WAV to text: transcribe recorder and studio files
Upload the WAV straight from your recorder, audio interface or editing software and get it back as a transcript: speakers told apart, a time on every line, words you can correct while you listen. Then download TXT, Word or PDF.
Transcribe a WAV
Free: 30 min a month, no card. Your file stays in this browser until you sign up. Compare plans
- About an hour of audio in about two minutes
- Every download format on Free, Word too
What a WAV looks like as a transcript
Take a short real recording, NASA's Apollo 11 landing, transcribed by PrismaScribe and set out as the Word download does it: who is talking, their words, and the time each line starts. A WAV from your recorder becomes a transcript like this, and the TXT download carries the same lines unformatted.
Apollo 11 landing
Neil Armstrong
[0:00] Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
CAPCOM, Charlie Duke
[0:06] Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:08,478CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang...
- 300:00:08,478 to 00:00:12,494Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.
- 400:00:12,494 to 00:00:14,720We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.vtt
WEBVTT
- 100:00:00.500 to 00:00:05.980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06.640 to 00:00:11.301CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys
- 300:00:11.301 to 00:00:14.720CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Where WAV transcripts end up
WAV files tend to come from careful recordings. Their text is usually needed in full.
- Interviews for an article or a thesis. Read a long interview from a field recorder with each answer under its speaker and its time, ready to quote.
- Research and oral history. Keep a written record of recorded conversations in a folder per project, searchable later.
- Podcast and radio scripts. Turn the raw WAV of a session into a transcript to plan the edit, write show notes or check what was said.
- Dictation into a document. Speak into a recorder, then download the transcript as Word (DOCX) and carry on writing there.
- Captions for the finished piece. Download SRT or VTT subtitles from the same transcript when the recording goes with a video.
- A summary of a long session. Make a summary or a list of action points from hours of recorded talk.
How to convert WAV to text
The WAV to text converter takes you from the recorder to a transcript in three steps.
1 Copy the WAV off the recorder
Connect the recorder or its card to your computer and copy the file, or export the WAV from your editor. A very large one uploads faster as FLAC or MP3.
2 Upload it
Drop the WAV in, or a whole session's files at once. Choose the language or keep it on detect, and say how many people speak if you know.
3 Listen, correct, download
Click a word to hear it and fix it, put real names on the speakers, then download Word (DOCX), TXT or PDF.
30 min of free transcription a month, no card.
An interview in another language
Translate
Recorded someone in a language you don't read? Translate the transcript into any of 99+ languages, read it in your dashboard and download the translation as TXT, SRT or VTT.
- A translated SRT or VTT gives every line its original timing.
- Free covers 20,000 characters of translation a month.
More
Copy all
Export
- TXT
- SRT, selected
- VTT
Apollo 11 landing_es.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Houston, eh, aquí Base Tranquilidad. El Águila ha aterrizado.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:14,720Recibido, Tranq... Tranquilidad. Los copiamos en tierra. Tenían a un montón de tipos a punto de ponerse azules. Volvemos a respirar. Muchas gracias. [pitidos]
WAV in, text out
Why a WAV is big, how much each plan holds, and what you get back.
WAV, the file you upload
A WAV usually holds uncompressed PCM audio, every sample as recorded, which is why recorders, audio interfaces and editing software use it. It's about ten times the size of an MP3 of the same length. On Free, the file length limit still comes first; on Starter and Premium, a long WAV runs into the file size limit before the length limit.
- A minute at CD quality
- About 10.6 MB (44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo)
- Free's 500 MB
- About 45 min of it, more than the 15 min a file may last
- Starter and Premium's 2 GB
- About 3 hr 10 min of it, less than the 5 hr a file may last
- To make it smaller
- Save a copy as FLAC or MP3
CD-quality PCM is 44,100 samples a second × 2 bytes × 2 channels, about 176 KB a second. 48 kHz or 24-bit recordings are larger, mono ones half the size.
TXT and Word, what comes back
TXT is the transcript as plain text, after a short header with the file's name, language, length and date; each line can carry its speaker and a [m:ss] time. Word (DOCX) is the same text as a document, for quoting, editing and printing.
- Per download
- Speaker names and timestamps, each on or off
- Other files
- PDF, Markdown, SRT and VTT
- Languages
- 99+, in their own scripts
- Fixes
- In every file you download
Options as in the web app's export window, the same for each text format.
What it doesn't do
For recorder and studio files.
- No AIFF. Our uploader doesn't take AIFF. Export it as WAV, FLAC or MP3.
- No shrinking on the way in. A WAV over your plan's file size is refused. Save a FLAC or MP3 copy, which is much smaller for the same length.
- No links to files in cloud storage. Links import from YouTube, SoundCloud and nine other sites only. Download the WAV and upload it.
- PDF in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters only. Speech in other scripts downloads as TXT, Word, Markdown, SRT or VTT.
Good to know
- Background noise removal and custom vocabulary need a paid plan. Noise removal takes files up to 60 min and 500 MB and counts 2× the minutes; custom vocabulary counts 1.25×.
- Free has 30 min a month and 15 min a day, one recording at a time.
- Longer than 15 min? On Free, a website upload is transcribed up to its first 15 min.
- Top-up hours lift Free's daily and per-file time limits, while its 500 MB file size stays.
Plans
Monthly and yearly prices for every plan. The full comparison is on the pricing page.
30 min a month, files up to 15 min
- Monthly
- $0
- Yearly
- $0
5 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $7 a month
- Yearly
- $52 a year, Save 38%$4.33 a month, billed once a year
20 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $20 a month
- Yearly
- $150 a year, Save 38%$12.50 a month, billed once a year
40 hr a month, files up to 8 hr 20 min
- Monthly
- $40 a month
- Yearly
- $300 a year, Save 38%$25 a month, billed once a year
Your recordings stay private
- Encrypted as they're sent and as they're stored, open to you and the people you choose.
- Never used to train AI models.
- Stored until you delete them.
WAV to text FAQ
Another question? Write to hello@prismascribe.ai.
How do I convert a WAV file to text?
Sign up free, upload the WAV, choose the language or leave it on detect, and start. You can leave while it works: the transcript waits in your dashboard and an email says it's ready. Then check it, click any word to correct it, and download the text.
Why is my WAV file so big?
Because it's usually uncompressed: CD-quality stereo takes about 10.6 MB a minute, roughly ten times an MP3. Recorders set to 48 kHz or 24-bit make even bigger files.
How long a WAV can I upload?
On Free, up to 15 min (a CD-quality file that long is well under 500 MB). On Starter and Premium, 2 GB holds about 3 hr 10 min of CD-quality WAV, so a longer recording needs a FLAC or MP3 copy even though the plans allow 5 hr. Pro takes 5 GB and 8 hr 20 min.
My WAV is over the size limit. What can I do?
Save a copy as FLAC, which keeps every sample at a smaller size, or as MP3, which is far smaller again. Both upload as they are. Or split the recording into parts, or move to a plan with a larger file size.
Is WAV to text free?
Yes, on Free, with no card: 30 min of transcription a month, up to 15 min a day, files up to 15 min and 500 MB, one at a time, and every download. For long sessions, compare the plans or buy top-up hours that never expire.
Can it clean up a noisy recording?
Background noise removal cleans the sound before transcribing, for files up to 60 min and 500 MB, so a long uncompressed WAV may need a FLAC or MP3 copy first. How it counts against your minutes is under Good to know.
Will it separate the people in my interview?
Yes, on every plan, up to 32 speakers, each labelled Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on until you rename them; the names then show on every line. How speaker identification works.
Can I get the transcript in Word?
Yes. Download Word (DOCX), or TXT, PDF, Markdown, SRT or VTT, deciding each time whether speaker names and timestamps show. PDF covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters; for other scripts, Word or TXT.
Which languages does it transcribe from WAV?
Any of 99+; pick one or let it be detected. To read the recording in another language, translate the transcript into any of 99+ languages. Translate audio.
Other recordings, other files
Text from other formats, and every format PrismaScribe takes.
Turn your next WAV into words on a page.
30 min of free transcription a month, no card.
One recording in.
Everything you need out.