How much does it cost to transcribe a lecture?

To try it, nothing: without an account, the trial transcribes up to the first 10 minutes of a recording, and the result page shows what you can read without paying and how to read the rest. What the free account includes today and Pro's prices are on the pricing page.

Does it work for a lecture in another language?

Yes: transcription works in 82 languages. Pick the language of the lecture before you upload; if it switches languages, see the note above about automatic detection.

Which files can I upload?

The lecture-capture video or the audio from your phone, as it is: we accept MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, Opus, MP4, MOV and WebM, among others.

Does the transcript say who is speaking when students ask questions?

In American English, British English and Indian English, the transcript separates the voices into Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on; you rename each label once, and the name holds for the whole transcript. In Australian English and Philippine English, it separates them too, on recordings of up to 2 hours. If the separation fails, the transcript comes without speaker labels, and says so. Where labels exist, a question from the audience gets its own label if the microphone picked it up.

What happens to the lecture recordings I upload?

Your recordings and transcripts are not used to train models. In the no-account trial, the file and the transcript are deleted 48 hours later — or 7 days after payment, if you buy just that transcript; in an account, they are kept until you delete them.

Transcribe a recorded lecture

Upload the recording of the lecture, class or seminar — the video from your university's lecture capture, or the audio from your phone in the hall — and try it here, with no account. In an account, the text comes with a time on every word, so you can study from the text and go back to the exact moment each point was explained.

LanguageIdentify speakers

Auto detect can mishandle a recording that switches language.

Free: one recording up to 10 minutes · its transcript to read · no account · deleted after 48 hours

What you get

In an account — free or Pro, with the same features — the transcript comes with:

The lecture as text, with the time: Click any line to hear that passage; the transcript follows the audio while it plays.
A summary built for a lecture: The summary of a lecture or talk separates the key concepts, the definitions given, the worked examples and the questions the audience asked.
Questions about the lecture: Ask what was said about a topic. The answer points to the passages and the moment in the recording they are in, so you can check.
Translation: A lecture in another language? Translate the transcript into yours, or into another language, and read it beside the original.
Export: Word (DOCX), TXT, SRT and VTT, on every plan.

Recording the lecture yourself

You can also record in the browser, on a phone or a computer. Keep the page open and the screen on until you stop: a browser can end a recording when the page goes into the background.

Record only with the lecturer's permission, and from as close to the speaker as you can: a phone at the back of a hall picks up the room more than the voice, and the transcript shows it. Slides are not read — only what is said aloud is transcribed, so a formula written on the board comes back only if the lecturer says it.

Every automatic transcript has errors, and they cluster on proper names, numbers and technical terms. Before you quote a passage, click the line and listen: with a time on every word, that check takes seconds. Technical vocabulary is where a lecture's errors land, so fix a term where it was misheard before you export.

Long lectures

Without an account, the trial transcribes up to the first 10 minutes of a recording. On Pro, each file can be up to 8 hours, within the month's included hours; what each plan includes, the pricing page shows. See plans and prices.

On long recordings, speaker labels can wander from one section to the next — a consequence of how long audio is processed, not a setting.

Before you upload

Name the main language rather than leaving it on automatic. Automatic detection has to decide what language each stretch of speech is in, and where a recording switches language, what was said in the other one may come back translated instead of transcribed — or not come back at all. Either way nothing is marked as missing: the transcript will look complete.

Philippine English is marked “preview” in the language list: offered, but without a quality commitment yet, so check its transcript more closely before you use it.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to transcribe a lecture?: To try it, nothing: without an account, the trial transcribes up to the first 10 minutes of a recording, and the result page shows what you can read without paying and how to read the rest. What the free account includes today and Pro's prices are on the pricing page.
Does it work for a lecture in another language?: Yes: transcription works in 82 languages. Pick the language of the lecture before you upload; if it switches languages, see the note above about automatic detection.
Which files can I upload?: The lecture-capture video or the audio from your phone, as it is: we accept MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, Opus, MP4, MOV and WebM, among others.
Does the transcript say who is speaking when students ask questions?: In American English, British English and Indian English, the transcript separates the voices into Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on; you rename each label once, and the name holds for the whole transcript. In Australian English and Philippine English, it separates them too, on recordings of up to 2 hours. If the separation fails, the transcript comes without speaker labels, and says so. Where labels exist, a question from the audience gets its own label if the microphone picked it up.
What happens to the lecture recordings I upload?: Your recordings and transcripts are not used to train models. In the no-account trial, the file and the transcript are deleted 48 hours later — or 7 days after payment, if you buy just that transcript; in an account, they are kept until you delete them.