mp4 → text · video to transcript
MP4 video to text.
Drop the video. The audio track is pulled out in your browser, and you get the transcript and a subtitle file.
// short answer
To transcribe an MP4, drop the video into the box above. Your browser extracts the audio, so only the sound is transcribed, and you can download the result as .txt or timestamped .srt subtitles. Free: 3 files a day with no account, transcripts on screen for recordings up to 15 minutes, and emailed for 15–30 minutes (15 MB upload cap). Unlimited ($9/month) takes files up to 2 hours and 50 MB, 30 hours of audio a month, no daily limit, with speaker labels.
Updated 2026-09-17
What happens to the video
The picture is never needed. When your browser can decode the video's audio track, it converts just the sound to 16 kHz mono (about 1.8 MB per minute) and uploads whichever is smaller, that or the original. If it can't read the codec, the whole video is uploaded. Either way the upload has to fit the cap: 15 MB free, 50 MB on Unlimited. The page won't open a source file larger than 200 MB at all.
Long video? Strip the audio first
Meeting recordings and lectures are often hundreds of megabytes. Pulling out the audio as a small MP3 takes a few seconds with ffmpeg and makes almost any recording fit. A 30-minute MP3 at 48 kbps mono is about 10 MB.
-vn drops the video, -ac 1 mixes to mono, -b:a sets the bitrate. Speech recognition loses nothing at that bitrate.
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -ac 1 -b:a 48k output.mp3Common MP4 sources
- Zoom, Teams and Meet recordings. Saved as MP4. For Zoom, the separate audio-only .m4a is quicker to upload.
- Lecture captures. Long, one speaker, usually clean audio. These transcribe well.
- Screen recordings and tutorials. Transcribe, then download the .srt to add captions in your editor.
Free vs Unlimited
| Free | Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $9/month, cancel anytime |
| Files per day | 3 | No daily limit |
| Longest file | 15 min on screen, 30 min by email | 2 hours |
| Upload size | 15 MB | 50 MB |
| Audio per month | — | 30 hours |
| Speaker labels | No | Yes |
| Account | None | None, Stripe checkout |
FAQ
Can I paste a YouTube link instead of a file?+
No. It transcribes files you upload, not links. If the video is yours, download it from YouTube Studio and upload the file.
Can I get subtitles for my MP4?+
Yes. After transcribing, click Download .srt. The file has timestamps and loads into Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, VLC or YouTube's subtitle upload.
Does video resolution affect accuracy?+
No. Only the audio is transcribed. A 4K video and a 480p copy of the same recording give the same transcript. Microphone distance and background noise matter far more.
Why was my video refused as too large?+
Either your browser couldn't read its audio track, so the whole video had to be uploaded, or even the extracted audio was over the cap. Run the ffmpeg command on this page and upload the MP3 instead.