How do I transcribe a long recording on a Mac? Drag it in, read it in minutes.
Drag the recording from Finder onto the upload box in Safari, Chrome or Firefox: a single file can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB, files up to 2 GB go through before your first pack, and transcription runs at about 2 minutes per audio hour. A 4-hour workshop, 240 minutes, is done in roughly 8 minutes; the first 20 minutes are free and the $6 pack of 500 minutes covers the rest.
Where Mac recordings live
Every Mac app saves somewhere different. All of them upload.
QuickTime Player
A New Audio Recording in QuickTime saves an M4A, and a screen recording saves a MOV, by default to the Desktop or the folder you chose. Either one can go straight onto the box; for video, only the soundtrack is read.
Voice Memos and Zoom
Voice Memos on the Mac lets you drag a memo out of its list onto the Desktop, or use Share to save it as a file. Zoom's local recordings usually sit in a Zoom folder inside Documents, one folder per meeting, with an MP4 and an audio-only M4A side by side.
When a screen recording is huge
Hours of high-resolution screen capture can pass 5 GB. In QuickTime, File, Export As, Audio Only writes an M4A of the same length at a fraction of the size, and the words come out the same. Large files can also go through the upload page.
What lands in your browser
A brief with the thesis and takeaways, chapters with timestamps, the names, numbers and dates that were said, and a chat for questions. Speakers are named in the summary, key quotes and chapters, and DOCX opens straight in Pages or Word.
Long files on macOS
Why the usual Mac routes stall on a four-hour file.
✗ Dictation and live captions
macOS dictation and Live Captions are built for speech as it happens. They do not take a finished four-hour file and hand back a document.
- Made for live speech, not saved files
- Playing audio aloud to dictate
- No timestamps to check against
- Nothing for a teammate's recording
- No chapters or summary
- Text you still have to structure
✓ The saved file, start to end
Whatever app made the recording, the file you already have is the input.
- Drag from Finder, done
- A 4-hour file in about 8 minutes
- The first 20 minutes free
- 500 minutes for $6
- Speakers named in the summary
- DOCX for Pages or Word
Sample output
A long QuickTime recording, line by line.
These lines are illustrative and invented. Times run continuously from the first second of the file to the last.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Mac recordings, answered.
Which browser should I use on the Mac?
Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Edge all work. Keep the tab open until the upload finishes; after that the transcript is built on our servers and appears in your Library even if you close the laptop lid.
How fast is it for a long file?
About 2 minutes per audio hour once uploaded. A 90-minute interview is ready in about 3 minutes, a 4-hour workshop in about 8, and a full 8-hour day in roughly 16.
What will a few long recordings cost?
The first 20 minutes are free for a first-time visitor. Two 4-hour sessions, 480 minutes, fit the $6 pack of 500 minutes. Ten of them, 2,400 minutes, are past the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes, so the $24 pack of 5,000 minutes is the one to buy. Credits never expire and nothing renews.
My MOV is over 2 GB. Will it upload?
Before the first pack, uploads go up to 2 GB; a larger file starts once a pack is on the account, up to 5 GB. Exporting audio only from QuickTime usually brings a long MOV well under 2 GB without losing a word.
The recording is longer than 10 hours. Can I still use it?
Split it into two files first. In QuickTime, Edit, Trim keeps one part, which you then save as a new file; repeat for the other part, or use any audio editor. Each part gets its own transcript.
Is my recording kept private?
Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. Nothing is installed on the Mac, and you can delete a recording and its transcript from your Library.
Related
More for Mac users.
Your Mac recording. Text in a few minutes.
Drop the fileOperated by Neugence Technology Pvt. Ltd. · contact@whipscribe.com · Security · Privacy · Terms