A free audio to text converter that writes out any recording with a time on every line, on your own device, so nothing is uploaded.
Drop a recording and Whisper writes it out with a time on every line, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Add your recording
Private: nothing leaves your device. The model downloads once (77 MB) and your browser keeps it.
This free audio to text converter writes out any recording with a time on every line, on your own device.
Drop an MP3, M4A or WAV, and Whisper turns it into text in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there's no length limit.
Here's how it works, which model to pick, and how to get the cleanest transcript.
What is an audio to text converter?
An audio to text converter turns speech in a recording into written text. This one gives you every line with its time, ready to copy or save as a caption file.
It runs Whisper, which OpenAI describes as "a general-purpose speech recognition model."
On your device or on our server
The page opens on your device. Whisper, OpenAI's speech recognition model, runs in your browser, and the file never leaves it.
For long files, pick On our server. The sound goes in 2-minute pieces to Groq's Whisper and comes back as text in seconds.
| On this device | On our server | |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | Nothing leaves your device | Sent in pieces, not kept |
| Download | 77 MB once, or 563 MB for Best | None |
| Length | No limit | Up to 30 minutes a file |
| Cost | Free | Free, within a daily limit |
Groq, the company that runs the server's Whisper, says in its data policy that "by default, Groq does not retain customer data for inference requests." We don't keep the sound either.
Standard or Best
Standard is whisper-base, a 77 MB download that runs in any modern browser. On a 2021 MacBook Pro, it wrote a 23-second clip in 5 seconds.
Best is whisper-large-v3-turbo, 563 MB, on browsers with WebGPU. It wrote 100 seconds in 10, and a Spanish clip word for word, after its download.
| Model | Download | Runs on | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 77 MB | Any modern browser | Quick notes, clear speech |
| Best | 563 MB | Browsers with WebGPU | Names, accents, other languages |
Without WebGPU, Best is whisper-small, 249 MB, which is slower. Each model downloads once, and your browser keeps it.
Languages
Whisper was trained on "680,000 hours of multilingual and multitask supervision," says its paper. The language list has every language it knows, from Afrikaans to Yoruba.
Leave it on Detect it, and the tool hears the language in the first words and keeps it for the rest. Pick the language when you know it: names and short clips come out better.
Files it takes
Anything your browser can read: MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus, MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV. A video's sound is read, and the picture stays on your screen to play along.
The file is read in parts, so an hour-long recording works on a computer. A phone can take longer on the device, and On our server is quicker there.
Timestamps, SRT and VTT
Every line keeps its time. Press a time and the recording plays from there, and the line being said lights up as it plays.
Download it as plain text, Markdown, SRT or VTT. SRT and VTT are the caption files YouTube, Vimeo and video editors take.
Get a cleaner transcript
- Pick the language – when you know it, instead of Detect it.
- Use Best – for names, accents and anything but clear English.
- Record close to the mic – your voice rises above the room's noise.
Two things cost the most words:
- Music under the voice – Whisper can drop words, or invent a line in a long music break.
- People talking over each other – Whisper follows one voice at a time.
After that, Add punctuation in step 3 tidies the text in your own AI, without changing a word.
Translate it
Translate to, under the file, turns the transcript into 1 of 30 languages. AI on our server translates the text line by line, so every time stays right and the SRT still lines up.
Only the text is sent, never the recording. For English from any language in one step, use the audio translator.
After you convert
Turn the transcript into posts with the asks in step 3, or record your next episode with the audio recorder. For a video, use the video to text converter.
Who is the audio to text converter for?
It's for anyone with a recording they need in writing:
- Podcast transcript generator – podcasters who post a transcript with each episode
- Video to text converter – video creators
- Speech to text – people who dictate
- Audio translator – anyone who needs it in another language
The rest of my tools are on the free tools page.
Do more with your recording
Dictate on your Mac with
Audio to text converter FAQs
Questions about the audio to text converter? Here's what to know.
An audio to text converter turns speech in a recording into written text.
This one runs Whisper in your browser and keeps the time of every line.
On your device, there's no limit: the file is read in parts.
On our server, files can run up to 30 minutes.
Whisper is accurate on clear speech, and Best gets names and accents right more often.
Music and noise under the voice cost the most words.
Yes, download SRT or VTT, the caption files YouTube and video editors take.
Every line keeps Whisper's times.
Yes, this audio to text converter is free, with no account and no limit on your device.
On our server, each visitor gets 40 minutes a day.
No, not on this device: Whisper runs in your browser and the file never leaves it.
On our server, the sound is sent in pieces, written out, and not kept.
A translation sends the text only.
No, Whisper writes what's said without names.
Add the names yourself in the text, or in your editor.
This audio to text converter is for anyone with a recording to write out:
- Podcast transcript generator – podcasters who need show notes and quotes.
- Audio converter – anyone who records and edits audio.
- Audio recorder – people who record interviews and notes in the browser.
Students, researchers and journalists use it for lectures and interviews, and nothing leaves their device.
I did.
I'm Navid Moazzez, and the audio to text converter is one of my free tools on navid.me.
Read more about me.
There's an audio to text converter, a video to text converter, speech to text, a voice memo to text converter, Spanish transcription, an audio translator and a podcast transcript generator.
The rest are in free tools.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
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