# Audio and Video Transcriber: Whisper text, timestamps, SRT (`bepolabs/media-transcriber`) Actor Paste links or upload MP3, MP4 and more; get the transcript with timed segments plus VTT subtitles. - **URL**: https://apify.com/bepolabs/media-transcriber.md - **Developed by:** [BEPO Labs](https://apify.com/bepolabs) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Videos, Developer tools - **Security:** Limited permissions - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $6.00 / 1,000 transcribed audio minutes This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md. ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run. For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below. Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`). # README ### 🎙️ What is Audio and Video Transcriber? OpenAI Whisper running on our servers will transcribe audio and video you point it at: WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus, MOV, WebM, MKV or anything else ffmpeg reads. Each result holds word count, duration and optional WebVTT and SubRip files, with translation to English and three model sizes. No key of your own is needed. - **Podcasts and interviews**: searchable text and show notes from every episode - **Meetings and calls**: minutes from recordings - **Subtitles**: SRT and WebVTT files for video editors and players - **Archives**: make old recordings searchable ![Audio and Video Transcriber: Whisper transcripts of audio and video files: full text, timed segments, SRT and WebVTT. No API key.](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/wdeAWGooHdIhvFgSY/records/media-transcriber-hero.png) #### ✨ Why use this Actor? - ✅ **Subtitles included**: SRT and WebVTT next to the text and timed segments - ✅ **Pick the model**: tiny for speed, base as default, small for noisy or old recordings - ✅ **Translate**: any of 28 languages to English text - ✅ **Files you own**: URLs or uploads to the run's key-value store, up to 200 per run - ✅ **Fair billing**: per started audio minute; files that fail are not charged ### 📦 What data can you get with Audio and Video Transcriber? | | | | |---|---|---| | ⏱️ Duration in seconds | 🔢 Word count | 📄 Full text | | 🧩 Timed segments | 💬 SRT subtitles | 🌐 WebVTT subtitles | > SRT, WebVTT and segments are optional switches. Files that fail return an `error` row. ### 🚀 How to use Audio and Video Transcriber Audio and Video Transcriber works in a few clicks, no coding needed: 1. [Create a free Apify account](https://console.apify.com/sign-up) (the free plan includes 5 USD of monthly credit). 2. Open [Audio and Video Transcriber](https://apify.com/bepolabs/media-transcriber) and click **Try for free**. 3. Paste the file URLs (or upload files), choose model and language, and switch on the subtitle formats you need. 4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish (most runs take seconds). 5. Download your data as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or send it straight to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier or your AI agent. ![How Audio and Video Transcriber works](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/wdeAWGooHdIhvFgSY/records/media-transcriber-workflow.png) ### ⬇️ Input Enter file URLs or the keys of uploaded files; everything else has defaults (base model, English, transcribe, segments on). ##### Model `tiny` (quickest), `base` (balanced, default) or `small` (most accurate on noisy or old recordings). ##### Task `transcribe` keeps the spoken language; `translate` returns English. ##### Not supported YouTube, TikTok and Instagram links are refused because their terms do not allow downloading. Use files you own or may use. | Field | Type | What it does | Default | |---|---|---|---| | **Audio or video URLs** (`mediaUrls`) | array | Direct links to audio or video files (MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus, MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV and more). | `["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open` | | **Uploaded files** (`storeKeys`) | array | Keys of files stored in this run's default key-value store (upload them with the API before the run starts). | | | **Whisper model** (`model`) | string | Larger models are more accurate on accents, noise and names, and take longer. | `"base"` | | **Spoken language** (`language`) | string | The language spoken in the files. | `"en"` | | **Task** (`task`) | string | Translate gives English text with timestamps from speech in any supported language. | `"transcribe"` | | **Timed segments** (`includeSegments`) | boolean | Every segment with start and end in seconds. | `true` | | **SRT subtitles** (`includeSrt`) | boolean | Add an SRT subtitle file as text to each row. | `false` | | **WebVTT subtitles** (`includeVtt`) | boolean | Add a WebVTT subtitle file as text to each row. | `false` | | **Max minutes per file** (`maxDurationMin`) | integer | Longer files are transcribed up to this point and marked truncated; you pay only for the minutes transcribed. | `120` | | **Max file size** (`maxSizeMb`) | integer | Larger files are skipped with an error line and not charged. | `200` | | **Download retries** (`maxRetries`) | integer | Retries on network errors, rate limits and server errors. | `3` | ![Audio and Video Transcriber input form](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/wdeAWGooHdIhvFgSY/records/media-transcriber-input.png) #### Input example ```json { "mediaUrls": [ "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac" ], "language": "en" } ``` ### ⬆️ Output Every file becomes one row with the text, duration, word count and, if switched on, segments and subtitles. ![Audio and Video Transcriber output table](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/wdeAWGooHdIhvFgSY/records/media-transcriber-output.png) #### Output example One row of the dataset (the JFK inaugural address clip, a real local run of 2026-10-15): ```json { "durationSeconds": 11, "wordCount": 22, "text": "And so my fellow Americans ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.", "segments": [ { "start": 0, "end": 11, "text": "And so my fellow Americans ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." } ] } ``` View the results as a table or JSON in the Output tab and download them as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML or RSS, all fields or only those you pick. ### 💰 How much does Audio and Video Transcriber cost? Audio and Video Transcriber is priced **per event**: **6 USD per 1,000 audio minutes** (0.006 USD each), with no monthly rental. Inputs that fail (download, format, no audio) are free; truncated ones are charged only for what was transcribed. | You get | You pay | |---|---| | 100 audio minutes | 0.6 USD | | 1,000 audio minutes | 6 USD | | 10,000 audio minutes | 60 USD | | 100,000 audio minutes | 600 USD | 💡 Apify's free plan gives you 5 USD of credit every month, enough for about **833 audio minutes** at no cost. Set a spending limit per run and the Actor stops there. ### ⚖️ Audio and Video Transcriber vs. the alternatives | | Audio and Video Transcriber | Whisper API | Manual transcription | |---|---|---|---| | **No API key needed** | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | **SRT and WebVTT** | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | **Many files in one run** | ✅ | script needed | ❌ | | **Export, schedule, API and MCP** | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ### 🔌 Integrations, API and MCP #### Connect Audio and Video Transcriber to your AI agent (MCP) Give Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client direct access to Audio and Video Transcriber through the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com). Add this URL to its settings: ```text https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=bepolabs/media-transcriber ``` For Claude Desktop, add it under `mcpServers` in `claude_desktop_config.json`: ```json { "mcpServers": { "media-transcriber": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server", "--actors", "bepolabs/media-transcriber" ], "env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "" } } } } ``` Then just ask: *"Transcribe this podcast episode URL with the small model and give me the SRT subtitles."* #### Run it from your code Python (`pip install apify-client`): ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient("") run = client.actor("bepolabs/media-transcriber").call(run_input={"mediaUrls":["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac"],"language":"en"}) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) ``` JavaScript (`npm install apify-client`): ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '' }); const run = await client.actor('bepolabs/media-transcriber').call({"mediaUrls":["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac"],"language":"en"}); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); console.log(items); ``` #### No-code integrations Send results to **Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable, HubSpot, Make, Zapier, n8n** and more from the Integrations tab, start runs on a **schedule**, or trigger your own endpoint with a **webhook** when a run finishes. The [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) gives you full control over runs and datasets. ### ❓ FAQ ##### Can I transcribe YouTube links? No, downloads from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are refused; for captions from the last one, our separate transcripts Actor does the job. ##### How accurate is it? Whisper is strong on clear speech. Noisy or old recordings read better with the small model. Speaker names are not included. ##### What does it cost? 0.006 USD per started audio minute. Failed files are free. ##### Is it legal to use Audio and Video Transcriber? Transcribe only files you own or have the right to use. Whisper weights are MIT licensed (OpenAI), transformers.js is Apache-2.0, and ffmpeg runs as a separate program. ##### What if something is missing or does not work? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab; we read each one and reply. Feature requests are welcome too. ### 💬 Your feedback Tell us what Audio and Video Transcriber should add on the **Issues** tab or leave a review; your notes decide what we work on next. ### 🔗 Related Actors | Actor | What it does | |---|---| | 📝 [YouTube Transcripts](https://apify.com/bepolabs/youtube-transcripts) | Full text and timed segments of the captions of any YouTube video, ready for summaries, search and LLMs. | | 🔤 [Image OCR](https://apify.com/bepolabs/image-ocr) | Extract text from images in 29 languages: plain text, clean Markdown and every word with its pixel box and confidence. | | 📄 [PDF to Text and Markdown](https://apify.com/bepolabs/pdf-to-text) | PDFs to clean text and Markdown, per page, per document or as RAG chunks, with columns in reading order and headers and footers removed. | | 🎙️ [Podcast Episodes](https://apify.com/bepolabs/podcast-episodes) | Search terms, Apple Podcasts ids or RSS feeds to every show and its episodes, with audio links, dates and durations. | | 📰 [RSS Feed Reader](https://apify.com/bepolabs/rss-reader) | Any RSS, Atom or JSON feed, or just a website URL, to one clean list of articles, with full text on request. | | 🕰️ [Wayback Machine Scraper](https://apify.com/bepolabs/wayback-snapshots) | The archive history of any URL or domain: first and last seen, every capture, and the page text of old versions. | | 📝 [Website to Markdown](https://apify.com/bepolabs/web-to-markdown) | Any web page or docs site to clean Markdown for LLMs, RAG and AI agents, with headings, links and ready-made chunks. | | 📸 [Website Screenshot](https://apify.com/bepolabs/website-screenshot) | Full-page PNG, JPEG or PDF of any URL, on desktop, tablet and phone, with cookie banners closed. | # Changelog This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/bepolabs/media-transcriber/changelog.md # Actor input Schema ## `mediaUrls` (type: `array`): Direct links to audio or video files (MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus, MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV and more). A key-value store record URL of an uploaded file works too. YouTube, TikTok and Instagram page links are not supported. Up to 200 per run. ## `storeKeys` (type: `array`): Keys of files stored in this run's default key-value store (upload them with the API before the run starts). ## `model` (type: `string`): Larger models are more accurate on accents, noise and names, and take longer. ## `language` (type: `string`): The language spoken in the files. Pick Translate below to get English text from any of these. ## `task` (type: `string`): Translate gives English text with timestamps from speech in any supported language. ## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`): Every segment with start and end in seconds. ## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`): Add an SRT subtitle file as text to each row. ## `includeVtt` (type: `boolean`): Add a WebVTT subtitle file as text to each row. ## `maxDurationMin` (type: `integer`): Longer files are transcribed up to this point and marked truncated; you pay only for the minutes transcribed. ## `maxSizeMb` (type: `integer`): Larger files are skipped with an error line and not charged. ## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`): Retries on network errors, rate limits and server errors. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mediaUrls": [ "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac" ], "model": "base", "language": "en", "task": "transcribe", "includeSegments": true, "includeSrt": false, "includeVtt": false, "maxDurationMin": 120, "maxSizeMb": 200, "maxRetries": 3 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Dataset items, one row per result, in the overview table view. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mediaUrls": [ "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("bepolabs/media-transcriber").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mediaUrls": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("bepolabs/media-transcriber").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}") for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mediaUrls": [ "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/whisper/main/tests/jfk.flac" ] }' | apify call bepolabs/media-transcriber --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bepolabs/media-transcriber" } } } ``` The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer ` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations). ## OpenAPI specification Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/4MlMnxaLwpQLH0vch/builds/uP6ciGpX3Z3UUmGak/openapi.json