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Scriptorium
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MP4 to text

MP4 to text

Upload an MP4 and get the speech in it back as text. The video is not needed for this: only the audio track is read, so a screen recording, a phone video or a downloaded lecture works the same as an audio file.

Free preview: one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, 3 tries a day, no account needed.

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What is in an MP4

MP4 is a container: one video track, usually one audio track, sometimes several. The speech is in the audio track, usually AAC. Transcription reads that track and ignores the picture, so resolution does not matter. A 4K recording and a 480p one produce the same text if the sound is the same, and the 4K one just takes longer to upload.

Where MP4 files come from

  • Zoom, Teams and Google Meet recordings saved as MP4 (see Zoom, Teams and Meet).
  • Phone and camera video, and screen recordings.
  • Videos you downloaded or exported from an editor, for example your own YouTube upload.
  • Android phones that save camera video as MP4.

Steps

  1. Choose the MP4 above. If it is a large video, consider extracting the audio first with the video to audio tool so less data uploads.
  2. Wait for the transcript.
  3. Correct it, then export TXT, or SRT/VTT if you want subtitles (see MP4 to SRT).

Size and length

Video files are large because of the picture. The no-account preview takes up to 25 MB and 15 minutes per file, and a video usually reaches the size cap long before the length cap: even a short phone clip can be bigger than that, although its audio alone would be small. Extract the audio to bring the file under the size limit, then use a free account if you need longer.

How it works

  1. Add a recording

    Drop in a video or audio file, choose one from your device, or record from the microphone. Nothing to install.

  2. It transcribes

    Speech becomes timestamped text, with speaker labels when more than one person talks.

  3. Read, fix, export

    Click any line to correct it, then download TXT, subtitles, Markdown, JSON or CSV.

Questions

Does the video quality affect the transcript?
No. Only the sound matters. Clear audio from a low-resolution video beats noisy audio from a 4K one.
Can I paste a link to an MP4?
No. There is no link input; upload the file itself.
What if the MP4 has two audio tracks?
Use a video editor or the audio tool to keep the track with the speech; we transcribe what the file presents as its audio.
Is it free?
Yes — one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB with no account, up to 3 tries a day. A free account keeps your transcripts in a library and lifts the guest limits; the current limits and paid plans are on the pricing page.
What can I export?
Plain text, timestamped text, SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON with word timings and CSV, all from the same edited transcript.

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