Audio to Text Converter: Voice Memos, Podcasts, Lectures and Calls

Audio is easy to record and hard to use. A voice memo of a product idea, a supplier call, a lecture or a podcast episode holds useful words, but you cannot skim it, search it or paste it into a document. Converting it to text fixes all three.

This converter accepts the audio formats phones, recorders and messaging apps actually produce, sends the file to our server and runs AI speech recognition on it. Here is how to use it for the most common kinds of recordings, which file formats to expect, and how to keep uploads small and transcripts clean. For a full walkthrough of the options and accuracy, see the main transcribe audio to text guide.

How to convert audio to text

1. Drop the audio file onto the box, or click it and choose the file.
2. Check the length shown under the options (30 minutes is the limit).
3. Leave Detect automatically on, or pick the spoken language.
4. Choose TXT, SRT, VTT or DOCX and click Convert to text.
5. Read the text in the preview, click Copy text or Download.

Audio formats you are likely to have

Video files are accepted too, because the server reads their sound track. If you are working mostly with video, the video to text page covers captions and screen recordings.

Keep the upload small

Speech recognition needs clear sound, not studio quality. That means a compressed file transcribes just as well as an uncompressed one, and uploads much faster. Rough sizes for one minute of audio:

If you have a long WAV, export it as MP3 from your recorder app or audio editor before uploading. You lose nothing that matters for the transcript.

How the recording setup changes the text

The same conversation can give a near-perfect transcript or a patchy one depending on where the microphone was. This is what to expect from common setups:

If you record the same kind of audio every week, such as a podcast or a weekly team call, it pays to fix the setup once. A basic clip-on microphone usually improves the transcript more than any setting in any transcription tool.

Example: a 22 minute supplier call

Say you recorded a 22 minute call with a supplier on your phone as an M4A file of about 18 MB, and you want the agreed prices and dates in writing.

1. Drop the M4A into the box. The length line shows 22 minutes, inside the limit.
2. The call was in English, so pick English instead of automatic detection. The call opened with hold music, which could have confused detection.
3. Choose DOCX, so every paragraph carries a time mark, and click Convert to text.
4. Open the Word file and search for the numbers: unit prices, quantities, the shipping date.
5. For each number, jump to its time mark in the recording and listen once. Correct anything the model misheard, such as "fifteen" written as "fifty".
6. Paste the confirmed points into your email to the supplier, so you both have the same written record.

Five recordings, five ways to use the text

Voice memos and ideas

Many people think out loud while walking or driving. Transcribe the memo as TXT and paste it into your notes app. The punctuation the model adds makes it readable straight away, and you can search your notes for it later.

Lectures and training sessions

A lecture is often longer than 30 minutes, so split it first. A free editor such as Audacity can cut a file at a pause: open it, click where you want the cut, select the part, and export it. Transcribe each part as DOCX, and the time marks let you jump back to anything you did not follow in class.

Podcast episodes

A transcript turns an episode into show notes, quotes for social posts and a page search engines can read. Download SRT if you also publish the episode as a video, TXT if you only need the words. Finding topics your listeners want next is a different job; AM Jarvis Viral Finder shows what is rising in your niche across search, video and forums.

Interviews and research

Download DOCX, which marks the time at the start of each paragraph. Add the speaker names while you read through, and highlight the quotes you will use. Always check a quote against the recording before you publish it.

Calls with customers and suppliers

If you record calls (and the people on the call know about it, which many places require by law), a transcript is a searchable record of what was agreed: prices, delivery dates, quantities. Check every number against the audio, because numbers are where speech recognition slips most.

What about the transcription built into my phone?

Some phones now transcribe recordings themselves. On recent iPhones, Voice Memos can show a transcript for supported languages, and Google's Recorder app on Pixel phones writes text as you record, on the device. If your phone does this for your language, it is a perfectly good option, and nothing leaves the phone.

This converter is useful when those options do not fit: the recording came from someone else, it is a WhatsApp voice note or a podcast file, your phone does not support your language, or you need SRT, VTT or a Word file with time marks instead of text inside an app.

When the result is not what you expected

• "No speech found": the file is silent, music only, or extremely quiet. Play it and check you hear speech.
• Text in the wrong language: automatic detection guessed from the first 30 seconds. Choose the language yourself and convert again.
• A line repeats or appears in silence: speech models sometimes fill long gaps. Delete the stray line, or trim long silences before uploading.
• Names spelled oddly: the model writes what it hears. Use search and replace in your editor to fix each name once.
• "Too long": the recording is over 30 minutes. Split it and convert the parts.

Going the other direction, from text to speech, is a separate free tool: text to speech reads any text aloud in your browser.