Video and audio transcription

Transcribe Video to Text, free and on your device

FreeNo uploadNo signupVideo and audio

Getting a video or audio recording into text covers a lot of ground: show notes from a talking-head video, an exact quote from an interview, a searchable record of an internal meeting, or a first draft for captions. Orator does this on import: the first file you add to a new project starts transcribing right away, and any file after that transcribes when you press the Transcribe button.

Open OratorFree. No signup. No uploads.

About transcribe video to text

Import a video or an audio file and Orator runs it through an on-device speech model in a browser Worker. The model files come from VidStudio's own model host, models.vidstudio.app, are cached on your device after the first download, and the recording is never sent anywhere to be transcribed. The result lands in the transcript panel as plain text lined up against the timeline, ready to read.

This is not a form that takes a file and hands back a downloadable .txt: the transcript lives in the editor's transcript panel, and selecting it and copying gets you the same text in one step. What that view buys you over a plain transcription tool is that the words and the video are the same object. If you are already reading through the transcript to pull a quote, deleting a filler word or a rambling aside cuts the video to match right there, with no separate editing step.

What you get from transcribing in Orator

Video and audio both work

Import an MP4, MOV, or similar video file, or a standalone MP3 or WAV recording. Either way, transcription runs locally in your browser.

Read and copy the transcript

The full transcript sits in the panel next to the video, ready to select and copy into show notes, an article, or a quote.

Word-level timing

Every word is timestamped against the recording, which is what makes clicking a word jump the playhead to that moment.

Edit while you are there

Delete a filler word or a section you do not need and the video cuts to match, without leaving the transcript view.

Draft captions from the same text

The transcript you read is also the source for captions, burned in or as a standalone file elsewhere in VidStudio.

Nothing uploaded, no account

The recording stays on your device from import to export. No signup, no watermark, no per-minute charge.

How to transcribe a video or audio file to text

1 Open Orator

Start a project. No account and nothing to install.

2 Import your file

Drop in a video or an audio file. In a new project it transcribes on your device as soon as it loads; press Transcribe for any file you add later.

3 Read the transcript

The text appears in the transcript panel, lined up word by word against the recording.

4 Copy or edit

Select and copy the text you need, or delete words directly to cut the recording to match.

Frequently asked questions

Can I transcribe a video to text for free?

Yes. Import the video into an empty Orator project and it transcribes on its own, no signup, no per-minute charge, and no limit on how many files you run through it.

Do I get a downloadable text file?

Not as a separate export today. The full transcript is visible and selectable in the transcript panel, so selecting it and copying gives you the same text in one step. If you need a subtitle file with timecodes instead, the SRT and VTT generator tools cover that.

Can I transcribe audio only, without a video?

Yes. Orator accepts standalone audio files like MP3 and WAV in addition to video, and transcribes them the same way.

Does my file get uploaded to transcribe it?

No. Transcription runs in a Web Worker on your device. The only thing fetched is the speech model, from VidStudio's own model host, and it is cached after the first download. The recording never leaves your browser.

How accurate is the transcript?

Accurate enough for clear, single-speaker audio in most cases. Heavy background noise, overlapping speakers, and strong accents reduce accuracy, and there is no speaker-tagging yet, so a multi-person conversation reads as one continuous transcript.

What languages does transcription support?

English, plus an Other setting on desktop that loads a multilingual Whisper model and detects the language on its own. On mobile only the English model is offered.

Can I edit the video from the transcript, or is it read-only?

You can edit from it. Deleting a word or a passage in the transcript cuts that exact stretch out of the video, which is Orator's core feature beyond plain transcription.

Your video never leaves your device

Orator reads your file through the browser file picker and holds the bytes in memory. Transcription runs in a Web Worker against a speech model downloaded from VidStudio's own model host, models.vidstudio.app, and cached on your device, so nothing about your recording is sent to a server. The site does send anonymous usage events and error reports, but never your media.

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