How to turn audio or video into text
- Choose your file. MP4, MOV, MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG and WebM all work, up to 60 minutes on a computer and 15 minutes on a phone.
- Pick the spoken language. Auto-detect works, but choosing the language gives better results, especially for short clips. For languages other than English, Accurate is chosen for you on a computer.
- Press Transcribe for free. Your browser listens to the file on your device. The first time, it downloads the free speech model once; after that it starts right away.
- Read and fix the text right in the box, then Copy it or Download TXT.
Plain text or a subtitle file?
This tool gives you the words as one block of text, ready to quote, search or turn into notes. If you need each line with its start and end time, for YouTube or a video editor, make a subtitle file instead. If you only want to type with your voice, use voice typing.
Tips for a better transcript
- Choose the language instead of Auto-detect when you know it.
- Use Accurate for accents, background noise and languages other than English. Fast is quicker and fine for clear English.
- Keep the tab open while it works. A long file can take a few minutes on an older computer.
Our guide to transcribing audio for free without uploading has more detail on each setting.
Private and free
The speech recognition runs in your browser, so your recording never leaves your device. There's no account, no limit on how many files you transcribe, and nothing to install.