Free Podcast Transcript - Tool for Transcribing Podcasts
- 100% free
- No Account needed
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Tip: Smaller files like MP3 upload faster. Got a large WAV or AIFF? Convert it to MP3 first with our Audio Converter.
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by
Fabian
- last edited: 26.06.2026
Troubleshooting
- File is not accepted. Make sure it’s a supported format (MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG or WebM) and that the file extension wasn’t simply renamed.
- The “Start transcription” button can’t be clicked. The button only becomes active once you’ve selected a file and ticked the data-processing checkbox. Hover over the button and a hint will appear.
- Warning that the file is too large. The limit is 25 MB per upload. Convert the file to a compressed format like MP3 first, for example with our Audio Converter, or split long recordings into two halves.
- Upload takes a very long time. The file is uploaded for transcription, which depends on your internet connection and is often slower on mobile networks. Smaller files like MP3 upload considerably faster.
- Transcription doesn’t start. Check whether JavaScript is enabled in your browser. If needed, test the page in an up-to-date browser like Chrome, Edge or Safari.
- Progress appears to be stuck. After the upload, the speech recognition processes your file. With long recordings this can take a moment. Wait until processing is complete.
- Message “File format not supported”. The file has an unusual format. Convert it to MP3 first and it will be recognized cleanly.
- Message “Limit reached”. To protect against overload, the number of transcriptions per hour is capped. Please try again a little later.
- Message about a network or connection error. Check your internet connection, reload the page and start the transcription again.
- Transcript is ready but the download doesn’t work. Check whether your browser is blocking downloads. If necessary, disable popup or download blockers and reload the page. Alternatively, you can copy the text to the clipboard with “Copy”.
- No download on iPhone or iPad. Press and hold the download button and choose “Save to Files”. Downloads can be blocked in private mode.
- Copy doesn’t work. Some browsers only allow limited access to the clipboard. In that case, simply download the text as a file or select it by hand.
- Wrong language in the transcript. Set the spoken language manually before starting instead of using auto-detect. This helps especially with episodes that contain a lot of technical terms.
- Transcript contains errors in names or technical terms. No automatic transcription is one hundred percent error-free. A clean recording noticeably improves the result. Give the text a quick review before publishing.
- Timestamps or subtitles are missing. Timestamps are only included in the “Text + timestamps” output format, and the SRT file only in the “SRT subtitles” format. Choose the right format before starting.
- Processing stops on a phone. The page has to stay in the foreground until the transcription is finished. Switching apps or locking the screen can pause the process.
If problems persist, try a different up-to-date browser or reduce the file size by splitting the recording into shorter segments. If nothing works, get in touch:info@soundandgo.com
Have you finished editing an episode and want to make the most of it? Then there’s really no way around creating a transcript. Show notes, blog posts, YouTube subtitles, quotes for social media: All of this becomes much easier when you have the spoken text right in front of you in black and white.
With our transcription tool, you upload your audio file and get a finished transcript in just a few seconds. It’s free, requires no account, and you don’t have to sign up for a newsletter first. Just select the language, upload the file, and copy or download the result. Done.
How to Create a Free Podcast Transcript: Here's How It Works
- Select an audio file (MP3 works best)
- Set the desired language
- Choose the text output
- Tick the privacy checkbox
- Start the transcription
- Download the transcript directly
Why should you transcribe your podcast?
A transcript isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s one of the biggest levers for getting more out of a single episode. Here are the main reasons:
Better discoverability on Google, LLMs and other search engines. Search engines can’t read audio, but they can read text. When you publish your transcript (or an edited version of it) on your website, you give Google hundreds of extra words that people can use to find your episode. Exactly the long-tail searches that stay invisible in audio alone.
Faster show notes. Instead of listening through the episode again and taking notes, you have the entire content right in front of you. Mark the most interesting passages, trim them down and you’ve got your show notes in a fraction of the time. Or drop your transcript into an AI and have it write the show notes in your style.
Content recycling for social media. Every episode is full of good quotes, sharp statements, little aha moments. In the transcript you spot them at a glance and turn them into posts, Reels captions or newsletter snippets.
Accessibility. People with hearing impairments can read along with your content. That widens your audience and is simply good standard practice these days.
YouTube subtitles. If you also upload your podcast as a video or as an audiogram on YouTube, you can export the transcript as an SRT file and add it directly as a subtitle track.
How to get the best transcript
The quality of the transcript depends heavily on the quality of the recording. A few things help noticeably:
Clean audio! The clearer the voices, the more accurate the transcript. Heavy background noise, reverb or clipped passages tend to cause errors. If you’ve already brought your episode to a consistent loudness level, that’s an advantage for recognition too. That’s what our Loudness Analyzer and Normalizer is for. And if you keep running into trouble getting clean audio, take a look at our technical podcast service.
Set the correct language. Auto-detect works well, but selecting the language manually beforehand avoids outliers, especially on episodes with lots of technical terms or English snippets.
Plan for post-editing. Even a good AI transcript is a rough draft. Go through proper names, brand names and technical terms once and correct them before you publish the text. The timestamp view helps you quickly find individual spots.
What happens to your file?
We value honesty, so here it is clearly and without marketing speak: your file is transferred to a specialized AI service for transcription and processed there. It’s used solely to create the transcript and is not stored permanently. Before processing starts, you have to actively consent to it.
If you’re working with particularly sensitive or confidential recordings, keep that in mind and decide case by case whether an automated transcript is the right way to go. For most podcast episodes that are intended for publication anyway, this is uncritical.
Need to convert to other formats first?
Then check out our Audio Converter. With it you can convert many other audio formats. Also free, no advertising and no data limit.
FAQs about Podcast transcription
Is creating a podcast transcript really free?
Yes. The tool is completely free to use. There are no hidden costs, no functional limits and no subscription. You don’t need to sign up either.
Which file formats are supported?
MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG and WebM. For a fast upload we recommend compressed formats like MP3.
How accurate is the transcription?
The underlying speech recognition is among the best currently available and delivers very solid results with clean recordings. No automatic transcription is one hundred percent error-free, so a quick correction pass before publishing is worth it, especially for proper names and technical terms.
Can I transcribe episodes in other languages too?
Yes. Besides German, it supports English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Polish. Set the matching language or use auto-detect.
What's the difference between the output formats?
Text only gives you the running text without timestamps, ideal for show notes and blog articles. Text with timestamps shows you when each passage was spoken, handy for navigating and quoting. SRT delivers a ready-made subtitle file for YouTube and video platforms.
How long can my file be?
It’s not the length that’s limited but the file size: max. 25 MB per upload. As an MP3 that corresponds to a fairly long episode. For very large files, it’s best to split them or compress them first.
Are my recordings stored?
No, your file is only processed for transcription and not stored permanently. You’ll find details in our Privacy Policy.
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