Mono or stereo for transcription? Mono is enough; convert only for size.
Mono is enough for transcription: speech carries the same words in one channel, so a stereo file and its mono mixdown come back as the same text. Convert with ffmpeg -i in.wav -ac 1 out.wav, or in Audacity use Tracks, then Mix, then Mix Stereo Down to Mono (menu wording varies by version), and only when size matters: 10 hours of CD-quality stereo WAV is about 6.35 GB, over the 5 GB file limit, while the mono version is about 3.18 GB.
What the channel count changes
A second channel doubles the bytes, not the words.
The size arithmetic
16-bit audio at 44.1 kHz is 88,200 bytes a second per channel: about 318 MB an hour in mono and 635 MB in stereo. Ten hours of stereo is about 6.35 GB; of mono, about 3.18 GB. For an MP3 the size follows the bitrate you pick, so 64 kbps mono is about 29 MB an hour.
When to fold to mono
Fold to mono when a stereo WAV is over 5 GB, when it is over 2 GB and no pack is on the account yet, or when the upload would take an hour. Stereo CD-quality WAV crosses 2 GB a little after 3 hours; mono crosses it at about 6.3 hours.
When to leave it alone
A stereo MP3, M4A or MP4 of a few hundred megabytes does not need touching. Drop it on the upload page as it is. A recorder that writes the same voice to both channels gains nothing from the conversion except a smaller file.
The one channel to rescue
If one side carries a clean lapel mic and the other a noisy room mic, a plain mixdown blends the noise in. Keep the good side instead: ffmpeg -i in.wav -af "pan=mono|c0=c0" left.wav keeps the left channel; c0=c1 keeps the right.
Where the mixdown hurts
Mono is safe for speech, except when the two channels disagree.
✗ A careless mixdown
Folding two very different channels into one can make the speech harder to hear, not easier.
- Blending a silent channel and halving the level
- Mixing a clean mic with a hissing one
- Out-of-phase channels cancelling each other
- Converting an MP3 that was already small
- Re-encoding twice and stacking artefacts
- Splitting a long file to fit a size cap
✓ Pick by the channels, then upload once
Listen to each side for ten seconds, then decide.
- Same voice on both sides: either works
- One clean side: keep that side
- Two people on two sides: keep both
- Mono WAV for files near 5 GB
- Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file
- Exports to TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON
Sample
A two-mic interview folded to mono, ninety minutes in.
Illustrative only: these lines were written for this page. Folding to mono does not shift time, so the timestamps match the stereo original.
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
Mono or stereo, answered.
Does mono give a worse transcript than stereo?
No, not for speech. The words are in both versions; the second channel mostly adds room sound and size. The exception is a stereo file where one side is noisy or silent, where a plain mixdown can bury the voice; keep the clean side instead.
How do I convert stereo to mono?
ffmpeg -i in.wav -ac 1 out.wav folds both channels into one. In Audacity, look for Tracks, then Mix, then Mix Stereo Down to Mono, and export. Many recorders and phone apps also have a mono setting for the next recording.
What about a call recorder that puts each person on a side?
Upload it as it is, or fold it to mono; both people stay in the audio either way. Speakers are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters. Recording a call needs the consent the law where you are requires.
My stereo WAV is 6 GB. What are my options?
Fold it to mono, which roughly halves it to about 3 GB, or convert it to a 64 kbps mono MP3 at about 29 MB an hour. Before the first pack, uploads are limited to 2 GB; once a pack is on the account, files up to 5 GB go through.
How long and how much for 10 hours?
About 20 minutes of processing, mono or stereo. Ten hours is 600 minutes, which goes on the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes with 1,400 left for later; credits never expire. The first 20 minutes are free for a first-time visitor.
Is the recording kept private?
Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. You can delete the file and its transcript at any time.
Related
Related pages
Mono or stereo, upload either. The words come back the same.
Transcribe my recordingOperated by Neugence Technology Pvt. Ltd. · contact@whipscribe.com · Security · Privacy · Terms