This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
Here's a plain English summary:
If you want to prove what a document, recording, or photo says, you can use the other side's own testimony or written statements to do it. For example, if the other party admitted in a deposition what a contract said, you can use that admission as proof of the contract's content, even without bringing the actual contract to court.
The key point is that you don't need to explain why you don't have the original document. Normally, courts want the original or a good reason why it's missing. But this rule makes an exception when the proof comes from the other party's own words. If they already told you or admitted what the document said, that's good enough on its own.
This rule makes things easier and faster in certain situations. It stops people from being able to hide behind "you don't have the original" when they've already admitted what was in it themselves.
