Drop the WMV video above and you get timed VTT subtitles in a few seconds to a few minutes. Speech recognition runs in your browser: the video is never uploaded, there is no length limit and no account.
What you get
- This is speech recognition, not a format change: it listens to the soundtrack of the video and writes down what is said, with punctuation and capitals.
- Every VTT cue is timed to the speech and kept readable: at most two lines of about 42 characters, the way broadcasters subtitle.
- Around a hundred languages, detected automatically. It can also translate the speech into English.
- Clear speech comes out close to perfect. Background noise, people talking over each other and rare names cause mistakes, which you can correct in place before downloading.
- Speakers are not labelled: the text says what was said, not who said it.
When to convert, and when not to
Use VTT to put captions on a video: video on websites. Captions make a video watchable with the sound off, which is how most people scroll, and give search engines the words spoken in it.
Because nothing is uploaded, it is suitable for confidential recordings: medical, legal, HR interviews, or private voice notes.
How to do it
- Drop your WMV file above, or click to choose it.
- Leave the language on automatic detection, and pick a mode: Fast works everywhere, Accurate is the best on a computer with a recent browser.
- Click Transcribe. Read along as the text appears, fix any word by clicking it, then download VTT.
Questions
Is my WMV file uploaded?
No. Speech recognition is downloaded to your browser once and runs there. The recording itself never leaves your device: you can go offline once it has loaded and it still works.
How accurate is it?
On a clear voice, Accurate makes very few mistakes; Fast makes more but runs on any phone, and Balanced sits in between. Every line can be corrected before you download.
How long does it take?
On a recent computer, a minute of speech takes a few seconds with Fast or Accurate, and a little longer with Balanced. Phones are slower. Silences are skipped, so a long recording with pauses goes faster than its length suggests.
Why is there a download the first time?
Recognising speech on your device means downloading the recognition itself: 80 MB for Fast, 245 MB for Balanced, 545 MB for Accurate. It is stored in your browser, so later transcriptions start at once.
Which languages are supported?
About a hundred, including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. The language is detected automatically; you can also set it yourself.
Is it free? Is there a length limit?
Free, with no account and no limit on minutes: your device does the work, so there is nothing to meter. Very long recordings are limited only by your device's memory.