How to transcribe Voice Memos and QuickTime recordings on a Mac, without installing an app
Your Mac already recorded the interview, the lecture or the meeting. It is sitting in Voice Memos, on the Desktop as a QuickTime file, or in a Zoom folder you have never opened. You do not need another app to turn it into text. You need to know where the file is, how to get it out in one piece, and where to drop it. This guide covers all three, for recordings from twenty minutes to several hours.
Have a recording like this? Packs from $4, credits never expire → timestamps, overview. Summary free to read.
The short version
- Get the file. In Voice Memos, drag the recording onto your Desktop. QuickTime and Zoom recordings are already files.
- Open whipscribe.com in Safari (or any browser) and drag the file onto the upload box.
- Enter your email when the upload finishes. A one-hour file is usually ready in about two minutes.
- Read, search, ask, export. Clickable timestamps, a summary with chapters and key quotes, a chat that answers questions about the recording, and TXT, DOCX, SRT or VTT downloads.
Step 1: find the recording on your Mac
Voice Memos (including memos recorded on your iPhone)
If Voice Memos is switched on in iCloud on your iPhone and your Mac, every memo you record on the phone shows up in the Voice Memos app on the Mac a moment later. That is the easiest route for an interview recorded on the phone.
- Open Voice Memos on the Mac and find the recording in the list on the left.
- Drag it from the list onto your Desktop or into a Finder window. macOS saves a copy as an .m4a file named after the memo.
- If the memo is not on the Mac, AirDrop it from the iPhone instead: open the memo, tap the three dots, choose Share, then AirDrop.
QuickTime Player audio and screen recordings
QuickTime's File → New Audio Recording saves an .m4a, and File → New Screen Recording (or ⇧⌘5) saves a .mov, by default on the Desktop as "Screen Recording" followed by the date. Both upload as they are. There is no need to export the audio out of a .mov first.
Zoom, Teams and other call recordings
Zoom's local recordings live in Documents → Zoom, one folder per meeting, named with the date and the meeting title. Inside you usually find an .mp4 (the video) and an .m4a (audio only). Upload the .m4a: it is a fraction of the size and transcribes the same. Recordings made by other call apps are typically in Movies, Documents or Downloads; Finder's search for .m4a or .mov, sorted by date, finds them quickly.
Step 2: upload it in the browser
Open whipscribe.com. Drag the file from Finder onto the upload box, or click it and choose the file, including from iCloud Drive in the sidebar of the file picker. Accepted formats are .m4a, .mov, .mp4, .mp3, .wav, .flac, .ogg and .webm, so nothing your Mac records needs converting. A single file can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB.
When the upload finishes, enter your email so the transcript is saved to you. Keep the tab open while a large file uploads; once it is processing you can switch to other work.
The recording is already on your Mac Drag the .m4a or .mov onto whipscribe.com Packs from $4 for 500 minutes, minutes never expire. Nothing to install. Upload your recording →Step 3: what you get back
- A transcript with clickable timestamps. Click any line and the audio plays from that second, which is how you check a quote without scrubbing. Press ⌘K to search for a word.
- The Intelligence tab: a summary, chapters with timestamps, and the key quotes, so you know what is in a two-hour recording before you read it.
- AI Chat. Ask "what did she say about the delivery delays?" and the answer quotes the transcript with timestamps you can click to hear. Ask it for a Word memo, a PDF, an Excel table of the main points or an SRT file, and it saves the file under Resources.
- Exports: TXT, DOCX, SRT and VTT, with the timing kept.
A worked example
A 1 hour 52 minute research interview, recorded on an iPhone
A graduate student records an interview with a logistics manager in Voice Memos on her phone, sitting across a café table. That evening the memo is already in Voice Memos on her MacBook. She gives it a clear title, drags it to the Desktop (a 54 MB .m4a), drops it on whipscribe.com and enters her email. About four minutes later she has the transcript. The chapters show the part about delivery delays starts at 1:07:40; she asks the chat for every mention of "night shift", clicks two of the timestamps to confirm the wording, and downloads a DOCX for her coding software. The interview used 112 of the 500 minutes in a $4 pack, leaving 388 for the next three interviews.
Recording tips for the next one
Price
Packs start at $4 for 500 minutes, paid by card through Paddle. Then $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes (best value) and $24 for 5,000 minutes for a team. Minutes never expire, so a pack bought for one thesis lasts until the next.
If you do interviews for a living, the journalist interview workflow shows how to go from transcript to checked quotes, and the academic research page covers interview studies with many recordings.
Frequently asked
Where are Voice Memos stored on a Mac?
The easiest way to get one is to drag the recording from the list in the Voice Memos app onto your Desktop, which saves a copy as an .m4a file. The app keeps its own library inside your user Library folder, and the exact folder has moved between macOS versions, so dragging the recording out is quicker and more reliable than hunting for it in Finder.
Do I need to convert the .m4a or .mov file first?
No. Upload the file exactly as your Mac saved it. Whipscribe accepts .m4a, .mov, .mp4, .mp3, .wav, .flac, .ogg and .webm, so a Voice Memo, a QuickTime audio recording, a screen recording or a Zoom local recording goes in as it is.
Can I transcribe a recording from my iPhone on the Mac?
Yes. If Voice Memos is turned on in iCloud on both devices, the recording appears in Voice Memos on the Mac and you can drag it out from there. You can also AirDrop the memo to the Mac, or save it to iCloud Drive and choose it from the Safari file picker.
How long can the recording be?
A single file can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB. A typical one-hour recording is ready in about two minutes, so a two-hour interview usually takes around four. Keep the browser tab open while a large file uploads.
Is there anything to install on the Mac?
No. Everything happens in the browser: Safari, Chrome, Firefox or any other. You drag the file onto whipscribe.com, enter your email after the upload, and read, search and download the transcript on the same page.
What does it cost?
Packs start at $4 for 500 minutes, paid by card through Paddle, and the minutes never expire. Larger packs are $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes and $24 for 5,000 minutes. The summary, chapters, key quotes, AI Chat and every export come with the transcript.
Voice Memos, QuickTime, Zoom: if your Mac recorded it, drag the file onto whipscribe.com. Timestamped transcript, summary, chapters and chat, ready in minutes. Packs from $4 for 500 minutes.
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