# Transcribe Audio & Video — Japanese, Chinese, Korean + (`masahishop/transcribe-cjk`) Actor

Transcribe your own audio and video files to text, SRT and VTT with Whisper. Clean Japanese/Chinese/Korean output without stray spaces, timestamps, optional translation to English. Pay per audio minute.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/masahishop/transcribe-cjk.md
- **Developed by:** [Masahi Shop](https://apify.com/masahishop) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $42.50 / 1,000 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Transcribe Audio & Video — Japanese, Chinese, Korean & 90+ languages

Turn **your own audio and video files** (meetings, interviews, podcasts, lectures, voice memos) into **text, timestamped segments, SRT or WebVTT subtitles** — with clean output for Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

- **Properly punctuated Japanese and Chinese** (、。 / ，。) — not one long unpunctuated line
- **No stray spaces** between CJK characters
- **Timestamps, SRT and VTT** subtitles
- **90+ languages** with Whisper, plus optional **translation to English**
- **Vocabulary hint** for names and product terms
- **Pay per audio minute** — failed downloads and unreadable files are free

### What can it be used for?

- Meeting minutes and interview transcripts (Japanese / Chinese / Korean / English)
- Subtitles for your videos (SRT / VTT)
- Turning podcasts and lectures into searchable text or LLM / RAG input
- Translating foreign-language audio into English text

### Example output (Japanese test audio, 31 s)

```
本日は、新しい文字起こしサービスのテストを行います。音声を正しく文字に変換できるかどうかを確認するため、いくつかの文章を読み上げます。来週の月曜日から、事務所の受付時間が午前9時から午後5時半までに変わります。…
```

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `audioUrls` | Direct links to audio/video files (MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, FLAC, MP4, MOV, WebM, ...). Only these URLs are downloaded. |
| `language` | `auto` or a language code (`ja`, `zh`, `ko`, `en`, ...). Setting it is more reliable for short files. |
| `translateToEnglish` | Output an English translation instead |
| `prompt` | Names or terms in the audio, to improve spelling |
| `includeSegments` / `includeSrt` / `includeVtt` | Output options |
| `maxDurationMinutes`, `maxFileSizeMb`, `downloadTimeoutSecs` | Limits |

```json
{
    "audioUrls": ["https://example.com/meeting.m4a"],
    "language": "ja",
    "includeSrt": true
}
```

### Output

```json
{
    "url": "https://example.com/meeting.m4a",
    "status": "success",
    "language": "ja",
    "model": "whisper-small",
    "durationSec": 31.3,
    "billedMinutes": 1,
    "charCount": 174,
    "text": "本日は、新しい文字起こしサービスのテストを行います。…",
    "segments": [ { "start": 0, "end": 5, "text": "本日は、新しい文字起こしサービスのテストを行います。" } ],
    "srt": "1\n00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000\n本日は、新しい文字起こしサービスのテストを行います。\n\n2\n...",
    "realtimeFactor": 1.11
}
```

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Audio minute (per started minute of transcribed audio) | $0.05 |

Example: a 30-minute meeting costs $1.50. Failed downloads and unreadable files are not charged. You can cap the cost of a run with the maximum charge setting in Apify.

### Speed

Transcription runs on CPU with Whisper (small model): roughly **1x realtime** at the default 8 GB memory (a 10-minute file takes about 10 minutes). More memory = more CPU = faster.

### Limitations

- Speaker labels (diarization) are not included.
- Very noisy audio or heavy background music reduces accuracy.
- Only your own files / files you have the right to process — the Actor does not download from YouTube or other platforms.

### Privacy

Only the URLs you provide are downloaded. Audio is processed inside the run and deleted when the file is done; the transcript is written only to your own run's dataset.

# Actor input Schema

## `audioUrls` (type: `array`):

Direct links to your audio or video files (MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, FLAC, MP4, MOV, WebM...). Only the URLs you list are downloaded.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Spoken language. <b>auto</b> detects it, but setting it explicitly is more reliable for short files.

## `translateToEnglish` (type: `boolean`):

Output an English translation instead of the original-language transcript.

## `prompt` (type: `string`):

Optional names or terms that appear in the audio (e.g. product names), to improve spelling.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Return segments with start/end times in seconds.

## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`):

Return the transcript as SRT subtitle text.

## `includeVtt` (type: `boolean`):

Return the transcript as WebVTT subtitle text.

## `maxDurationMinutes` (type: `integer`):

Longer files are cut at this length (you are only charged for the transcribed part).

## `maxFileSizeMb` (type: `integer`):

Larger files are skipped (and not charged).

## `downloadTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Timeout for downloading one file.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "audioUrls": [
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SO2i30oKmzy8a1PgH/records/ja_test.wav?signature=Z25Jb38bZTUiCjQtnuQM"
  ],
  "language": "auto",
  "translateToEnglish": false,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "includeSrt": false,
  "includeVtt": false,
  "maxDurationMinutes": 120,
  "maxFileSizeMb": 500,
  "downloadTimeoutSecs": 300
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Transcript, segments, subtitles and metadata for each file.

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Status, language, duration and billed minutes for each file.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "audioUrls": [
        "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SO2i30oKmzy8a1PgH/records/ja_test.wav?signature=Z25Jb38bZTUiCjQtnuQM"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("masahishop/transcribe-cjk").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "audioUrls": ["https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SO2i30oKmzy8a1PgH/records/ja_test.wav?signature=Z25Jb38bZTUiCjQtnuQM"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("masahishop/transcribe-cjk").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 '{
  "audioUrls": [
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/SO2i30oKmzy8a1PgH/records/ja_test.wav?signature=Z25Jb38bZTUiCjQtnuQM"
  ]
}' |
apify call masahishop/transcribe-cjk --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,masahishop/transcribe-cjk"
        }
    }
}
```

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 <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` 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/Ooi6poVL0HjuQZXA2/builds/IGTcRFOmWOswD9NrZ/openapi.json