Transcribe a phone call recording
We do not join calls and we do not record anything: you record the call with your own phone or with the recording feature of your conference bridge, and you upload the file. What comes back is the text with a start and an end time on every line and a label for each speaker, which is what a call recording is usually wanted for.
What a call recording gives you
| What | Value | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| The file we take | every audio container; a conference recording is usually an mp4 | Service contract |
| Size of one file | 64 MB | Service contract |
| Length of one file | 120 minutes (two hours) | Service contract |
| What comes back | the text, the times of every segment, the speaker labels on request | Service contract |
| Export formats | 6 — TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV, DOCX | Pricing page |
| Free plan | $0, 3 files a day, files up to 30 minutes, no card | Pricing page |
| Pro | $10 per month billed yearly ($120 a year), 1,500 minutes a month | Pricing page |
Where the recording comes from
| Source | What it produces | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The recorder of your phone | a file on the phone, usually m4a or mp3 | take the file off the phone and upload it |
| A conference bridge with recording on | a video file with the audio inside | upload it if it fits 64 MB, otherwise take the audio out first |
| A call recorder app | m4a, mp3 or wav | upload it as it is |
| A hardware recorder on the table | wav or mp3 | upload it as it is |
What a phone line does to the audio
A phone call is a narrowband signal: the codec throws away most of the frequencies that carry the consonants. That loss is in the file before it reaches us, and no engine can put it back. The fix is on the recording side: speak close to the microphone, one speaker at a time, and use a good line rather than a noisy room.
How to transcribe a call recording
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Record the call with your own tools
The recorder of your phone, the recording feature of the bridge, or a recorder app. We are not in the call and we record nothing.
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Upload the file
Drop it on the widget below, or send it with
POST /v1/transcriptsand a multipartfilefield. -
Ask for speaker separation
Switch on “Split by speaker” and the voices are told apart. The API takes the same switch in the
diarizefield. -
Read the call with the times
Every line carries the moment it was said at; export to TXT, Markdown, SRT, VTT, CSV or DOCX.
Record only with the consent of the other side
In many countries both parties have to agree to a recording, and the rules differ from place to place. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice: check the law where you are before you press record, and tell the other side what you are doing.
Put a file on the page and read the first lines.
The widget below is the same one as on the home page: file → transcript with timecodes and speakers → export. The transcript is saved to your account.
Drop an audio or video file
or — mp3, wav, m4a, mp4, up to 64 MB and two hours
Transcription runs under your account: sign in or create a free account.
No account yet? The free plan needs no card. Create a free account or sign in.
Questions this page answers.
Can Transcrib Si join my call and transcribe it live?
No. There is no bot in the invite and nothing is recorded on your behalf. You bring the file.
How do I tell the two sides apart?
The engine labels the voices it separates; the labels are neutral numbers until you rename them in the editor. If both voices come through one handset in one channel, the engine hears one channel — use a recording that mixes both sides into one file and let the engine separate the voices.
Is a call recording worse than a meeting recording?
Usually, and not because of the engine: a phone line is narrowband, so the recording itself carries less. A clean meeting recording is a better input than a noisy call recording.
How long can a call recording be?
120 minutes and 64 MB per file, like any other file. Most calls are far shorter than that.
Is my recording stored?
Until you delete it, in your account; on the Free plan the transcript is kept for 7 days. Deleted files leave the live system immediately and encrypted backups within 30 days.
Can I search inside the call?
The editor shows the text with the times, and the CSV export has one row per segment with the time and the speaker, so the call can be searched by any tool that reads CSV.
Related pages.
The same workflow for a meeting, step by step.
Short recordings and what they cost.
The format most phone recorders write.
Every plan, every limit, in one table.
Upload with drag and drop, the queue and the exports.
The live answer base: 99 questions about the price, the limits, the languages, the exports, the privacy and the API, each with the page of this site it comes from.
Mark Vesyoly, Founder.
Every number on this page comes from the service contract, the pricing page or our own measurements. The author of the page and the publisher of the site are the same person. Questions and corrections: support@transcrib.si.