How to Transcribe Audio Locally with Whisper
Learn how to transcribe audio locally with Whisper, keep recordings in your browser, and export a reviewed transcript.
Whisper Transcription & Subtitle Guides
Step-by-step guides for transcribing audio and video in your browser with Whisper, creating SRT or VTT subtitles, and preparing long recordings.
Which guide to read first
Follow this order if you are new to local transcription, or jump to the step that matches your recording.
First time with Whisper in the browser: learn what downloads and what stays on your device.
How to Transcribe Audio Locally with Whisper →Turning an interview, lesson or voice note into a transcript you can use.
Turn a recording into a useful transcript →Recording longer than 20 minutes: split it into parts and keep the timing in order.
Prepare a long recording for local transcription →Making captions for a video you edit or publish.
Create and check subtitles for a video →Uploading those captions to a YouTube video you manage.
How to add generated subtitles to your YouTube video →Choosing between SRT and VTT, or converting one to the other.
SRT vs VTT: which subtitle format to use? →Understanding the recognition language and the Translate to English option.
Transcription language vs translation: what to select →
Guides
Prepare your file, check the result, and download the format you need.
Read the guide
Turn a recording into a useful transcript
Choose the right source, set its language, proofread, and export text or captions.
Create and check subtitles for a video
Generate original-language captions, adjust timing, and take them into your player or editor.
SRT vs VTT: which subtitle format to use?
Compare headers, timestamps, web styling, and what a format conversion keeps.
How to add generated subtitles to your YouTube video
Prepare and review an SRT file locally, then upload it as a caption track for a video you manage in YouTube Studio.
Prepare a long recording for local transcription
Work within the 200 MB and 20-minute limits: prepare ordered excerpts, track time offsets, and preserve the original recording.
Transcription language vs translation: what to select
Understand the difference between website language, spoken-language recognition, and subtitle translation before starting Whisper.
Guides: Common questions
Useful answers before you begin.
Do I need to install anything to follow these guides?
No. Every guide uses the tools on this site in your browser; desktop Chrome is the tested browser. The Whisper model downloads on first use and may then be cached.
Which guide helps with a lecture or meeting longer than 20 minutes?
Read the guide on preparing long recordings. It explains how to split a file into parts under 20 minutes and 200 MB and how to combine the text afterwards.
Do the guides cover translation?
The guide on transcription language and translation explains the difference: transcription keeps the spoken language, and the only translation option is into English.