# Audio and Video File Transcriber (timestamps, 90+ languages) (`psypherz/audio-video-transcriber`) Actor

Turn audio and video files into accurate text with timestamps. 90+ languages, auto-detect, optional English translation. Open-source Whisper, no API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/psypherz/audio-video-transcriber.md
- **Developed by:** [Muhammad Yasin Bin Abdul Rahman](https://apify.com/psypherz) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.00 / 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.

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

## Audio and Video File Transcriber (timestamps, 90+ languages)

Turn audio and video files into accurate text with timestamps. Paste direct file links or upload a file. The language is detected for you, and you can translate the speech into English. It runs on OpenAI's open-source Whisper model, so you need no API key and no account anywhere else.

**Price: US$0.006 per audio minute, plus a US$0.001 run fee.** A 30-minute recording costs US$0.181.

### What people use it for

- **Meetings and interviews:** searchable text from recordings, with timestamps to jump back to.
- **Podcasts and webinars:** transcripts for show notes, blog posts and SEO.
- **Research:** transcribe focus groups and field recordings in many languages.
- **AI pipelines:** feed transcripts to an LLM for summaries, chapters or Q\&A.
- **Accessibility:** text versions of audio content.

Need subtitle files instead? Use the Subtitle Generator below. It makes SRT and VTT directly.

### Example output

Real output from the sample file (a 117-second public-domain recording):

| fileName | durationSec | billedMinutes | language | text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia\_-*Chojnów*(spoken_by_AI_voice).mp3 | 117.0 | 2 | en | Chajno is small city in Poland. As of the year 2000, 14,900 people live in the city... |

```json
{
  "sourceUrl": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wikipedia_-_Chojn%C3%B3w_%28spoken_by_AI_voice%29.mp3",
  "fileName": "Wikipedia_-_Chojnów_(spoken_by_AI_voice).mp3",
  "durationSec": 117.0,
  "billedMinutes": 2,
  "language": "en",
  "languageProbability": 0.998,
  "model": "base",
  "task": "transcribe",
  "text": "Chajno is small city in Poland. As of the year 2000, 14,900 people live in the city...",
  "segments": [
    {"start": 0.0, "end": 4.16, "text": "Chajno is small city in Poland. As of the year 2000,"},
    {"start": 4.8, "end": 12.08, "text": "14,900 people live in the city. The city is on the river Scora."}
  ],
  "transcribedAt": "2026-10-27T09:00:00+00:00"
}
```

The real place name is Chojnów. Like every speech model, Whisper spells unusual names by sound. The "accurate" setting gets more of them right.

### Input

| Field | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| `mediaUrls` | Direct links to audio or video files, up to 100. MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC, MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV and more. 1 GB per file. | 1 sample file |
| `uploadedFile` | Or upload one file from your computer. | none |
| `model` | `tiny` (fast), `base` (balanced) or `small` (accurate). | `base` |
| `language` | `auto`, or a code such as `en`, `es`, `de`, `hi`, `ja`. Setting it improves accuracy. | `auto` |
| `task` | `transcribe` keeps the spoken language. `translate` outputs English. | `transcribe` |
| `wordTimestamps` | Add a start and end time for every word. | `false` |
| `skipSilence` | Skip silence and music-only parts. Faster, and fewer made-up words. | `true` |
| `maxMinutesPerFile` | Longer files are skipped without charge. A safety limit on cost. | `180` |

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Run fee, once per run (per 2 GB of memory; the default is 2 GB) | US$0.001 |
| Audio minute, fast or balanced model | US$0.006 |
| Audio minute, accurate model | US$0.012 |

Minutes are counted per file and rounded up. Examples: a 1-minute clip costs US$0.007. A 30-minute file costs US$0.181. A 60-minute file on the accurate model costs US$0.721. Files that fail to download or decode are listed with the reason and not charged.

### Limits

- Direct file links only. Links to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Vimeo, Spotify, SoundCloud and similar pages are refused. Only process files you have the right to use.
- 100 files per run, 1 GB and 600 minutes per file.
- Speed at the default 2 GB memory: about 1 to 3 minutes of processing per 10 audio minutes on the balanced model. Raise the memory for faster runs. The run fee scales with memory.
- No speaker labels (who said what).

### FAQ

**Which languages work?** Whisper supports about 99 languages. Accuracy is best for English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and other widely spoken languages.

**Is my file stored?** It is downloaded to the run's temporary disk, processed and deleted. The transcript is saved in your own Apify dataset.

**Why do transcripts sometimes contain words nobody said?** Speech models can invent text during long silences or music. Keep `skipSilence` on to reduce this.

**Can an AI agent call it?** Yes. Pass file links, get compact JSON back, and pay per minute.

### More tools from the same developer

Same style: clean JSON output, pay only for results, no charge on failed items.

| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| [Bulk Keyword Search Volume](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/keyword-search-volume) | Google Ads search volume, CPC, competition and 12-month trend for up to 10,000 keywords |
| [Google Trends API](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/google-trends-api) | Interest over time, by region, and rising queries and topics for up to 500 keywords |
| [Google SERP Results](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/google-serp-results) | Organic results, featured snippets and People Also Ask for any keyword, country and device |
| [Google AI Overview Tracker](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/google-ai-overview-tracker) | Which keywords show an AI Overview, what it says, and whether it cites your site |
| [Subtitle Generator](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/subtitle-generator) | Ready-to-use SRT and WebVTT subtitles from audio and video files |
| [Podcast Transcriber](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/podcast-transcriber) | Timestamped transcripts of podcast episodes from any RSS feed or Apple Podcasts link |
| [Image OCR](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/image-ocr) | Text from images in 20 languages, with confidence scores |
| [PDF to Text and Markdown](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/pdf-to-text-markdown) | Clean text and Markdown from PDFs, with OCR for scanned pages |
| [Bulk PageSpeed Insights Audit](https://apify.com/PsypherZ/bulk-pagespeed-audit) | Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse scores for many pages, mobile and desktop |

# Actor input Schema

## `mediaUrls` (type: `array`):

Direct links to audio or video files (MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC, MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV and more). Up to 100 per run, 1 GB each. Links to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other social or streaming pages are not accepted.

## `uploadedFile` (type: `string`):

Upload one audio or video file from your computer.

## `model` (type: `string`):

Larger models are more accurate, especially for accents and noisy audio, but slower. The accurate model has a higher price per minute because it needs about 3 times the compute.

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

"auto" detects it. Or set a code such as en, es, de, fr, ja, hi, ar for better accuracy.

## `task` (type: `string`):

Keep the original language, or translate the speech into English.

## `skipSilence` (type: `boolean`):

Removes long silent or music-only parts before transcribing. Faster and fewer made-up words.

## `maxMinutesPerFile` (type: `integer`):

Files longer than this are skipped without charge. A safety limit on cost.

## `wordTimestamps` (type: `boolean`):

Add a start and end time for every word, not just every segment. Useful for captions and editing tools.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mediaUrls": [
    "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wikipedia_-_Chojn%C3%B3w_%28spoken_by_AI_voice%29.mp3"
  ],
  "model": "base",
  "language": "auto",
  "task": "transcribe",
  "skipSilence": true,
  "maxMinutesPerFile": 180,
  "wordTimestamps": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per file: full text, detected language, duration and billed minutes.

# 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 = {
    "mediaUrls": [
        "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wikipedia_-_Chojn%C3%B3w_%28spoken_by_AI_voice%29.mp3"
    ]
};

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

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "mediaUrls": ["https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wikipedia_-_Chojn%C3%B3w_%28spoken_by_AI_voice%29.mp3"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("psypherz/audio-video-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://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Wikipedia_-_Chojn%C3%B3w_%28spoken_by_AI_voice%29.mp3"
  ]
}' |
apify call psypherz/audio-video-transcriber --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,psypherz/audio-video-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 <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/t9fxa67pyjUPPWgPh/builds/zkpZ4icnb1EazZTvR/openapi.json