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Video to text

Video to text

To convert a video to text, upload the video file, choose the language, and start the transcript. The speech is returned as editable text with timestamps, and you can export it as TXT, SRT or VTT. One file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB is free with no account. You do not need to extract the audio.

Drop in a video file and get its speech back as text. The transcript keeps a timestamp on every line, so you can jump from a sentence to the exact second it was said, and you can correct any line before exporting it.

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

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Key facts

How to turn a video into text

  1. Upload the video. Drop the video file into the box; the audio is extracted for you.
  2. Choose the language. Pick the spoken language or leave automatic detection on.
  3. Start. Wait while the transcript is produced.
  4. Check against the picture. Click a line to jump to that moment and fix mistakes.
  5. Export. Download text, or SRT or VTT if you want subtitles.

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What “video to text” actually means

A video file holds a picture track and a sound track. Converting video to text means reading the sound track, recognising the speech in it, and writing that speech out as words. The picture is never involved — which is why a 4K file and a 480p file of the same talk produce the same transcript, and why the size of the file matters far less than how long it is and how clearly people speak.

It also means anything with no speech in it produces nothing. Music, ambience and silence come back empty, and that is correct behaviour rather than a failure.

What comes out

Every transcript can be exported seven ways, because a transcript is only useful in the shape the next tool expects:

  • Plain text for pasting into a document.
  • Timestamped text when you need to cite the moment.
  • SRT and WebVTT for subtitles — the formats YouTube, Vimeo and video editors accept.
  • Markdown for a formatted report with speakers and chapters.
  • JSON with a start and end time on every individual word.
  • CSV when you want one row per segment in a spreadsheet.

Video formats it accepts

MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, M4V, WMV, FLV, MPG, MPEG, TS and 3GP. The rule of thumb is that if a normal media player opens the file, it can be transcribed — there is no conversion step for you to do first.

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

How long does converting a video to text take?
It depends on the length of the recording and how busy the server is, not on the video's resolution. Transcription runs faster than real time, so a recording is generally done in a fraction of its own duration, but it is a queue: at a busy moment you wait behind other jobs. The page shows progress while it runs.
Is the video quality important?
The picture is irrelevant. The audio is everything. A phone recording of a quiet room beats a 4K video with echo and background noise every time.
Can I convert a video to text for free?
Yes — one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, with no account. A free account lifts those per-file limits and keeps your transcripts.
Does it work with silent or music-only video?
There is nothing to transcribe in either, so you will get an empty or near-empty result. It transcribes speech, not sound in general.
Can I transcribe a screen recording?
Yes, if it contains audio. A silent screen recording has no speech to transcribe.
Is there a limit on video size?
Without an account, one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB with no account. With an account the per-file limits are higher; see the pricing page.
Will it put the text onto the video as captions?
No. It produces text and subtitle files (SRT, VTT); burning captions into the video is not supported.
Can I get subtitles from the same upload?
Yes. Export the same transcript as SRT or VTT after you have corrected it.
Does it work for videos in other languages?
Yes: 33 languages plus automatic detection. It can also translate speech into English text.

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