Record and transcribe
Record from your microphone in the browser — no app, no plugin. Pause and resume while you go, play it back, and transcribe it when you are happy with the take.
Loading the tool…
Your file is uploaded to be processed, then handled under our retention policy.
Recording in the browser
Your browser has had a perfectly good audio recorder built into it for years. This page uses it, so there is nothing to install and nothing to sign up for before you can press record. Your browser will ask permission for the microphone the first time, and nothing is captured until you actually start.
Pause, resume, and listening back
Pause stops the recording without ending the take, and resume continues into the same file — useful for an interview with an interruption in it, or a set of notes recorded across a morning. The timer counts only while recording is actually running. When you stop, you get the recording back to play before deciding anything: keep it, discard it and go again, or send it to be transcribed.
What leaves your device, and when
The recording is captured and held in the page. If you discard a take, it is gone and was never sent anywhere. It is only uploaded at the moment you choose to transcribe it, and from there it is an ordinary upload handled under the retention policy.
Getting a usable recording
Transcription accuracy depends far more on the recording than on the model. Close to the microphone beats far away, a quiet room beats a good microphone in a noisy one, and one person at a time beats a crossfire. A laptop's built-in microphone on a table between four people is the single most common cause of a disappointing transcript.
Other languages
The language is detected automatically by default, and a menu appears once you have a recording so you can name it directly instead. Detection reads roughly the first thirty seconds of audio, so it is naturally less certain on a short or a quiet clip — a common symptom is a recording in another language coming back as English. If that happens, choose the language from the menu and transcribe again.
Limits
Without an account there is a cap on how long a recording can be and how many you can transcribe in a day, and the page shows you the real numbers before you start rather than after. An account raises them.
Questions
Does the recording leave my device?
The recording is made in your browser and stays there until you choose to transcribe it. If you discard the take, nothing is ever sent. If you transcribe it, it is uploaded and handled exactly like any other upload.
Can I pause and carry on?
Yes. Pause stops the recording without ending it, and resume continues into the same take. The timer only counts while you are actually recording.
Do I need an account?
Not for a short recording. The free tier covers a limited length and a few transcriptions a day, and the page shows you the real limits before you start.
Does it work in languages other than English?
Yes. The transcriber detects the spoken language automatically by default, and a language menu appears once you have a recording so you can choose one directly. Automatic detection is less reliable on a short or quiet recording — if the transcript comes back in the wrong language, picking it from the menu and transcribing again usually fixes it.
Turn what is said into text
Scriptorium's main job is transcription: bring a video or an audio file and get back text you can read, correct, search and export.