Free transcription and subtitle tools
ScribeGrab turns speech into text. Give it a recording, a video or a YouTube link and you get a timed transcript you can edit, subtitles as SRT or WebVTT to attach to a video, or subtitles burned into the picture. Around that sit the jobs people actually need a transcript for: interviews, lectures, podcasts and meetings. Speaker labels are added automatically when two to eight voices are heard, and removing ums and uhs is an option in the clean version.
All 21 transcription tool pages and 1 how-to page
- Audio to TextScribeGrabConvert an MP3, WAV, M4A or video file to a text transcript plus SRT and VTT files, free; clear speech comes out close to correct, and noisy or overlapping speech needs a proofread.
- Video Subtitles GeneratorScribeGrabThe speech is transcribed from the audio and you download the captions as SRT and VTT in minutes.
- MP3 to TextScribeGrabAn MP3 recording becomes a transcript you can read and copy, with no account needed.
- YouTube SummarizerScribeGrabPaste a YouTube link and get a summary plus the full transcript of the video.
- Burn Subtitles into VideoScribeGrabBurn auto-written subtitles into a video, free, in one of three styles, with no watermark and no account, up to 60 minutes; the video is re-encoded to draw the text.
- Transcribe YouTube VideoScribeGrabPaste a public YouTube link and get a transcript plus SRT and VTT files; if the video already has captions you get those, otherwise I transcribe the audio.
- Speech to TextScribeGrabUpload a recording and get a transcript plus SRT/VTT files, in about 100 languages including Cantonese.
- Voice to TextScribeGrabConvert a voice memo, call or meeting to text for free; recorded dictation works too, but only as a finished file, not live dictation.
- Bleep Out Swear WordsScribeGrabThe transcript finds the swear words on the built-in list in audio or video, and you review them before anything is changed.
- Transcribe LectureScribeGrabA full transcript with timestamps you can search, plus SRT and VTT subtitles; making the study notes from it is up to you.
- Podcast Clip for Social MediaScribeGrabMake a captioned MP4 clip for TikTok, Reels or Shorts from the video version of a podcast episode: pick the segment, and I burn the captions in (audio-only files cannot be clipped here).
- Identify Speakers in Audio (Diarization)ScribeGrabLabel the different voices in a recording (two to eight) as Speaker 1, 2 and so on; it does not know names, and lines at changes of talker or crosstalk can land under the wrong label.
- Add Subtitles to Any VideoScribeGrabSteps for adding subtitles in YouTube, CapCut, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve and VLC, plus getting the SRT file without an account.
- Meeting Minutes from AudioScribeGrabGet a full transcript of a meeting recording with speaker labels and timestamps, plus a short summary; the full minutes draft with decisions and action items needs a paid pass.
- Podcast Episode SummaryScribeGrabUpload a podcast episode and get the full transcript free; once it is done, a button writes a short summary with key points (up to about 25,000 words, six summaries an hour).
- Transcribe InterviewScribeGrabGet a free written transcript of an interview, with no extra software needed.
- Translate SubtitlesScribeGrabUpload a video or audio file and get SRT or VTT subtitles in 16 languages, timed so they still line up with the video.
- Video to TextScribeGrabAn MP4, MOV, MKV or WEBM video becomes a transcript, plus SRT and VTT subtitles.
- Transcribe Zoom MeetingScribeGrabRecordings from Zoom, Teams or Meet get a transcript with speaker labels and timestamps.
- Remove Filler Words and SilenceScribeGrabCut the "um" and "uh" sounds the transcript picks up, plus silences longer than about 0.7 seconds, from a recording; you review the result, and not every filler is caught.
- Subtitle GeneratorScribeGrabUpload a video and download timed SRT and VTT subtitles that are written automatically.
- Transcribe PodcastScribeGrabTurn a podcast episode or any audio file into text: MP3 or WAV, files up to 60 minutes, no account.
Pick the shortest path. If you only need the words, use speech to text. If the words go back onto a video, use the subtitle generator. If you need them in another language, translate the subtitles afterwards instead of transcribing again; the free translation takes recordings of up to 20 minutes and one language. The summary tools are there for the moment you realize you do not want to read forty minutes of transcript.
Accuracy depends more on the recording than on the tool. Accents and noise lower it, and crosstalk is where you will still be correcting by hand, so read the result once before you publish it. The transcription tools allow recordings up to 60 minutes and 10 free jobs a day, and your recording is deleted right after it has been processed. The one exception is the optional clean or subtitled version of your file, audio or video: ScribeGrab has to keep that upload until the results expire, which is about 45 minutes later (24 hours with a pass).
From recording to text
Voice to text is the plain version: one recording in, one transcript out. A subtitle generator adds timing, so the words appear on screen when they are spoken; save the result as SRT or WebVTT and attach it to a video, then use Translate Subtitles for another language instead of transcribing again. The guide SRT vs VTT Subtitles compares the two file types.
To transcribe podcast episodes, remember that loud music under speech can add errors, so check those parts and check the labels where voices overlap. The guides Best Free Transcription Tools and How Accurate Is AI Transcription? help you judge a result, and if you are leaving TurboScribe or Kapwing, ScribeGrab has a TurboScribe Alternative page and a Free Kapwing Alternative for Subtitles.
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