Transcribe a 12-hour recording as two files, honestly.
A 12-hour recording is longer than the 10-hour limit for one file, so cut it into two files, ideally six hours each, and upload both; at about 2 minutes per audio hour the pair takes roughly 24 minutes. The first 20 minutes are free, and the 720 minutes run on the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes with 1,280 left.
Twelve hours, the straight answer
The ceiling is 10 hours a file. Two halves get you there cleanly.
Why not one file
We tested longer single files and the longest we can stand behind is 10 hours. Rather than let a twelve-hour upload fail near the end, we ask for two files, and each of them finishes reliably.
Cut at a pause
Pick a natural break near the middle: lunch, an intermission, a shift change. Two files of about six hours each are easier to read and check than one of ten and one of two, and the brief for each half stays focused.
720 minutes, one pack
Both halves together are 720 minutes. That is more than the $6 pack's 500, so the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes is the fit, at $0.36 an audio hour. Credits never expire, so the rest waits for the next long day.
Reading the pair
Each half returns with its own brief, chapters with timestamps, and the names, numbers and dates said in it. To find a second-half moment in the original, add the length of the first file to its timestamp.
Why a 12-hour file goes wrong
Most tools fail on twelve hours without telling you why.
✗ Silent failure
A single twelve-hour upload elsewhere tends to stop partway, return a cut-off transcript, or never start.
- An upload that stalls at 90 percent
- A transcript that ends mid-afternoon
- Eight pieces to fit a two-hour cap
- Clocks that restart in every piece
- A subscription for one long day
- Nothing to tell you where to look
✓ Two halves, both finished
Two files under the ceiling, each transcribed in full with its own index.
- About 24 minutes for the pair
- First 20 minutes free
- 720 minutes on a $12 pack
- Speakers named in each half's summary and quotes
- Chapters inside each half
- TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON for both
Sample
The start of the second half.
This is an illustrative sample written for this page; no real recording was used. The second file restarts its clock at zero, so add the first file's length to place these lines in the 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
- 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
Twelve hours of audio, the practical questions.
Can I upload a 12-hour recording as one file?
No. The most one file can hold is 10 hours or 5 GB, whichever is reached first. A 12-hour recording goes in as two files, each under 10 hours, and each comes back as a complete transcript.
How do I split it?
Open it in a free editor such as Audacity, cut at a pause near the middle, and export two files. From a terminal, ffmpeg can copy the first six hours with -t 06:00:00 and the rest with -ss 06:00:00, using -c copy so nothing is re-encoded.
How long do the two files take?
About 12 minutes each, at roughly 2 minutes per audio hour, so around 24 minutes for the pair. You can upload both and leave; they wait in your Library.
What does twelve hours cost?
720 minutes across the two files. The $12 pack of 2,000 minutes covers it and leaves 1,280. The first 20 minutes are free for a first-time visitor, before any pack.
It is a 12-hour stream VOD. Can I paste the link?
A single VOD longer than 10 hours is over the ceiling for one file, so download it, cut it into two files and upload those. Like any stream recording over 6 hours, each half starts once a pack is on the account.
Which languages and exports, and is the recording private?
99 languages are detected automatically, file by file. Each half exports as TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training.
Related
Long, and longer
Two halves, one pack. The opening 20 minutes of the first half are free.
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