Free video to text transcription
Drop in a video, get accurate text and subtitles. No signup, no upload, no watermark. The AI runs in your browser, so your file never leaves your device.
Drop your video or audio file here
or click to browse. Itās free, no signup.
MP4 Ā· MOV Ā· WebM Ā· MKV Ā· AVI Ā· MP3 Ā· WAV Ā· M4A and more
š 100% private: transcription runs in your browser. Your file is never uploaded.
How to transcribe a video to text for free
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Drop your file
Nothing is uploaded. The file stays on your device the whole time.
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AI transcribes locally
OpenAIās Whisper model runs in your browser, so no server ever sees your file.
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Copy or download
Plain text, or timestamped SRT and VTT subtitles ready to use anywhere.
Why FreeTranscribe?
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š Actually private
Other āfreeā tools upload your video to their servers. Here, transcription happens on your device: nothing to leak, nothing to delete later.
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ā” No upload wait
A 1 GB video normally takes ages to upload. With local processing, transcription starts the moment you drop the file.
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š¬ Subtitles and translation
Download SRT or VTT captions in standard, single-line, or short social-video style, or translate speech in other languages straight into English subtitles.
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š About 100 languages
Auto-detects the spoken language, or pick it yourself for the best accuracy.
FreeTranscribe vs. typical āfreeā transcription sites
Most free transcription tools are free trials in disguise. Here is how the usual catches compare.
| FreeTranscribe | Typical free tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Uploading your video to a server | Never, it stays on your device | Required, and slow for big files |
| Account or email | Not needed | Usually required |
| Monthly minutes | No cap (files up to 2 GB) | Often 10 to 60 free minutes |
| SRT and VTT subtitles | Free | Often a paid feature |
| Translation to English | Free | Often a paid feature |
| Watermarks | None | Common on free exports |
The AI runs on your computer, so there are no server costs per minute. That is why it can stay free, with ads covering the rest.
What you can transcribe
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Meetings and calls
Turn Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet recordings into searchable notes.
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Lectures and classes
Get a text version of a recorded lecture to study from or search.
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Interviews
Transcribe research or journalism interviews without sending them to a third party.
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Podcasts
Create show notes, quotes, and a full transcript for every episode.
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Your YouTube videos
Make captions or a transcript for a video you made.
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Reels, Shorts, and TikTok
Short captions that show a few words at a time, sized for vertical video.
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Voice memos and WhatsApp audio
Read voice messages instead of listening to them.
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Videos in other languages
Transcribe in the original language, or translate the speech into English.
Supported files and languages
- Video
- MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, and most other formats your browser or FFmpeg can read.
- Audio
- MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, OPUS, and FLAC.
- Speech
- About 100 languages, detected automatically, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian.
- Output
- Plain text, timestamped text, SRT subtitles, and VTT captions, plus translation into English.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really free? Whatās the catch?
Itās free and supported by ads. Thereās no account, no trial that expires, no per-minute billing, and no watermark. Because the AI runs on your device instead of our servers, we donāt have compute costs that force a paywall.
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. This is the big difference from other transcription sites: the speech-recognition model (OpenAI Whisper) downloads to your browser and runs locally. Your file never leaves your device.
Can it make subtitles and captions?
Yes. Every transcript includes timestamps, and you can download SRT or VTT files for YouTube, video editors, and web players. Choose standard two-line captions, single lines, or short captions for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok.
Can it translate a video into English?
Yes. Choose āTranslate to Englishā and speech in any supported language is written out in English, as text or as English subtitles.
What file formats are supported?
Video: MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI and more. Audio: MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, OPUS, FLAC. If your browser canāt decode a format, a built-in FFmpeg decoder handles it.
How long does transcription take?
The first visit downloads the AI model once, and it is cached after that. Then speed depends on your computer and the accuracy setting: expect a few minutes for a 10-minute video on a modern machine. The transcript streams in live as it works.
Is there a length or file size limit?
There is no limit on minutes. Files can be up to 2 GB, and longer recordings simply take longer because the work happens on your computer. A laptop or desktop is much faster than a phone for long files.
How accurate is it?
It uses OpenAIās Whisper speech recognition model, which copes well with accents and background noise. The Accurate setting is best for most videos, and choosing the spoken language yourself instead of auto-detect helps with very short or noisy clips.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. It runs in modern browsers on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. Phones are slower on long videos, so use a computer for anything longer than a few minutes if you can.
Can I transcribe a YouTube video?
Yes, if it is your own video: download it from YouTube Studio and drop the file in. FreeTranscribe works with files on your device and does not download videos from other sites.