WhipScribe Transcriber — Audio & Video to Text

Turn podcast episodes, YouTube videos and audio or video file links into clean, timestamped transcripts — plus ready-to-use SRT and WebVTT subtitles — in 99+ languages. Paste a list of links, run, and download every transcript as JSON, CSV or Excel from the dataset.

This Actor is the official Apify integration for WhipScribe. It uses your own WhipScribe API key, so the transcripts also land in your WhipScribe library where you can read, search and export them.

Try it without a key

Press Start with the default input — no account, no key. The Actor transcribes the prefilled sample (a public-domain reading of the Gettysburg Address, under two minutes) and saves one dataset row with a free preview: the text, timestamped segments, detected language and duration. It takes well under a minute.

Preview mode is deliberately small:

• one link per run, and only the sample recording — links of your own are not transcribed without a key;
• the row is marked "preview": true and carries a message telling you how to get the full thing;
• no SRT or VTT subtitles.

For full transcripts, subtitles and your own links, add your WhipScribe API key — see "Before you start" below.

What it does

For every link you give it, the Actor:

1. Sends the link to WhipScribe for transcription.
2. Waits until the transcript is ready (you can turn waiting off).
3. Saves one dataset row with the full text, timestamped segments, subtitles and a link to open the transcript on whipscribe.com.

One bad link never stops the run: it gets its own row with a clear error message and the rest carry on.

What you can transcribe

• Podcasts — direct links to episode files (mp3, m4a, …) from an RSS feed or host.
• YouTube and other public video links, where WhipScribe can fetch them.
• Direct audio and video files — mp3, m4a, wav, mp4, mov, ogg, webm, flac — up to 10 hours each.
• Meeting and lecture recordings you can share as a public link.

Use cases

• Podcast show notes and SEO — full transcripts for every episode, ready to publish.
• Subtitles — SRT/VTT files for YouTube, Vimeo, social clips and course platforms.
• Research and monitoring — turn interviews, talks or earnings calls into searchable text.
• Content repurposing — feed transcripts into your own summarising, quoting or clipping workflow.
• Meetings and lectures — searchable notes from recordings without typing a word.

Before you start: your WhipScribe API key

1. Sign in at whipscribe.com.
2. Get API access on the pricing page: it comes with the 5,000-minute pack ($24) or the Workspace plan ($19/month).
3. Create a key at whipscribe.com/apis/keys and paste it into the WhipScribe API key field. It is stored encrypted and never shown in run logs.

Input

Field	What it means
urls (required)	List of audio or video links. Prefilled with a short public-domain sample.
apiKey	Your WhipScribe API key. Leave it empty for a free preview of the sample recording (one link per run).
language	Spoken language, e.g. en, es, hi. Default auto detects it for you.
outputFormats	Any of txt, json, srt, vtt. Default ["txt", "json"]. Plain text is always included.
waitForCompletion	Default true: wait and save the transcripts. false: only submit and save job IDs.
timeoutMinutes	How long to wait for all transcripts (default 60). Unfinished jobs keep running at WhipScribe.
maxConcurrency	How many links to work on at once (default 3, max 10).

Input example

{
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com/podcast/episode-412.mp3",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
  ],
  "apiKey": "YOUR_WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY",
  "language": "auto",
  "outputFormats": ["txt", "json", "srt"],
  "waitForCompletion": true
}

Output

One dataset item per link:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/podcast/episode-412.mp3",
  "jobId": "35f4be54-aa3e-4adc-85b7-b44f284d1fc3",
  "status": "done",
  "language": "en",
  "durationSeconds": 967,
  "text": "Welcome back to the show. Today we're talking about...",
  "segments": [
    {
      "start": 0.0,
      "end": 16.3,
      "speaker": "SPEAKER_00",
      "text": "Welcome back to the show...",
      "words": [{ "start": 0.0, "end": 0.4, "text": "Welcome" }]
    }
  ],
  "srt": "1\n00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,300\nWelcome back to the show...\n",
  "vtt": null,
  "transcriptUrl": "https://whipscribe.com/view?id=35f4be54-aa3e-4adc-85b7-b44f284d1fc3",
  "error": null,
  "preview": false,
  "message": null
}

A run without an API key saves one row for the sample recording with "preview": true, srt and vtt set to null, and message set to: "Preview only. Add your WhipScribe API key for full transcripts, SRT/VTT and your own links — get one at https://whipscribe.com/apis/keys".

status is one of:

• done — the transcript is ready.
• queued / processing — you turned waiting off; open transcriptUrl later.
• timeout — still processing when the wait limit was reached; open transcriptUrl later.
• locked — the transcript is ready, but your account needs credit to open it.
• failed / error — see the error message.

Fields you did not ask for (for example srt when you only chose txt) are null. If a recording contains no speech (music only, silence), text is empty and error says so — and you are not charged for it.

Pricing

The Actor itself is free; you only pay Apify's usual small platform usage for the run. Transcription uses your WhipScribe credit:

• Free preview — run this Actor without a key (sample recording), or try your own file on whipscribe.com.
• 5,000-minute pack: $24. This is the pack that includes API access, which the key needs. Credits never expire — no subscription.
• Workspace: $19/month for unlimited transcription with your own API keys.
• Smaller packs (from $4 for 500 minutes) work on whipscribe.com and top up an account that already has API access; on their own they do not include API keys.

Credit is counted by audio length, and failed jobs never use credit. See current prices at whipscribe.com/pricing.

If your account runs out of credit, the affected rows say so with a link to whipscribe.com/pricing — add credit and run again.

FAQ

Do I need a WhipScribe account? Not for a first look: without a key the Actor returns a free preview of the sample recording. For your own links you do — the Actor runs on your WhipScribe API key, so you control spending and every transcript is kept in your WhipScribe library.

Which languages are supported? 99+ languages, detected automatically. Set language only if you want to force one.

How long does it take? Usually a fraction of the recording's length. Long recordings take longer; raise timeoutMinutes for long batches, or turn off waitForCompletion and collect transcripts later from transcriptUrl.

Does it identify speakers? Segments may carry a speaker label. Named speakers appear in the summary and key quotes when you open the transcript on whipscribe.com.

What happens if I run the same links again? Each run submits the links again and uses credit again. Within one run, a retried request never creates a duplicate job.

A link failed with a download error. Why? Private, login-only, or region-restricted media can't be fetched. Use a public link, or upload the file at whipscribe.com.

Is my data private? Your recordings and transcripts belong to your WhipScribe account and are never used for training. Your API key is stored encrypted by Apify.

Can I use it from my own code or automations? Yes — call it through the Apify API, schedule it, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n and other Apify integrations. WhipScribe also has its own developer docs at whipscribe.com/docs.

Support

Questions or feature requests: contact@whipscribe.com, or open an issue on this Actor's page.