Podcast episode to text: transcript, show notes, chapters and social quotes from one upload
The episode is mixed and exported. Before it goes live you still owe it a transcript page, show notes, chapter markers and three or four lines people will actually share. On a 45 to 120 minute show that usually means a second listen, a notepad and an evening. This guide does the same job from one upload of the final file, in about the time it takes to make coffee, and shows a worked example with real numbers.
Have a recording like this? Packs from $4, credits never expire → timestamps, overview. Summary free to read.
What you will have at the end
- A full transcript with a timestamp on every line. Click any line and the audio plays from that second.
- Chapters with start times, ready to paste into your episode description.
- Show notes: a short summary, what the episode covers, and the names, numbers and resources that were mentioned.
- Quotes for social: the lines worth posting, each with the timestamp so you can check it in context.
- Files: TXT, DOCX, SRT or VTT downloads, plus Word, PDF or Excel files that AI Chat makes for you.
Step by step: from final mix to publish kit
1. Upload the final mix, not the raw tracks
Export the episode exactly as listeners will hear it, intro music and ad reads included, and upload that file on the WhipScribe home page. The reason is timing: if you transcribe a raw track and then trim three minutes of cold open, every chapter time you copy is three minutes wrong. Transcribe the published cut and the timestamps line up with what people play.
MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, MP4, MOV and WEBM all work, so a video podcast can go up as the MP4 you export for YouTube. After the upload you enter your email address, and the finished transcript is tied to it.
2. Read the Intelligence tab first
Transcription runs at about two minutes per hour of audio, so a 90-minute episode is usually ready in around three minutes. Open the Intelligence tab before the transcript. It gives you a summary of the episode, chapters with start times, and key quotes. Read it as a producer would: does the summary describe the episode you meant to make? If the chapter list splits a topic in two or merges two, you will fix that in step 4.
3. Use AI Chat to draft the show notes
AI Chat answers questions about this recording, and every answer carries timestamps you can click to hear the moment. Ask for the pieces of the show notes one at a time; short requests get tighter answers than one giant prompt:
- "Write a 60-word episode description in a friendly tone, no hype."
- "List every book, tool, website and person mentioned, with the timestamp."
- "What are the three most practical takeaways for a listener?"
- "Make the show notes into a Word file."
Files that chat makes (Word, PDF, Excel or SRT) are saved under Resources, so the show notes document sits next to the transcript it came from.
4. Fix and paste the chapters
Ask chat for the chapters as plain lines, 00:00 Intro, one per line. Then click each start time and listen to the first five seconds. Move a chapter if it starts mid-sentence, give it a sharper title if the current one is vague ("Discussion" tells a listener nothing; "Why the first price was too low" does). YouTube reads chapters from the description when the first line starts at 00:00 and there are at least three; many podcast hosts accept the same lines or have a chapters field. See what podcast chapters are and where they show up.
5. Pull quotes for social, and attribute them yourself
Ask "Which five lines would work as a standalone quote on social?" Each answer comes back with its timestamp. Click it, listen, and confirm two things: the wording is what was said, and you know who said it. The transcript does not mark speakers, so on a guest episode you add the name yourself. With the audio one click away this takes seconds per quote. Drag across a quote in the transcript and choose Copy selection to copy it with its time.
6. Download what each platform needs
- Website transcript page: DOCX or TXT, then lightly edit filler words.
- YouTube captions for a video episode: SRT or VTT.
- Newsletter: the show notes file from Resources.
- Your own archive: keep the recording in your library so you can search it later. Finding a moment in a long recording shows how that works across episodes.
Worked example: a 78-minute interview episode
An illustrative, anonymized case. A small-business podcast records a remote interview with a bakery owner about raising prices. The final mix is a 78-minute MP3, about 110 MB, with a 40-second music intro and one mid-roll ad.
What happened, in order
Upload finished in under a minute on a home connection. The transcript was ready about three minutes later. The Intelligence tab proposed nine chapters; the host merged two that both covered supplier costs and retitled "Pricing discussion" as "The day she raised prices 12%". Chat listed four resources mentioned in the episode with their timestamps, one of which the host had forgotten about. Of five suggested quotes, three were used: two from the guest, one from the host, each confirmed by clicking the timestamp. Total desk time from upload to a finished description: about 25 minutes, against the usual evening of re-listening.
Cost: the episode used 78 of the 500 minutes in a $4 pack, so the same pack covers about six episodes of that length.
Recording tips that make the text better
What it costs
Packs start at $4 for 500 minutes, and minutes never expire, so a monthly show is not paying for idle weeks. The other packs are $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 and $24 for 5,000, paid by card. The summary, chapters, key quotes, AI Chat and every export come with each transcript; they are not extra. A weekly 60-minute show uses about 260 minutes a month, so one $4 pack lasts close to two months. More podcast workflows are on the podcasting use-case page.
Frequently asked
How long does a one-hour podcast episode take to transcribe?
Usually about two minutes per hour of audio, so a 45 to 120 minute episode is typically ready in two to five minutes after the upload finishes. Large files are fine; one upload can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB.
Which file should I upload, the raw tracks or the final mix?
Upload the final mix you are about to publish. Its timestamps then match the published episode exactly, so the chapter times and quote times you copy are the ones your listeners will see. MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, MP4, MOV and WEBM all work.
Can I get chapter timestamps in the format YouTube and podcast apps use?
The Intelligence tab lists chapters with their start times. Ask AI Chat for them as lines of the form 00:00 Title and paste the list into your description. YouTube needs the first chapter at 00:00 and at least three chapters; check each start time by clicking it before you publish.
Does it tell me which person said each quote?
No. The transcript does not mark who is speaking. Click the timestamp next to a quote, listen for a few seconds, and write the name yourself. On a two-person show this takes seconds per quote.
What files can I download for show notes and captions?
TXT, DOCX, SRT and VTT exports of the transcript, all with timestamps. AI Chat can also make Word, PDF, Excel or SRT files from your requests, such as the show notes or a quote sheet, and saves them in Resources.
What does it cost per episode?
Packs start at $4 for 500 minutes and the minutes never expire. A 78-minute episode uses 78 minutes, so one $4 pack covers about six episodes of that length. Larger packs are $8 for 1,000, $12 for 2,000 and $24 for 5,000 minutes, paid by card.
Upload the episode file you are about to publish. Get the transcript with clickable timestamps, chapters, show notes and quotes in a few minutes. Packs from $4 for 500 minutes.
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