Voice memo to text, transcribed with speakers and timestamps
Save the memo from your phone, upload it here and read it as text: who spoke, when, in your recording's language. Works for iPhone Voice Memos, WhatsApp and Telegram voice notes and most Android recorders' files.
Transcribe a voice memo
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 on Free, nothing held back
What a recording looks like as text
A short real recording, NASA's Apollo 11 landing, as PrismaScribe transcribed it and the Word download writes it: each speaker's name over their words, the minute and second each line starts. A voice memo comes back the same way, and the TXT download holds the same lines as plain text.
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]
What to do with the text
Once the memo is words on a page, it's easy to use.
- Paste it into your notes. Copy the transcript into Notes, a document or an email, or download it as TXT, Word, PDF or Markdown.
- Turn a ramble into a list. Make a summary or a to-do list from the transcript, so a five-minute thought becomes the three things to do.
- Answer a voice message in writing. Read a long voice note from a chat, quote the part you're replying to, or translate one sent in another language.
- Keep ideas you can find again. Every memo stays in your library under its name, in folders if you like, with the recording beside its text.
- Share it. Share a transcript with the people you choose, so they read the memo instead of listening to all of it.
- Captions for a clip. Recorded something for a video? The same transcript downloads as SRT or VTT subtitles.
How to transcribe a voice memo
Get the file off your phone, upload it, then read and download the text.
1 Save the memo as a file
iPhone Voice Memos: open the recording's Share menu and choose Save to Files, or send it to your computer. WhatsApp or Telegram: press and hold the voice message, then share or forward it to your files or to yourself. An Android recorder: use the app's Share button.
2 Upload it here
On the website, from your phone's browser or a computer, drop in the file, several memos at once if you like. Pick the language or leave it on detect, and say how many people speak if you know.
3 Read, fix and download
Click a word to hear it and correct it, rename Speaker 1 to a real name, then copy the text or download TXT, Word or PDF. Your fixes are in every file.
30 min of free transcription a month, no card.
A voice message in another language
Translate
Got a voice note in a language you don't read? Translate its transcript into any of 99+ languages, then read it in your dashboard or download the translation as TXT, SRT or VTT.
- Each translated line keeps its start and end time in an SRT or VTT download.
- Free includes 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]
Voice memo in, text out
Which files your phone makes, and what you get back.
Voice memos and voice notes, the files you upload
A recording from iPhone's Voice Memos app is usually an .m4a file, AAC audio in an MPEG-4 container. WhatsApp and Telegram keep voice notes as Opus audio, usually in an .opus or .ogg file. Android recorder apps vary; most save a common format that uploads as it is.
- iPhone Voice Memos
- Usually .m4a
- WhatsApp and Telegram
- Usually .opus or .ogg
- Other recorders
- Any of our 16+ formats, though not AMR
- Longest file
- 15 min on Free, 5 hr on Starter and Premium, 8 hr 20 min on Pro
M4A, OGG and OPUS are on the uploader's own list of accepted files. The extension an app gives a file can change with its version and settings.
TXT and Word, the files you download
TXT is plain text that opens on any device. It starts with a short header (the file's name, language, length and date), then the transcript, with each speaker's name and a [m:ss] time per line if you keep them on. Word (DOCX) is the same transcript as a document to edit and print.
- Options
- Speaker names and timestamps, each on or off
- Also downloads as
- PDF, Markdown, SRT and VTT
- Languages
- Any of 99+, each in its own script
- Your edits
- In every file you download
The options are the web app's export window, the same for every format of text.
What it doesn't do
So nothing surprises you.
- No reading your phone's apps. PrismaScribe can't open Voice Memos, WhatsApp or Telegram for you. Save the recording as a file, then upload it.
- No links to chat messages. A voice note in a chat has no public page to import from. Upload the file itself.
- No AMR files. Some older Android recorders save .amr, which isn't one of the formats we take.
- PDF in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters only. A memo in another script downloads as TXT, Word, Markdown, SRT or VTT.
Good to know
- Background noise removal and custom vocabulary need a paid plan. Noise removal counts as 2× the minutes and custom vocabulary as 1.25×.
- Free gives you 30 min a month, up to 15 min a day, one memo at a time.
- On Free, a web upload longer than 15 min is transcribed up to its first 15 min.
- Top-up hours lift Free's daily and per-file time limits. The 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 memos stay private
- Encrypted in transit and at rest, and visible only to you and the people you share them with.
- Never used to train AI models.
- Kept until you delete them.
Voice memo to text FAQ
More questions? Write to hello@prismascribe.ai.
How do I transcribe a voice memo?
Save the memo from your phone as a file, sign up free and upload it. Pick its language or leave it on detect, and start. When the transcript is ready, read it, fix any word by clicking it, and copy the text or download it. You can close the tab while it works; the transcript waits in your dashboard and an email tells you it's done.
How do I get a voice memo off my iPhone?
In Voice Memos, open the recording's Share menu. Choose Save to Files to keep it on the phone, then upload it from your phone's browser, or send it to your computer and upload it there. The file is usually an .m4a.
Can I transcribe WhatsApp or Telegram voice messages?
Yes. Press and hold the voice message and share or forward it out of the chat, to your files or to yourself, then upload the file. Voice notes are usually .opus or .ogg files, and both upload as they are. That makes this page an OGG to text converter too; the OGG page has more on the format itself. For WhatsApp, the WhatsApp voice message guide shows how to save one on each phone.
My phone can show a transcript of a recording. Why upload it?
If the phone's transcript is all you need, keep it. PrismaScribe adds what a plain transcript leaves out: who said what, for up to 32 speakers, a time on every line, editing while you listen, downloads as TXT, Word, PDF, SRT or VTT, translation into 99+ languages, and summaries and to-do lists made from the text.
Is voice memo transcription free?
Yes, on the Free plan, with no card: 30 min of transcription a month, up to 15 min a day, for files up to 15 min and 500 MB, one at a time. Every download comes with Free. For longer memos, compare the plans or buy top-up hours that never expire.
How long can a voice memo be?
Up to 15 min and 500 MB on Free, 5 hr and 2 GB on Starter and Premium, and 8 hr 20 min and 5 GB on Pro. On Free, a longer web upload is transcribed up to its first 15 min.
Will it tell me who said what?
Yes, on every plan. A memo with more than one voice, a meeting you recorded or an interview, comes back with Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on, up to 32 speakers. Rename them once and every line follows. How speaker identification works.
Which languages can the memo be in?
Any of 99+. Leave the language on detect or choose it before you start. To read a voice message in another language, translate the transcript into any of 99+ languages. Translate audio.
Can I record straight into PrismaScribe instead?
Yes. Record in the browser on the website, or with the iPhone and Apple Watch app, and the recording is transcribed without saving a file first. A recording stops at your plan's file length, 15 min on Free. The iPhone app.
Can I get the memo as a Word document or a PDF?
Yes. The same transcript downloads as TXT, Word, PDF, Markdown, SRT or VTT, with speaker names and timestamps on or off. A PDF carries Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters; for a memo in another script, download TXT or Word.
Other recordings, other files
Text from other kinds of recording, and every format PrismaScribe takes.
Read your next voice memo instead of replaying it.
30 min of free transcription a month, no card.
One recording in.
Everything you need out.