Should you split a long audio file before transcribing it?.
Do not split a long audio file before transcribing it here unless it runs past 10 hours or 5 GB: anything below both uploads as one file and comes back as one transcript on one clock, at about 2 minutes per audio hour. The first 20 minutes are free, and a $6 pack of 500 minutes covers a single file of up to about 8 hours.
Why one piece is better
Cutting a recording costs more than the upload it saves.
What splitting breaks
Each part restarts at 00:00:00, so a quote at minute 40 of part three has to be converted back to the real time. Chapters stop at the cut, a sentence spoken across the cut is broken in two, and each part gets its own summary instead of one that reads the whole recording. Rejoining the pieces afterwards is a second job that nobody budgets time for.
The two cases where you must
A recording longer than 10 hours goes up as two files, and so does one larger than 5 GB. For a video over 5 GB, exporting the audio track alone usually brings it far below the limit with nothing lost for transcription, since the speech is all that gets transcribed.
Before your first pack
Uploads before the first pack stop at 2 GB, and stream recordings over 6 hours start once a pack is on the account. Both are reasons to buy before uploading, not reasons to cut. An audio-only export also brings most long videos under 2 GB.
If you have to cut, cut well
Pick a pause or a break in the session rather than an even time split, and note the length of each part. Add that length to the timestamps of the next part when you quote, so references still match the original recording. Name the files in order, part one, part two, so the sequence survives a download folder full of similar names.
Splitting to satisfy a tool
Many tools ask you to split; the transcript pays for it.
✗ Split into parts
Parts are what small upload limits force on long recordings.
- Timestamps that restart in every part
- Sentences cut in half at the joins
- Chapters and summaries per fragment
- Several downloads to stitch together
- The Whisper API's 25 MB limit forcing dozens of cuts
- An hour of editing before any reading
✓ Uploaded whole
One recording, one transcript, one set of timestamps.
- Up to 10 hours or 5 GB in one file
- One clock from first second to last
- Chapters that follow the content
- A summary written from the whole recording
- About 2 minutes per hour of audio
- One set of exports
Sample
A long recording kept whole: one clock throughout.
This sample is illustrative and written for this page, not from a real recording. Note how the timestamps keep running across a full day rather than restarting at a cut.
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
- Unlimited AI chat per 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
- Priority queue
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Splitting long audio, answered.
Should I split a long audio file before transcribing?
Not here, unless it is longer than 10 hours or larger than 5 GB. Below both limits the file goes up whole and you get one transcript with one clock, one summary and chapters that follow the content.
I already cut the recording into pieces. Can I join them?
Yes, any audio editor can join them back into one file before upload, and that gives you continuous timestamps. You can also upload the parts as they are; each one simply gets its own transcript and starts at zero.
How long does an unsplit 6-hour file take?
About 12 minutes, at roughly 2 minutes per hour of audio. A 9.31-hour file has been done in 1,033 seconds, which is published at /proof/long-files.
What does one long file cost?
A 6-hour file is 360 minutes and fits the $6 pack of 500 minutes. Files of 9 or 10 hours, 540 to 600 minutes, need the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes, which then has room for several more.
Does a long file with several languages need splitting by language?
No. Detection runs on the main language of the recording, from 99 supported, and English and Tagalog switching in one file is handled. Splitting by language is not needed.
What exports does one uncut file give, and is it kept private?
TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON, each on the same clock. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training.
Related
Related limits and sizes
Leave the recording in one piece. The opening 20 minutes are on us.
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