Free tool
WAV to Text
Upload a WAV file and get the text back with timestamps and speaker names. A speaker is named when they say their name aloud, and gets a letter when no name is said. The audio is deleted as soon as the transcript is ready.
WAV to transcript: an example
Input: a 9-minute WAV from a field recorder (site-visit-02.wav, 95 MB).
Output:
| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:04 | Tom Becker | Maya, can you describe what you see at the north wall? |
| 00:10 | Maya Chen | There's a crack about two meters long, starting at the window frame. |
| 00:19 | Tom Becker | Is it wider at the top or at the bottom? |
| 00:24 | Maya Chen | Wider at the top. About three millimeters. |
| 00:31 | A | I'll photograph it before we leave. |
Tom and Maya are named because they address each other. The third voice says no name, so it gets a letter.
What you get
A transcript split into short lines, each with the time it was spoken and the speaker who said it. After the speech is turned into text, the voices are told apart, and a speaker is named where their name is said aloud; a speaker whose name never comes up gets a letter: A, B and so on. Click a speaker to rename it, and every export uses the new name.
Above the transcript you can search for a word, show only one speaker, or jump to a timestamp. The Copy button puts the whole text on your clipboard with speaker names. Download gives you the same text as plain text, text with timestamps, SRT or VTT subtitles you can load into a video player, a Word document, Markdown for Notion or Obsidian, or a PDF.
Which formats work
Most recordings can be uploaded exactly as they come off the device — there is no need to convert them to MP3 first. The engine decodes the file on the server, video included, and only the sound is transcribed.
| Where the recording comes from | Usual file type |
|---|---|
| iPhone Voice Memos | .m4a |
| WhatsApp voice message | .opus |
| Telegram voice message | .ogg |
| Zoom local recording | .m4a (audio only) or .mp4 (with video) |
| Dictaphone or field recorder | .wav or .mp3 |
| Screen recording or phone video | .mp4 or .mov |
The upload limit is 350 MB. Speech-only audio is usually well within it; video is not — a few minutes of high-resolution phone video can already be too large. For a long video, open it in MeetWave instead: the app pulls the audio out of the video in your browser before uploading.
What happens to your file
You do not need an account, so we keep as little as possible and for as short a time as possible. The transcript is not used to train any model, and nothing about its content goes into our logs or analytics.
| What | Where it is kept | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your audio or video file | Encrypted storage used only for this job | Until the transcript is ready, then deleted — every stored version of it |
| The working copy on the transcription server | The server that runs the speech-to-text engine | Deleted together with the file |
| The transcript | Encrypted storage, under a random job id | Deleted within 48 hours, or at once when you click "Delete now" |
| The file name | Only in your browser, so a reload can show it | Never sent to us |
Getting a clean transcript
Most of the accuracy is decided when the audio is recorded, not when it is transcribed. Three things matter most. The distance to the speaker: a phone or microphone within arm's length gives clear words, one across the room gives gaps. Background noise: music, traffic and a humming air conditioner compete with speech. Crosstalk: when two people talk at once, both lines suffer and the speaker labels can merge.
If you record the file yourself, a few seconds of test recording played back before the real thing catches most problems. For a fuller walkthrough — from recording to editing the text — read the step-by-step guide to transcribing audio, and if you need to choose a paid service for regular work, compare transcription software before you buy.
Transcript vs meeting summary
A transcript is every word in order: right for quotes, interviews, subtitles and records. A summary is what the conversation decided — the points, decisions and action items — and for a one-hour meeting it is the difference between reading ten pages and reading one. This page gives you the transcript of a file you already have: the first 60 minutes free, then one credit per started 30 minutes. MeetWave meeting summaries start earlier: the app records your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call without a bot joining it, and turns it into a summary with action items when the call ends.
How to convert a WAV file to text
- Pick the WAVDrop the file on this page — up to 350 MB. Click Transcribe.
- Wait for the transcriptThe file goes straight to encrypted storage. Lines appear with timestamps and speaker names.
- Copy or downloadRename a label if needed, search the text, then copy it or download TXT, Word, SRT or VTT.
Frequently Asked Questions
Uncompressed CD-quality stereo WAV takes about 10 MB a minute, so the 350 MB limit holds roughly half an hour of it. Mono or a lower sample rate makes the file much smaller.
No. Upload the WAV as it is. Speech recognition does not need the extra detail of a high sample rate, so if a WAV is over the size limit, saving it as mono or as an MP3 is the way to make it fit.
Yes. A WAV from a handheld recorder or an export from Audacity or another editor is accepted as long as it fits in 350 MB. For a long multi-track session, export a mono mix first.
Without an account you get the first 60 minutes, marked as partial. Sign in and the whole file is transcribed: new accounts get 30 days of Pro, which includes the tools; on the free plan it costs one credit per started 30 minutes.
Yes. With one voice the transcript has one speaker, named if the recording says the name and A otherwise. A timestamp on every line makes it easy to match the text against the script.
Yes. The MeetWave speech-to-text API returns the same transcript as JSON: text, timestamps and speaker names. It costs $0.20 an hour of audio with names, and the first hour is free.
