse.app/pricing): credit packs, Pro, bulk credits and the education discount, what a credit covers, expiry, refunds and tax
- [Security and privacy](https://zipcourse.app/security): what the server receives, how licences work, sign-in, infrastructure
- [Contact](https://zipcourse.app/contact): questions, support, bulk credit packs and the education discount
- [FAQ](https://zipcourse.app/faq): LMS compatibility, edits, PowerPoint, video size, YouTube and podcast links, links on slides, browsers, games, refunds, Pro and accounts
- [Free courses](https://zipcourse.app/free-courses): three free Microsoft 365 Copilot prompting courses made with ZipCourse, as SCORM 1.2 and cmi5 packages, a Web copy to try, and project files to adapt

## Guides

- [How to turn a PowerPoint into a SCORM course](https://zipcourse.app/guides/powerpoint-to-scorm): Import a .pptx deck, keep what matters, add narration and a quiz, and export a package your LMS can track.
- [How to turn a video into a SCORM course that tracks completion](https://zipcourse.app/guides/video-to-scorm): Package one video or a series as SCORM, with captions, required viewing and a quiz, and keep the file size under your LMS limit, or link to YouTube, Vimeo or a podcast instead.
- [SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004: which should you choose?](https://zipcourse.app/guides/scorm-1-2-vs-2004): What actually differs between SCORM 1.2 and the editions of SCORM 2004, and a simple rule for picking one.
- [xAPI and cmi5 explained, for course builders](https://zipcourse.app/guides/xapi-and-cmi5): What xAPI and cmi5 are, what a learning record store does, and when they are worth choosing over SCORM.
- [How to make a quiz from a document with AI](https://zipcourse.app/guides/quiz-from-a-document-with-ai): Use Claude or another AI assistant to write good questions from your PDF, Word document or slides, check them, and import them in one paste.
- [How to add games to an e-learning course, with scores your LMS records](https://zipcourse.app/guides/games-in-e-learning): Reward a perfect quiz with a 30-second bonus game, or put a game slide anywhere as a break. 32 games, built in, with scores reported to your LMS.
- [Every Course and Brand setting in ZipCourse, explained](https://zipcourse.app/guides/course-and-brand-settings): What each setting in the Course and Brand tabs does: course details, scoring, completion, retries, navigation, bonus games, logo, colours, fonts and brand templates.

## Policies

- [Refund policy](https://zipcourse.app/refunds): unused credits within 14 days of buying them; faulty exports; Pro cancellation; disputes
- [Terms of service](https://zipcourse.app/terms): draft pending legal review
- [Privacy notice](https://zipcourse.app/privacy): draft pending legal review

## Optional

- [Sitemap](https://zipcourse.app/sitemap.xml): every public page
- [security.txt](https://zipcourse.app/.well-known/security.txt): how to report a security problem