2026-04-27 — 📤 Direct File Upload + SRT/VTT + Word Timestamps + Docs Refresh
📤 Upload Audio & Video Files Directly — drop media into the new audioFiles field straight from your computer, no need to host files first
🔀 Mix URLs and Uploads in One Run — pasted URLs and uploaded files are processed together with the same dedup, validation, and tier limits
🎬 SRT and VTT Subtitle Output — every successful transcription now ships with ready-to-use srt and vtt fields. Save as .srt/.vtt and drop into any video player or HTML5 <track> element
⏱️ Word-Level Timestamps — segments[].words[] now exposes {word, start, end, speaker} for every spoken word. Build karaoke-style highlighting, precise quote search, or word-accurate clipping
📖 Restructured README — new How to transcribe video to text in 4 steps, Example output, Speaker diarization, and SRT / VTT subtitle export sections lead the page so you can see what the actor does at a glance
✏️ Clearer Title & Description — rewritten to plainly describe what the tool does (transcribe video and audio to text, 99+ languages, speaker diarization, SRT/VTT export)
💎 User Benefits
Skip the "host the file somewhere first" detour — upload .m4a, .mp3, .mp4, etc. straight from your computer
Get subtitle files ready to publish without any post-processing
Build searchable, clip-accurate transcripts thanks to word-level timing
Mix URL inputs and direct uploads in a single bulk run
🎯 Use Cases
🎙️ Podcasters publishing show notes alongside each new episode
💼 Sales and ops teams archiving meeting recordings for coaching and QA
📰 Journalists turning phone-recorded interviews into clean attributed transcripts
🎬 Video editors generating accurate caption tracks for long-form content
🎓 Students and educators transcribing lectures and study sessions
2026-04-07 — 🛡️ Smart URL Validation
🚫 Social Media URL Detection — TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, X/Twitter, and Vimeo links are now automatically rejected with helpful redirect messages to our platform-specific actors
📂 File Type Validation — non-media file extensions (HTML, images, PDFs) are blocked before processing, saving runtime and credits
🔗 Actor Recommendations — users who paste social-media links get direct links to the correct SIÁN actor for their platform
✅ Graceful Handling — invalid URLs are reported in the dataset with clear error messages; valid URLs in the same batch still get processed
📝 Updated Input Schema — prominent warnings and valid/invalid URL examples directly in the Apify UI
2025-11-18 — 🔗 Smart URL Handling
🎯 Auto-URL Redirect — paste any audio URL format, the actor handles the rest
✨ Zero URL Hassle — no more manual conversion to direct download links
🌐 Universal URL Support — works with raw URLs from major hosting providers
⚡ Seamless Experience — just paste and transcribe
2025-11-08 — 🚀 Bulk Parallel Processing Release
🚀 10× Parallel Processing — concurrent file handling (10 files simultaneously) on the paid tier
⏩ Zero-Delay Paid Tier — instant processing with no rate limiting
📈 100+ Files/Hour Throughput — bulk batches that previously took 8+ hours now complete in ~1 hour
💾 1 GB File Support on the paid tier — handle long-form audio and video without splitting
♾️ Unlimited Monthly Volume for the paid tier
🏪 SIÁN Agency Branding — professional store presence and consistent quality across the actor portfolio
