How to transcribe an interview
Interviews are often confidential: a source who spoke off the record, a research participant, a job candidate, a patient. Uploading the recording to a transcription service means trusting a company with it. This tool transcribes interviews entirely in your browser instead, so the recording never leaves your computer. You get timestamped paragraphs to check against the audio, find & replace for names, and a Word document ready to annotate.
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Add the recording
Use the file from your recorder, phone or video call: MP3, M4A, WAV, or a video such as MP4. Interviews up to an hour can be transcribed in one go.
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Transcribe it on your device
The first time, the tool asks before loading its speech model into your browser. Then it transcribes the interview locally, with a time for every word.
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Check names and quotes
Use Find & replace to fix each person’s name everywhere at once. Click a paragraph’s time to hear it again before you quote it.
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Export for your notes
Download a Word document or plain text with timestamps for analysis or editing, or copy the transcript into your own notes.
Built for checking, not just reading
With interviews, the transcript is a working document: you need to find a passage, hear it again, and quote it exactly. Every paragraph starts with its time, and clicking that time plays the recording from there. A new paragraph starts whenever there’s a pause, so questions and answers usually separate on their own. The tool doesn’t label speakers, so add names or initials in Word if your method needs them.
For journalists, researchers and recruiters
- Journalism. Protect sources: an interview transcribed on your laptop is never stored by a third party. Check every quote against the audio before it runs.
- Academic and user research. Ethics approvals often restrict where recordings can be sent. Local transcription keeps participant data on your device. Export to Word for coding and analysis.
- Hiring and HR. Keep candidate conversations off outside servers, and share a written record instead of a recording.
- Oral history and family interviews. Turn a recording of a grandparent’s stories into text to share and keep.
Getting a clean interview transcript
Most mistakes in interview transcripts come from the recording, not the software. Put the microphone or phone between both speakers and close to them, record in a quiet room, and ask people not to talk over each other. On a video call, record the call itself rather than holding a phone to the speaker. Our guide on how to transcribe an interview covers preparation, checking and formatting in more detail.
Long interviews
Recordings up to 60 minutes are transcribed in one go: roughly 8 to 15 minutes on a recent laptop in Chrome, Edge or Safari, longer in Firefox. For a longer interview, split it with Trim Video and transcribe the parts. If the interview is a podcast you plan to publish, Silence Remover can tighten the pauses afterwards.
Where the recording goes: nowhere
The speech model is loaded into your browser once and runs on your device. The interview file, the transcript and your edits stay there; we never receive them. Your edits are remembered in this browser only, so you can close the tab and continue later. How it works shows how to confirm that nothing is sent.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to transcribe confidential interviews here?
The recording is transcribed in your browser and never uploaded, so no company, including us, receives it. Follow your own organization’s rules on where recordings may be stored.
Does it identify the different speakers?
No. A pause starts a new paragraph, so questions and answers usually separate, and you can add speaker names in Word.
How accurate are interview transcripts?
Very accurate on clear English speech. Crosstalk, background noise and unusual names cause most errors, so check quotes against the audio before using them.
Can I get timestamps?
Yes. Every paragraph starts with its time, in the editor and in the TXT and Word downloads. You can also turn them off.
What file formats can I use?
MP3, M4A and WAV recordings, and videos such as MP4, MOV and WebM, up to 60 minutes each.
Does it cost anything?
No. It’s free with no account, no watermark and no limit on the number of interviews.