Transcribe Audio to Text with Happy Scribe
Audio transcription is the process of converting an audio file into a
text file.
That may be any audio recording, such as an interview, academic study, a
music video clip, or a conference recording.
There are plenty of scenarios where having a text file is more
convenient than an audio recording.
Transcription is useful for podcasts, research, subtitling, transcribing
phone calls, dictation, etc...
These are the 3 main ways of transcribing audio to text with Happy
Scribe:
- Transcribe the audio manually with our transcription editor (FREE)
- Use our Automatic Transcription Software
- Book our Human Transcription Services
Manually transcribing your audio files
If you don't mind spending some more time transcribing your files, what you can do is use our online transcription software. This free interactive editor enables you to listen to the audio file while transcribing it, allowing you to replay the audio as many times as you need. You can use our free transcription editor both from your dashboard or directly in the editor page.
Automatic Transcription Software
The first way you can convert an audio file into a readable file is by using an Automatic Transcription Software.

There are many advantages of transcribing audio to text automatically, but the main one is the time that you save. From now one you can just forget about manually transcribing your audio files and start enjoying your free time!
Human Transcription Services
Another option when converting audio to text is to hire a freelance transcriber or employ transcription services like Happy Scribe. We work with the best transcribers in the world to provide you with top notch transcripts. Our human transcription service is available in English, French, Spanish and German.
How to Transcribe Audio to Text
If you'd rather not transcribe your audio, simply submit your file or URL to Happy Scribe, and we'll do it for you quickly and accurately. The basic steps for using Happy Scribe's transcription service are as follows.
1. Sign Up and Choose Between Transcribing and Subtitling Your File
Click here to sign up for our free trial. We won't ask you for your credit card and you'll be able to upload your files right away.
Once you have signed up you'll be asked to choose between transcription and subtitles. Remember that if you are looking to transcribe your audio to create a subtitle file afterwards you can just use our subtitle generator to get the job done in minutes.

2. Upload your Audio File and Select the Language
With our uploader, you can import your file from anywhere, whether it's on your laptop, Google Drive, Youtube, or Dropbox. The first 10 minutes are free. You will be asked to choose between automatic or human transcription. Remember that you have 10 minutes of automatic transcription for free. Once the upload is finished just hit the "Transcribe" button and your audio will be processed.

3. Receive Your Transcript
Our automatic transcription software will convert your audio to text in just a few minutes (depending on the length of your file). If you select our human service, your transcript will be ready within 24 hours. Once the transcript is ready you will be able to proofread it from your user dashboard.
4. Proofread and Export the Transcript
In case you have selected automatic transcription, you might need to proofread and edit the final transcript. Thanks to our transcription editor proofreading your transcripts is much easier. Using the rewind feature, you can play your audio as many times as you want. You will also be able to add speaker names, display the time code... etc. Once you have ensured everything is fine, you can proceed to download the transcript. You will be able to export the file in multiple text or subtitle formats.


Why transcribing audio to text
There are many different applications of converting your recordings to text. Here we tried to summarise the most popular reasons for audio transcription.
Transcribe research interviews
When conducting qualitative research, you might want to document your interviews and meetings. Transcribing all your recordings is the perfect way to make your findings more accessible. Interview transcripts will also enable you to create searchable text documents, fastening the process of navigating all the data. Our transcription services for academic research are fast, precise and affordable.
Add subtitles to a video
When manually adding subtitles to a video, you need to write down the
speech of the audio into a text file, and later synchronise it with
the video.
Using an audio to text converter will do the trick, and fasten the
process of creating subtitles. However, Happy Scribe has a dedicated
tool to automatically
generate subtitles out of a video file; meet our subtitle
generator.
This tool enables video editors and content creators to add subtitles
to their videos in a snap. No more manually transcribing your audio
files.
Generate your subtitles automatically and burn them into your video in
a matter of minutes. Just plug and play!

Create captions
Another use case when transcribing your audio files is to create captions out of the speech in a video. Captions are useful to make a video more accessible to everyone. More than that, they help to make your footage dynamic, and understandable to a wider audience. If you are a video editor, having to manually transcribe every piece of speech is just exhausting. Once again Happy Scribe comes to your rescue. Our automatic transcription software will generate captions out of the speech in your video while you relax by the pool.
Get a transcript of your podcast
Converting audio to text has also many applications for the podcast industry. Transcribing a podcast and uploading it to your website enables podcasters to tap into a wider audience, as no only the will have listeners but also readers! That's why podcast transcription services like Happy Scribe are a great tool for content creators seeking to reach a wider audience.
Transcribe the audio from class lectures
For students trying to record their lessons, audio transcription is the perfect tool. Transcribing academic lectures is perfect to review your class notes and prepare yourself for any upcoming exam. We offer 25% discounts for students seeking to transcribe audio files.
Convert audio to text in Google Docs
Another tool that is perfect when in need of transcribing audio files is Google Docx. Audio to text transcription in Google docs works best for writing down dicatated audio. However if you want to transcribe an audio recording using Google Docs you can use Happy Scribe's integration.

How to transcribe an audio using Google Docx
- Sign in to Happy Scribe. Sign in to your account and navigate to "Integrations".
- Select Google Docs and Connect Google Docs Via Zapier.
- Receive your transcript in Google Docs. Once your transcript is done, it will be exported in Google Docs format, and will be available through your Google Drive account.
Supported Languages
Below is the list of popular languages we support for transcription.
See all languages ▸Below is the list of popular audio formats we support for transcription.
See all formats ▸Frequently Asked Questions
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What are the advantages of converting audio to text?
There are numerous advantages to transcribe audio to text. When you transcribe audio, you make your content more accessible for the Deaf, hard of hearing, and non-native language speakers. Transcribing audio to text can improve SEO because Google can't index audio.
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What are the main ways to convert audio to text?
There are three main methods to do so; doing it yourself (DIY), using an automatic transcription software, or using a human transcription service. Happy Scribe offers all three options. Manually converting your file to text is the free method, but also extremely time-consuming. Our automatic transcription software uses the state-of-the-art speech recognition technology to transcribe your audio in a few minutes with 85% accuracy. Our human transcription service provides the highest accuracy rate and delivers in 24 hours.
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How long does it take to transcribe audio into a text file?
The amount of time it will take to transcribe your file depends on the length of your audio file, the quality of the audio, and whether or not you transcribe the audio yourself or use a software that transcribes for you. If your audio quality is good and you are experienced at transcribing audio to text you can expect to take 4 hours to convert 1 hour of audio. If you have poor audio or are a novice at transcribing audio to text this may take longer. In contrast, the best audio to text converter can convert audio to text in a few minutes. Furthermore, a human transcriber from Happy Scribe can provide you with a proofread & high-quality transcript within 24 hours.
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What is the difference between transcription and translation?
Transcription involves converting audio to text. Transcribing audio to text involves taking an audio file and converting it to a text document verbatim and in the same language that the original speaker used. The best audio to text conversion can take an audio file in Spanish and convert it into a Spanish text file. On the other hand, translation is the process of taking a piece of audio or written text and converting it into another language. For example, if you have a text document in English but want it converted to French, that is translation.
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What makes automatic speech to text transcription possible?
Early advances in speech recognition technology have made automatic speech to text transcription possible. Companies like Microsoft or Happy Scribe have developed machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, that transcribe audio and video files much faster. Our software can generate transcripts with timestamps, and convert speech in a few minutes and even in real-time. There are different workflows in which transcription plays an important role. For instance, when generating subtitles or captioning a video, you can use an audio to text transcription service. Our transcription software works in any device, and is adapted to every browser, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox... etc.
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Do you offer free transcription?
At the moment we just offer a free transcription trial of 10 minutes, so users can be able to interact with our tool and assess the quality of our transcription software.
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Is there any apps that can convert audio to text?
There's several android apps in the market that offer dictation and fast speech to text transcription. If you are an iPhone user, there's as well some iOS alternatives that can help you in a moment of trouble.
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Perfect Video to Text transcriptionPerfect Video to Text transcription? It saved me hours of writing!Thomas Wing - Trustpilot
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Perfect for transcribingThis website is perfect for transcribing Any Video fast and with ease. To make it even better, it HAS Numerous Useful features like translation, etc. I highly recommend it.Yahia Mostafa - Trustpilot
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Perfect for transcribingThis website is perfect for transcribing Any Video fast and with ease. To make it even better, it HAS Numerous Useful features like translation, etc. I highly recommend it.Yahia Mostafa - Trustpilot
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Intuitive interface, easy to use!Intuitive interface, pretty accurate, and easy to final format captions. I use this now Exclusively for captioning my videos!Natashia Jefferies - Trustpilot