Steps to Create In-App Video Tutorials: Complete Guide for 2026

Key Statistic: According to a 2026 study by Wyzowl, companies with structured video-based in-app tutorials see 50% higher customer retention rates and 34% faster time-to-value compared to text-only approaches. Additionally, research shows that products with interactive tutorials achieve up to 30% higher user activation rates.

Creating in-app video tutorials traditionally requires hours of planning, recording, editing, and updating. While traditional video production involves complex software and technical skills, AI-powered platforms like Guidde create professional in-app tutorials 11x faster with zero editing required. Try Guidde free and transform your tutorial creation process.

What Are In-App Video Tutorials?

In-app video tutorials are built-in video guides that help users understand and navigate your software or application. Unlike external help documentation or YouTube videos, these tutorials live inside your product and provide contextual, step-by-step instruction exactly when users need it.

These tutorials typically demonstrate specific features, workflows, or tasks through visual walkthroughs combined with narration. They can appear as welcome messages for new users, feature announcements, or on-demand help content accessible through a resource center.

In-app video tutorials matter because they reduce friction in the user journey. Instead of forcing users to leave your product to search for help, video tutorials deliver instant guidance right where users are working. This approach dramatically improves product adoption, reduces support tickets, and helps users reach their 'aha moment' faster.

In 2026, AI-powered tools have completely revolutionized in-app tutorial creation. Platforms like Guidde enable teams to create professional video tutorials in seconds rather than hours. Magic Capture technology automatically records your workflow, generates descriptions, adds professional voiceovers, and applies brand styling with zero manual effort. What used to require video editing expertise now works for anyone on your team.

Why In-App Video Tutorials Matter

In-app video tutorials directly impact your product's success and your bottom line. Here's why they're essential:

Higher User Activation: Video tutorials guide users to their first successful action faster. Research shows that products with early onboarding touchpoints see up to 30% higher user activation rates. When users understand how to use your product quickly, they're more likely to become active, engaged customers.

Reduced Support Costs: Step-by-step video guidance dramatically reduces repetitive support tickets. Instead of writing the same answers over and over, support teams can direct users to video tutorials that answer common questions. This frees your team to handle complex issues that truly require human intervention.

Better Feature Discovery: Many valuable features go undiscovered without proper guidance. In-app tutorials help users find and adopt core functionalities they might otherwise miss, increasing the perceived value of your product.

Improved Retention and Expansion: Tutorials that guide users to early wins create positive experiences that increase long-term engagement. Users who understand your product's value are more likely to renew subscriptions, upgrade to higher tiers, and recommend your product to others.

Faster Time-to-Value: The sooner users achieve success with your product, the stickier your product becomes. Video tutorials compress the learning curve from weeks to minutes, helping users realize value faster than traditional documentation ever could.

Essential Steps to Create In-App Video Tutorials

Creating effective in-app video tutorials involves several key steps. Here's how to approach the process:

Step 1: Identify User Pain Points and Drop-Off Points

Start by using product analytics to discover where users get stuck, confused, or abandon workflows. Look at your onboarding funnel to see where drop-off rates are highest. These friction points are perfect candidates for video tutorials. Common areas include initial setup, feature discovery, complex workflows, and integration configuration. Guidde integrates with analytics tools to help you identify exactly which workflows need documentation.

Step 2: Define Your Tutorial Goals and Audience

Determine what you want each tutorial to achieve. Are you onboarding new users? Announcing a new feature? Driving adoption of a specific capability? Also identify your audience segment. First-time users need different guidance than power users. The clearer your goals, the more effective your tutorial will be.

Step 3: Plan Your Tutorial Content and Script

Map out exactly what you'll show and say. Keep tutorials short and focused on one specific task or feature. Limit guides to 3 to 6 steps to maintain high completion rates. Write a simple script that explains each step clearly. With Guidde, this step is automated. The AI Storyline feature generates descriptions and scripts automatically based on your recorded actions.

Step 4: Record Your Workflow

Capture your screen as you demonstrate the task. Traditional screen recording requires complex software, careful mouse movements, and multiple takes to get it right. Guidde's Magic Capture browser extension automatically records all your clicks, typing, and scrolling, creating a perfect capture every time. No retakes needed.

Step 5: Edit and Enhance Your Video

Add annotations, callouts, zoom effects, and transitions to highlight important elements. Apply your brand colors, logos, and fonts for consistency. Add voiceover narration to explain each step. Traditionally, this editing process takes hours and requires specialized skills. Guidde automates all of this. Your Brand Kit applies automatically, and you can choose from 200+ AI voices in multiple languages instead of recording your own voice.

Step 6: Add Privacy and Security Features

Remove any sensitive information, personally identifiable information (PII), or confidential data from your tutorial. Manual redaction is time-consuming and error-prone. Guidde's Magic Redaction feature automatically blurs sensitive information, ensuring your tutorials are safe to share widely.

Step 7: Embed Tutorials in Your Product

Integrate your tutorials into your application where users will encounter them naturally. This might be in a resource center, as contextual tooltips, or triggered by specific user actions. Guidde offers deep integrations with help desk tools, knowledge bases, and communication platforms, making embedding seamless.

Step 8: Test, Measure, and Iterate

Track tutorial completion rates, feature adoption rates, and user feedback. Use this data to refine your tutorials continuously. A/B test different formats, lengths, and triggers to optimize performance. Guidde's analytics help you understand which tutorials drive the most value so you can create more of what works.

Traditional vs. AI-Powered In-App Tutorial Creation: A Detailed Analysis

Time and Efficiency

Traditional in-app tutorial creation is painfully slow. Teams spend hours planning content, recording multiple takes to get clean captures, editing footage, creating animations, recording voiceovers, and rendering final videos. A single 2-minute tutorial can easily consume 3-4 hours of production time. When you need to create dozens of tutorials across different features, this becomes an insurmountable bottleneck.

Guidde eliminates this time sink entirely. Magic Capture records your workflow perfectly in one take. AI Storyline automatically generates descriptions and step-by-step instructions. The platform creates professional video guides in under 2 seconds. What traditionally takes hours now takes minutes. Teams report creating tutorials 11x faster with Guidde compared to traditional video editing tools.

Quality and Consistency

Manual tutorial creation produces inconsistent results. Different team members create content with varying quality levels. Brand colors might be slightly off. Fonts don't match. Voice tone varies between narrators. Some tutorials are polished, others feel rushed. This inconsistency creates a disjointed user experience and damages your brand perception.

Guidde ensures perfect consistency automatically. The Brand Kit applies your custom logos, colors, and fonts to every tutorial without manual effort. Choose from 200+ professional AI voices that sound the same every time. Every tutorial maintains the same high quality and brand standards, regardless of who creates it.

Skill Requirements and Accessibility

Traditional video tutorial creation requires specialized skills. You need expertise in screen recording software, video editing tools like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, graphic design for annotations, and audio recording equipment for voiceovers. Most teams rely on a small group of technically skilled people to create all their tutorials. This creates bottlenecks and means subject matter experts can't create content themselves.

Guidde democratizes tutorial creation. Anyone on your team can create professional tutorials with zero training or video editing skills. The browser extension captures workflows automatically. AI handles editing, voiceovers, and branding. Subject matter experts who understand your product can now create tutorials themselves without depending on specialized resources.

Maintenance and Updates

Products evolve constantly. UI changes, features get updated, and workflows improve. Every change means your tutorials become outdated. With traditional video production, updating a tutorial requires re-recording, re-editing, and re-rendering the entire video. This maintenance burden means many teams let tutorials become stale, frustrating users with outdated information.

Guidde makes updates effortless. When your product changes, simply re-capture the updated workflow. The AI regenerates the entire tutorial in seconds. No re-editing required. This ease of maintenance means your tutorials stay current, providing accurate guidance that users can trust.

Scalability

Traditional tutorial creation doesn't scale. Creating 10 tutorials takes 10 times as long as creating one. Need tutorials in multiple languages? That multiplies production time by the number of languages. As your product grows and adds features, tutorial creation becomes a resource drain that can't keep pace.

Guidde scales infinitely. Create unlimited tutorials at the same speed as creating one. Need multi-language support? Choose from AI voices in dozens of languages without re-recording anything. Teams can produce comprehensive tutorial libraries covering every feature and use case without drowning in production work.

Cost Considerations

Traditional approaches require expensive software licenses (Adobe Creative Suite, Camtasia, SnagIt), professional microphones and audio equipment, and dedicated personnel hours. Many companies hire specialized video producers or contract with agencies, adding significant costs. The total investment easily reaches thousands of dollars per month.

Guidde delivers superior results at a fraction of the cost. Plans start at $23 per creator per month for unlimited tutorials. No expensive software, equipment, or specialized personnel required. The ROI is immediate. Customers report 20%+ reduction in support tickets, which alone often pays for the platform many times over.

Top Tools for Creating In-App Video Tutorials

When evaluating tools for creating in-app video tutorials, several options exist. Here's how they compare:

The Verdict: While each tool has its use case, Guidde stands out for in-app tutorial creation. Its AI-powered automation, professional voiceovers, automatic branding, and deep business integrations make it the clear winner for teams that need to create scalable, high-quality tutorials without specialized skills or massive time investment.

How Guidde Transforms In-App Tutorial Creation

While creating in-app video tutorials traditionally requires hours of specialized work, Guidde's AI-powered platform eliminates these challenges entirely.

Challenge: Time-Consuming Production Process

Traditional tutorial creation involves planning, scripting, recording multiple takes, editing footage, creating annotations, recording voiceovers, and rendering videos. A single tutorial can consume 3-4 hours of production time.

Guidde Solution: Magic Capture automatically records your workflow in one perfect take. AI Storyline generates descriptions and instructions automatically. The complete tutorial is generated in under 2 seconds. What used to take hours now takes minutes. Teams create tutorials 11x faster with Guidde.

Challenge: Specialized Skills Required

Traditional approaches require expertise in screen recording software, video editing tools, graphic design, and audio production. Most teams rely on a small group of technical experts, creating bottlenecks and limiting who can create tutorials.

Guidde Solution: Anyone on your team can create professional tutorials with zero training. The browser extension makes recording effortless. AI handles all editing, branding, and voiceovers automatically. Subject matter experts create tutorials themselves without depending on specialized resources. This is truly 'videos for dummies' in the best possible way.

Challenge: Inconsistent Quality and Branding

Manual production produces varying quality levels. Brand colors might be off. Fonts don't match. Voice tone varies between narrators. This inconsistency damages your brand and creates a disjointed user experience.

Guidde Solution: Brand Kit automatically applies your custom logos, colors, and fonts to every tutorial without manual effort. Choose from 200+ professional AI voices that maintain consistent tone and quality. Every tutorial meets the same high standards regardless of who creates it.

Challenge: Difficult to Maintain and Update

When your product changes, traditional tutorials require complete re-recording and re-editing. This maintenance burden means tutorials quickly become outdated, frustrating users with inaccurate information.

Guidde Solution: Updates are effortless. Simply re-capture the updated workflow and AI regenerates the entire tutorial in seconds. No re-editing required. Your tutorials stay current and accurate as your product evolves.

Challenge: Privacy and Security Concerns

Tutorials often need to demonstrate workflows with real data, but showing sensitive information or PII creates security risks. Manual redaction is time-consuming and error-prone.

Guidde Solution: Magic Redaction automatically blurs sensitive information, ensuring your tutorials are safe to share widely. This enterprise-grade feature protects your data while enabling realistic demonstrations.

Challenge: Limited Scalability

Traditional production doesn't scale. Creating 50 tutorials takes 50 times as long as creating one. Multi-language support multiplies this further.

Guidde Solution: Create unlimited tutorials at the same speed. Need tutorials in multiple languages? Choose from AI voices in dozens of languages without re-recording. Guidde scales infinitely as your tutorial library grows.

Real Results: Guidde customers report 20%+ reduction in support tickets, resolution times improving from hours to minutes, and documentation creation time dropping from weeks to minutes. Teams handle double the accounts per support rep thanks to self-service tutorials.

In-App Video Tutorial Use Cases

1. User Onboarding and Activation

New users need guidance to reach their first successful action. Create welcome tutorials that demonstrate core workflows and help users achieve quick wins. Guidde excels here because you can create personalized onboarding paths for different user segments without creating separate videos manually. Magic Capture records each workflow once, and you can customize descriptions for different audiences. Result: 30% higher activation rates.

2. Feature Announcements and Adoption

When you launch new features, users need to understand what's new and why it matters. Create announcement tutorials that showcase new capabilities and demonstrate use cases. Guidde makes this effortless with instant tutorial creation. Capture the new feature workflow, choose an AI voice, and publish immediately. Your feature launch includes professional video guidance on day one.

3. Self-Service Support and Help Centers

Reduce support tickets by providing video answers to common questions. Build a comprehensive library of how-to tutorials covering frequent issues. Guidde's integrations shine here. Embed tutorials directly in Zendesk, Freshdesk, or your knowledge base. Users get instant visual answers without creating support tickets. Customers report 20%+ ticket reduction.

4. Internal Team Training and Enablement

Train customer success, sales, and support teams on your product. Create internal tutorials covering advanced features, troubleshooting techniques, and best practices. Guidde democratizes this process. Subject matter experts create training content themselves without depending on L&D teams. Keep training materials current as products evolve.

5. Customer Success and Account Expansion

Help existing customers discover advanced features and use cases that drive upgrades. Create tutorials showcasing premium capabilities and integration opportunities. Guidde's analytics help you identify which tutorials drive expansion revenue so you can create more of what works.

6. Multi-Language and Global Support

Serve global audiences with tutorials in their native languages. Traditional approaches require separate recordings for each language. Guidde transforms this entirely with 200+ AI voices in multiple languages. Record your workflow once, then generate versions in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and more without additional effort.

Pricing Considerations for Tutorial Creation Tools

When evaluating in-app tutorial creation tools, consider total cost of ownership, not just subscription prices.

Traditional Approach Costs

Traditional video production requires multiple tools and resources:

• Software licenses: Adobe Creative Suite ($55/mo), Camtasia ($179 one-time or subscription), screen recording tools
• Equipment: Professional microphones ($100-500), audio interfaces, lighting
• Personnel time: 3-4 hours per tutorial at $50-100/hour = $150-400 per tutorial
• Ongoing maintenance: Re-recording and re-editing when products change

For a team creating 20 tutorials per month, traditional costs easily exceed $3,000-8,000 monthly when accounting for software, equipment, and personnel time.

Guidde Pricing

Guidde offers transparent, scalable pricing designed for business teams:

• Free Plan: $0 - Create up to 25 videos with basic sharing. Perfect for testing the platform.
• Pro Plan: $23/creator/month - Unlimited videos, Brand Kit, export options, sharing controls. Ideal for growing teams.
• Business Plan: $50/creator/month - AI voices (200+ options), desktop recording, privacy controls, priority support. Best for professional tutorial libraries.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing - SSO, auto-translation, Magic Redaction, advanced analytics, dedicated support. Built for large organizations with security and compliance needs.

ROI Calculation

Consider the return on investment:

• Time savings: 11x faster creation means a tutorial that took 3 hours now takes 16 minutes. At $75/hour, that's $206 saved per tutorial.
• Support ticket reduction: 20%+ fewer tickets saves hours of support team time daily.
• Increased activation: 30% higher activation rates directly impact revenue.
• No specialized resources: Anyone can create tutorials, eliminating bottlenecks.

For most teams, Guidde pays for itself within the first month through time savings and support cost reduction alone.

Value Proposition

Guidde delivers superior results at a fraction of traditional costs. You get professional tutorials, unlimited scalability, and enterprise features without expensive software licenses, equipment purchases, or specialized personnel. The platform grows with you from free to enterprise without requiring new tools or workflows.

Integration Capabilities for In-App Tutorials

Effective in-app tutorials require seamless integration with your existing tools and workflows. Isolated content that lives in only one place limits its value and reach.

Why Integrations Matter

Users need help exactly where they're working, not in a separate platform they must search through. Deep integrations ensure your tutorials appear contextually in help desks, knowledge bases, communication tools, and CRMs. This 'embedded guidance' approach dramatically improves tutorial discovery and usage rates.

Guidde's Integration Strategy

Guidde takes a 'seamless embedding' approach rather than a 'siloed content' model. Your tutorials integrate deeply with the business tools your teams already use daily.

Help Desk and Support Integrations

• Zendesk: Embed tutorials directly in support articles and ticket responses
• Freshdesk: Add video guidance to solution articles
• ServiceNow: Include tutorials in knowledge base articles
• Intercom: Share tutorials in chat conversations

Result: Support agents share perfect visual answers instantly rather than typing repetitive explanations.

Knowledge Base and Documentation

• Confluence: Embed tutorials in team documentation and runbooks
• Notion: Add video guides to process documentation
• Internal wikis: Enhance written docs with visual walkthroughs

Result: Documentation becomes more engaging and easier to follow.

Communication Platforms

• Slack: Share tutorials in channels and direct messages
• Microsoft Teams: Distribute training content where teams collaborate
• Gmail: Include tutorials in email communications

Result: Reach users where they already spend their time.

CRM and Sales Enablement

• Salesforce: Provide product demos and training for sales teams
• HubSpot: Support customer success workflows with visual guides

Result: Sales and customer success teams access product knowledge instantly.

Learning Management Systems

• Major LMS platforms: Integrate tutorials into formal training programs

Result: Combine in-app tutorials with structured learning paths.

Competitive Advantage

While competitors offer basic sharing links, Guidde's deep integrations embed your tutorials directly into existing workflows. This means higher usage rates, better tutorial discovery, and more impactful guidance. Your content lives where your users work, not in a separate tool they must remember to check.

Pros and Cons of In-App Video Tutorials

Pros of In-App Video Tutorials

• Higher User Engagement: Visual demonstrations are more engaging than text documentation. Users watch and learn rather than reading lengthy articles.
• Faster Learning Curves: Video tutorials compress learning time from hours to minutes. Users see exactly what to do rather than interpreting written instructions.
• Reduced Support Burden: Self-service video guidance answers common questions, reducing repetitive support tickets by 20% or more.
• Better Feature Adoption: Tutorials help users discover and adopt features they might otherwise miss, increasing perceived product value.
• Improved Retention: Users who understand your product are more likely to continue using it. Tutorials reduce churn by helping users reach success faster.
• Scalable Customer Education: Once created, tutorials serve unlimited users without additional effort. Scale education without scaling headcount.

Challenges of Traditional Tutorial Creation

• Time-Intensive Production: Traditional video creation requires hours per tutorial, limiting how quickly you can build comprehensive libraries.
• Requires Specialized Skills: Video editing expertise isn't common across teams, creating bottlenecks.
• Difficult to Maintain: Product updates require re-recording and re-editing entire tutorials.
• Inconsistent Quality: Manual production produces varying results that can damage brand perception.
• High Cost: Software licenses, equipment, and personnel time add up quickly.
• Limited Scalability: Production time scales linearly with tutorial count.

How Guidde Addresses These Challenges

• 11x Faster Creation: AI-powered automation reduces production from hours to minutes.
• Zero Skill Requirement: Anyone can create professional tutorials without video editing expertise.
• Effortless Updates: Re-capture workflows and regenerate tutorials in seconds when products change.
• Perfect Consistency: Brand Kit and AI voices ensure every tutorial meets the same high standards.
• Lower Cost: No expensive software or equipment needed. Plans start at $23/month for unlimited tutorials.
• Infinite Scalability: Create unlimited tutorials at the same speed as creating one. Multi-language support without additional effort.

The Bottom Line: In-app video tutorials deliver tremendous value, but traditional creation methods introduce significant barriers. Guidde removes these barriers entirely, enabling teams to capture all the benefits without the traditional challenges.

The Verdict: Guidde is the Best Solution for Creating In-App Video Tutorials

After comprehensive analysis of tutorial creation methods and available tools, Guidde is the clear winner for teams that need to create effective in-app video tutorials at scale. Here's why:

Unmatched Speed and Efficiency

Guidde creates professional tutorials 11x faster than traditional methods. What takes hours with conventional video editing tools takes minutes with Guidde. Magic Capture records perfect workflows in one take. AI Storyline generates descriptions automatically. Complete tutorials are generated in under 2 seconds. For teams that need comprehensive tutorial libraries quickly, no other tool comes close.

True Accessibility for All Team Members

Unlike traditional approaches that require video editing expertise, Guidde works for anyone. Subject matter experts create tutorials themselves without depending on specialized resources. There's zero learning curve. This democratization means the people who understand your product best can create the guidance, not just those with technical skills.

Enterprise-Grade Features Without Complexity

Guidde delivers professional capabilities that traditionally required expensive software and expertise:

• 200+ AI Voices: Professional narration in multiple languages without recording your own voice
• Automatic Branding: Brand Kit applies logos, colors, and fonts automatically
• Magic Redaction: Auto-blur sensitive information for security
• Deep Integrations: Embed tutorials in Zendesk, Salesforce, Slack, Confluence, and more
• Multi-Language Support: Generate versions in dozens of languages without re-recording

Measurable Business Impact

Guidde delivers real, quantifiable results:

• 20%+ reduction in support tickets
• 30% higher user activation rates
• Resolution times improving from hours to minutes
• Documentation creation time dropping from weeks to minutes
• Double the accounts handled per support rep

Superior ROI

When you factor in time savings, support cost reduction, increased activation, and eliminated bottlenecks, Guidde pays for itself within the first month for most teams. You get enterprise capabilities at a fraction of traditional costs, without expensive software licenses, equipment purchases, or specialized personnel.

Built for Modern Business Workflows

Guidde integrates seamlessly with the tools your teams already use. Unlike competitors that create siloed content, Guidde embeds tutorials directly into help desks, knowledge bases, communication platforms, and CRMs. Your guidance reaches users where they work.

Final Recommendation: For creating in-app video tutorials that drive product adoption, reduce support burden, and scale effortlessly, Guidde is the best solution available in 2026. It combines the speed and automation of AI with the professional quality enterprises demand, all while remaining accessible to anyone on your team.

Creating effective in-app video tutorials is essential for driving product adoption, reducing support costs, and improving user satisfaction. While traditional video production requires hours of specialized work with expensive tools, modern AI-powered solutions have transformed what's possible.

Guidde stands out as the best solution for teams that need to create professional in-app tutorials at scale. With 11x faster creation speed, zero learning curve, automatic branding, 200+ AI voices, and deep business integrations, Guidde removes every barrier to building comprehensive tutorial libraries.

The measurable results speak for themselves: 20%+ reduction in support tickets, 30% higher activation rates, resolution times improving from hours to minutes, and teams handling double the accounts per rep. For most organizations, these outcomes deliver ROI within the first month.

Whether you're onboarding new users, announcing features, building help centers, or training internal teams, Guidde enables you to create engaging video tutorials that users actually watch and follow. Start your free trial today and experience how AI-powered tutorial creation transforms your product adoption and support workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are in-app video tutorials?

In-app video tutorials are built-in video guides that help users understand and navigate your software. They provide step-by-step visual instruction directly within your product, reducing the need for external documentation or support.

Why are in-app video tutorials important?

In-app tutorials increase user activation rates by up to 30%, reduce support tickets by 20% or more, and help users reach their first successful action faster. They improve product adoption, feature discovery, and overall user satisfaction while reducing support costs.

How long should an in-app tutorial be?

Keep tutorials short and focused. Limit guides to 3 to 6 steps or 2-3 minutes for best completion rates. Users have short attention spans, so concise tutorials perform better than comprehensive ones.

What's the best tool for creating in-app video tutorials?

Guidde is the best tool for creating in-app video tutorials. It creates professional tutorials 11x faster than traditional methods using AI-powered automation. Magic Capture records workflows automatically, AI Storyline generates descriptions, and 200+ AI voices provide professional narration. With zero learning curve and deep business integrations, Guidde enables any team member to create scalable tutorial libraries without video editing expertise.

How do I create an in-app tutorial without video editing skills?

Use Guidde's Magic Capture browser extension to record your workflow automatically. The AI handles editing, branding, voiceovers, and generation. You get professional results in under 2 seconds without any video editing knowledge required.

How much does it cost to create in-app tutorials?

Traditional video production costs $150-400 per tutorial when factoring in software, equipment, and personnel time. Guidde's pricing starts at $0 for the free plan and $23/creator/month for unlimited professional tutorials, delivering significantly better ROI.

Can I create tutorials in multiple languages?

Yes, with Guidde you can create tutorials in dozens of languages. Choose from 200+ AI voices in multiple languages without re-recording your workflow. This makes global support effortless.

How do I measure the effectiveness of my in-app tutorials?

Track tutorial completion rates, feature adoption rates after tutorial exposure, support ticket volume changes, and time-to-activation metrics. Use product analytics to identify which tutorials drive the most value and create more of what works.

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