Transcribe a video to text

Transcribe a video to text in your browser: Whisper turns what's said into a timestamped transcript on your own computer. MP4, MOV, WebM, free, nothing uploaded.

AudioRinse · transcriberOn-device · 0 B uploaded

Drop a recording here

MP3 · WAV · M4A · MP4 · MOV · WEBM — up to 3 hours. Nothing is uploaded.

The model downloads once and stays in this browser, so later transcripts start at once and work with Wi-Fi off. Your recording is never uploaded. Free: Fast transcripts without speaker labels, as text, SRT or VTT, no limit. Pro: Accurate, speaker labels, Word, NVivo and MAXQDA files.

How it works

  1. Drop the video onto the box above: MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. Fast is free; Accurate makes fewer mistakes (Pro).
  2. Its sound is transcribed by Whisper on your computer. The video isn't uploaded, however large it is.
  3. Read along: click a line to hear that moment, and fix any word in place.
  4. Download the transcript as text, or as SRT or VTT subtitles timed to the video.

A video's words, without uploading the video

Uploading a long video to a transcription service takes as long as the transcription itself. Here nothing is uploaded: the browser reads the video's sound track from your disk and Whisper, OpenAI's open speech model, transcribes it on your own computer. A 2 GB screen recording is as quick to start as a short clip.

The transcript is timestamped line by line, so it doubles as an index of the video: search for a word, click the line, and you hear that moment.

What it's used for

  • Notes and quotes from lectures, webinars, meetings and recorded calls.
  • Show notes, blog posts and descriptions from YouTube videos and podcasts you've made.
  • Subtitles: download SRT or VTT, or use the subtitle tool to burn them into the picture.
  • Searching hours of footage for the part where something was said.

Getting a good transcript

  • Pick the language if you know it; detection reads the first 30 seconds.
  • Background music and noise cost accuracy. The music remover and the video noise remover can clean the sound first.
  • Accurate (Pro) handles accents, names and crosstalk better than Fast.

Questions

Is my recording uploaded anywhere?

No. OpenAI's open Whisper model runs inside your browser, on your own computer. The recording and the transcript never leave it; the only download is the model, the first time. The data-flow statement lists every request the page makes.

Is it free?

Yes, with the Fast model: transcripts as text, SRT or VTT, with no limit and no account. Pro ($7.99 a month or $39.99 a year) adds the Accurate model, speaker labels, Word files and videos with burned-in subtitles. The same Pro covers every AudioRinse tool.

Can I transcribe a YouTube video?

Yes, from the video file: download it first (your own videos from YouTube Studio), then drop it here. The page can't fetch links, because it never sends anything to a server.

Does it work on screen recordings from Zoom, Teams or Loom?

Yes. Download the recording (MP4 or M4A) and drop it here. For several speakers with names, use the interview transcriber, which labels them.

How accurate is it?

Accurate (Whisper large-v3-turbo) got 8.3% of words wrong on three recorded hour-long interviews with professional reference transcripts, on a par with desktop Whisper tools on the same files. Fast (Whisper small) makes more mistakes, mostly on names, accents and noisy recordings. Clear speech close to the microphone helps both.

How long does it take?

Fast runs on your processor at about twice real time: a 30-minute recording takes about 15 minutes on a recent laptop. Accurate runs on the graphics chip through WebGPU, about as long as the recording on a 2020 laptop's built-in graphics and faster on newer ones. The first time also downloads the model.

Which languages does it understand?

Whisper transcribes around 100 languages, most accurately English and the major European languages. Pick the language in the menu, or let it detect it from the first 30 seconds.

How long can the recording be?

Up to 3 hours, audio or video. On a computer with little memory the page takes less, and says so.

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