Transcribe MP3 to text
Transcribe MP3 to text free: upload the file at any bitrate, get a timestamped transcript, and export the parts you need as text, SRT, or VTT captions.
Free sign-up, 60 min/month · 99+ languages · Up to 500 MB per file
What is MP3 Transcription?
Transcribing an MP3 to text turns a compressed audio file into a written transcript. MP3 is the format podcasts, voice memos, and archived interviews usually arrive in, and files can be uploaded at whatever bitrate they were recorded at. The speech is written out in paragraphs, time markers can be kept for long recordings, and speaker separation can label each turn. The transcript is editable before export.
Why choose MP3 Transcription?
An MP3 archive is easy to store and hard to search. Uploading the file as it is avoids re-encoding and keeps the original timestamp positions, so a quote can be checked against the audio later. Files are processed in the browser, deleted after the job, and the transcript can be exported as text or captions.
A Folder of MP3s You Cannot Search?
Old interviews, lecture recordings, and podcast episodes tend to end up as MP3 files because the format is small and universally supported. The problem is that finding one answer inside them still means listening. Transcribing each file once turns the archive into text that can be searched, quoted, and reused. Time markers make it possible to jump back to the exact moment when a name or number needs checking, without replaying the whole recording.
What makes MP3 Transcription different?
It is built for long, sometimes low-bitrate MP3 audio and keeps the position of each paragraph so a line can be checked again later.
Any bitrate, no re-encoding
Time markers for long files
Text you can search
Formats, languages, limits
- Languages
- 99
- Detected automatically. Set it by hand when a recording mixes languages or carries a heavy accent.
- File types
- 13
- MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, MP4, MOV, WebM and more. Video is processed directly — no separate audio step.
- Per file
- 500 MB
- Large files upload straight to storage with a visible progress bar, up to 500 MB.
- Exports
- TXT · SRT · VTT
- Plain text, SRT and VTT subtitles, ready for a document, an editor, or a caption track.
How to use MP3 Transcription in 3 steps
Upload the MP3
Choose a file you own or have permission to use; no bitrate or codec setting is needed.
Run the transcription
The language is detected and the audio becomes text with optional time markers.
Search, correct, export
Fix names and terms, then copy a passage or export the whole transcript.
MP3 Transcription
Start with an MP3 you already have. Sign up free and get 60 minutes a month to turn it into text.
Free sign-up, 60 minutes a month, no credit card. Export when you are done.
Transcribe MP3 to textFrequently asked questions about MP3 Transcription
Does the MP3 need a specific bitrate?
No. Files are read at whatever bitrate they were encoded at, from a low-rate voice memo to a high-rate music file. Lower bitrates carry less detail, which can cost accuracy on names and numbers, but the file does not have to be re-encoded before upload. Re-encoding would only add another lossy pass.
Can several MP3 files be transcribed at once?
Each MP3 is submitted as its own job, and another file can be added while an earlier one finishes. Submissions are rate-limited, so a large folder is processed in batches rather than all at once. Naming each file clearly before upload keeps the exported transcripts easy to match.
How long can a single MP3 be?
Long files are accepted up to the 500MB per-file limit, and an hour-long interview is comfortably inside it. Processing time grows with duration, and nothing is capped by daily minutes during the demo. Splitting a very long recording by chapter makes the transcripts easier to reuse and cite.
Are time markers included?
Time markers can be switched on when the transcript is produced. Each paragraph then begins with the position in the file where it was spoken, which is useful for a long archive where a passage has to be checked against the audio. Without them the text reads as continuous prose.
What happens to music and silence in the file?
Silence is skipped and does not appear in the transcript. Music that carries no speech is usually left out as well, while a song under a spoken passage can produce a stray line. Those lines are easy to delete in the editor, and the rest of the transcript is unaffected.
Can an audiobook chapter be transcribed?
Yes. A chapter recorded as MP3 is treated like any other spoken file, and the narration becomes text with paragraph breaks. The result is useful for searching a chapter, quoting a passage, or producing a reading companion, though it is not a replacement for the published text.
Is the transcript editable before export?
Every part of the text can be corrected, including names, numbers, and punctuation, and paragraphs can be split or merged. Corrections happen before export, so the saved file holds the corrected text rather than the raw first pass. A long transcript can also be copied out one section at a time.
Does transcribing an MP3 cost anything?
A file can be transcribed and the text exported without payment, and no card is requested to start. Free sign-up includes 60 minutes a month, while paid plans raise limits. The per-file size cap and the two-job limit apply to every plan, so a long recording and several short ones follow the same path.