How to Turn Audio into Text: Best Free & Cheap Converters
Last time when I interviewed our guest Chris Pirillo, I needed an app that could convert an audio file with his speech into a text document. Frankly speaking, I wanted to save my time instead of boring typing each word that he had pronounced. So I surfed the Internet carefully and came across several good apps which could convert audio files (in MP3, WMA or M4A formats) into text docs automatically. Now I’m happy to share them with you.
1. VoiceBase
UPD: Voicebase used to be the best voice to text solution for many years. Unfortunately, since 2019 it’s no longer a free audio to text conveter. Now it provides API for audio transcription and speech analytics on the paid basis. So you’d better skip the part about Voicebase and try the tools below.
Video To Audio Converter Mac
How to Transcribe Audio to Text with Best Audio to Text Converter. Transcribing audio to text is a time-wasting, boring part of most journalists' job, yet it is the best way to convert your recorded audio into highly accurate, readable text. By using your voice instead of your fingers to communicate important action items, interviews, and ideas, then transcribe audio to text, you'll save every. Free vs Paid audio converter software. The most glaring and important difference between free and for-pay software is speed of conversion. During testing, Freemake, the best free audio converter software, took four times as long as the fastest program, Switch, to convert a 625MB WAV file to MP3. Convert audio easily and quickly on Mac. This professional Mac Audio Converter has an intuitive and user-friendly design. You can find out all the used operations at the main interface. When all the preparations are done, you can convert all audio files with just one click. This Mac Audio Converter also supports batch conversion. A product by IBM, Watson’s Speech to Text, can transcribe audio files to text for free. The tool is easy to use, and you can access it from your web browser. It means that you don’t have to install a transcription program on your PC for conversions, and you can process transcriptions on Windows, Mac.
VoiceBase is an online voice to text transcription service for companies and individuals. Though, it mainly focuses on business clients, an ordinary user, like you and me, can convert a voice recording into a text file for free at VoiceBase. As for January 2016, each new user is granted a free account with $60 credit and up to 50 hours of audio storage. It costs about $0.01 to transcribe 10 second speech. VoiceBase uses smart voice recognition technology, so the quality of its machine audio transcript is high.
Obviously, the final text quality depends on original sound track and the speaker’s accent. VoiceBase understands US English pronunciation seamlessly. If a person speaks clearly, then the text is close to manually written. If an interviewer mumbles or lisps, then you’ll have to review the transcript or hire someone for text checkup. Fortunately, you can order human transcript right in your VoiceBase account. Moreover, you can turn video into text!
![Audio To Text Converter Software For Mac Audio To Text Converter Software For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126454388/874687240.jpg)
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This audio to text converter understands English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish (including Latin American version). In fact, VoiceBase is remarkable for quick and easy speech to text conversion. The website interface is clear and you smoothly go step by step:
- Go to www.voicebase.com and click the green Upload a file button in the middle of the screen.
- Create a free VoiceBase account. Provide your name, email address and click the Sign Up button. You have to confirm your account via email to get access to VoiceBase.
- Click the green Upload button at the top right corner.
- Add an audio or a video file of a supported format. If needed, to join video or audio parts together. Name your file, add a description, select the Machine Transcription, and a file sharing type (Private or Public).
Tip: use Audio Converter by Freemake to make a supported audio file for VoiceBase. - Your file will be processed and you’ll be notified by email when it’s ready. Later, you can find the file at the My Content tab. For example, I’ve added a 10 minute audio interview in M4A format and it took about 15 minutes to convert it into a text file.
- When the text file is done, go to My Content tab in your VoiceBase account and click on the name of your file.
- Check the Machine Transcript box right under your audio file.
- Copy the transcript and save it as text document.
Summary: VoiceBase is a fast online audio to text converter. Needless to say, it is suitable for everyone no matter what you need: an automatic or human speech to document conversion.
2. Dragon Dictation
Definitely, you may try another voice-to-text converter: Dragon Dictation. We dedicated a special article to it. In a few words, Dragon Dictation is completely different from VoiceBase. It pretends to be a universal speech recognition tool for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and other platforms. Please note that the desktop version is paid ($75-150 for home users, $300 for enterprises), while the mobile apps are free for US & Canada.
Like Apple’s Siri, Dragon Dictation is capable of understanding what you say to it. However, the main focus of the app is to memorize your speech notes as a piece of text. It is easy to create documents of any length and edit, format and share them directly from your mobile device. Dragon can handle specialized industry vocabulary, and it comes with excellent features, such as the ability to transcribe text from an audio file you upload.
To do this, follow the steps:
- Open the software. From the DragonBar, select Tools>Transcribe Audio>Transcribe Recording.
- Click Select the speaker and select who the voice in the recording belongs to – Me or Someone else.
- In the Input audio file field, enter the file name of the recording and the directory path where it’s located, or click Browse to navigate to it.
In the Output text file field, enter a file name for the transcribed output file and enter the directory path where you want to save it. - Optionally deselect Automatically add commas and periods if you do not want Dragon to add this punctuation to the transcription, as the accuracy may degrade when this option is selected.
- Then follow the transcription wizard, it will prompt you to choose what you want to do next. Select the needed options and click Done.
Summary: Dragon Dictaion is much more than a simple audio to text converter. You should invest into it only if you’re sure to use dictation options on the regular basis. For occasional uses, it’s advisable to try a free program from the ones listed below.
3. Sonix.ai
Sonix.ai is an online app to trascribe audio. The free trial includes 30 minutes of free audio to text conversion. I think it’s enough for an occasional use. The developers provide a complete access to all the features with no credit card required. The only thing you need is to sign up, you may do this with your Google account just in one click. The premium account isn’t expensive (from $11.25 per month).
To convert a speech file into Word document, follow the steps:
- Drag and drop the audio (or video!) file into the browser window from your PC or choose the required file from your Dropbox or Google Drive.
- While the file is being uploaded, choose the language spoken. Click the big blue button below.
- Reply a few questions about the quality of the audio file (about background noise, etc.). Press Continue trascribing.
- Wait a bit while the text file is being prepared. After that, you may review and edit the text.
- Download the Word file to your PC, share online or save to your Google Drive.
Summary: Sonix.ai is brilliant for rare audio transcriptions. It provides a decent text quality and is not overloaded with feature. Definitely, a must have for picky users.
4. Inqscribe
Audio To Text Converter Software For Mac Windows 7
Inqscribe is a transcription software for Windows, Mac OS. You can use it free with no license (with limited features) or instantly unlock all the features by purchasing a paid license ($99) or by requesting a 14-day trial.
Apart from audio files, you can also transcribe long video files including full-length movies, there is no time limit in all version. However, with a free one you won’t be able to save and download the resulted text file. Still you may copy the text to the clipboard.
The tool works in the same way as all the above mentioned. You need to add a multimedia file, choose a language and launch the audio to text conversion. InqScribe transcripts contain embedded timecodes that allow instant access to arbitrary times within the media file.
SEE ALSO: 5 Easiest Ways to Add Captions to Video Free and Fast
InqScribe also features a flexible editing environment, QuickTime and Windows Media support, customizable keyboard shortcuts for controlling media playback and inserting repetitive text, and a range of import and export options available in the paid version.
Summary: InqScribe is like a Swiss knife for creating captions and subtitles. You should try the evaluation version if you need to precisely transcribe a long video with further media export.
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Audio conversion is always needed for digital audio processing and playback since, like forever. Windows users have so many choices out there: Audacity, Freemake, Total Audio Converter, Aiseesoft… and there are more. Many of them are free tools that provide high-quality audio conversion. But what about Mac audio Converter tools?
Things are not the same for Mac users: Mac now accounts for over 9% of all computers in use worldwide, which is an enormous share, however, there are much fewer options for Mac users when it comes to audio conversion, the most frequent type of audio processing. Many users may have to get the job done by lowering their expectation while choose the tools. But we all know what that gets them and where that goes – lame audio quality accompanied with endless ads and even viruses sometimes.
That’s why we are releasing this post to help Mac users get a clear idea of which tools are the best audio converter for Mac. We’ve tested and handpicked the products below from the most famous Mac audio converter apps so that you won’t need to search around looking for these tools.
Best Audio Converter Software for Mac
You will always benefit from audio with awesome quality so do not compromise on that if you need the converted audio in your business or you have high acoustic requirement. Here are tops ones we choose from most of the available audio converters for Mac, online and offline. Please read on to decide which one suits you more.
MediaHuman
MediaHuman Audio Converter for Mac OS is able to convert audio files to various audio formats. Its interface is quite intuitive and the output audio files can be played smoothly on your devices. It supports batch conversion and there are some predefined profiles for the output format you choose.
Cons: it’s a bit confusing to choose the output folder and you will have to do some digging.
Switch
Switch is developed by NCH Software, which is a Mac audio converter for free. It can convert multiple audio formats to several popular audio formats and works really fast especially when dealing with large sized audio files (over than 600MB). The output quality can be highly compressed while maintaining a relatively good quality.
Cons: sadly, it contains some annoying ads and it can’t be removed.
ffmpegX
Maybe ffmpegX is the fastest audio encoder for Mac. It can convert almost any multimedia files including audio as well as video. It even provides a very basic media player to preview your files. It comes with abundant quality options and various features, doing much more than an audio converter.
Cons: the interface of ffmpegX is undecorated, which makes it less delightful than its competitors. Meanwhile, it is not that simple to use – you better be experienced before you pick it up.
Best Mac Audio Converter (Recommended)
All2MP3 for Mac
All2MP3 for Mac, like stated in its name, is an Mac audio converter developed for media formats to MP3 conversion. It can convert all audio formats and video formats to MP3 audio. It has a neat and fashionable interface. You can drag and drop your files to get started. It provides quality adjustment for MP3 output and the output locations can be easily determined. The compatibility and the conversion speed are two impressive features that may surprise you. Let’s see how it works.
How to Convert Audio to MP3 with All2MP3 for Mac
Step 1
Use the above download button or go to our official site for All2MP3 for Mac download. After you get it installed and launched, open it and drag your audio files and drop them in the program Window.
Step 2
You can choose output quality level by dragging the slider of “Quality”. To make sure the converted files saved in the folder you want, use “Change all Paths” button.
Step 3
Click “Convert” and the conversion process will start in no time.
Check this page and you will get more details of how to convert audio to MP3 on Mac. It also provide a Windows version that provides even more features and output formats.
Alternatives
If, for some reasons, you don’t want to install anything on your Mac, then we recommend using online audio converter service. Just type in “online audio converter” in google search bar and search. You will get a bunch of results like these two: http://online-audio-converter.com/ and http://audioconverter-online.com/. Usually you just need to upload the audio files, choose the conversion settings, wait for the conversion and finally download the files. But you should notice that almost all of them have various limitations and it requires time to upload and download the files, so it’s not really an efficient way to deal with large files.