What format is best for long audio transcription? compressed audio, at a sensible bitrate.
For long recordings the best format is compressed audio: M4A (AAC) or MP3 at 64 to 128 kbps keeps speech clear while 10 hours stays at about 290 to 580 MB, far below the 2 GB first-pack line and the 5 GB, 10-hour ceiling per file. Any common format still works as it is, at about 2 minutes per audio hour with the first 20 minutes free, and a 6-hour M4A uses 360 minutes of the $6 pack of 500.
Choosing a format
For speech, the room matters more than the file type.
The microphone beats the codec
A voice recorded close to the mic in a quiet room transcribes well as a modest MP3; a voice across a noisy hall stays hard to hear even as a pristine WAV. Spend effort on placement and on keeping noise down, then choose a format that keeps the file manageable.
Sizes per hour, side by side
MP3 or M4A at 128 kbps: about 58 MB an hour. At 64 kbps: about 29 MB. FLAC: usually around half of WAV. Uncompressed 16-bit stereo WAV: about 635 MB an hour, which means 10 hours of WAV, near 6.35 GB, is over the 5 GB line before it is over the time line.
Never re-encode upwards
Turning a 64 kbps MP3 into a WAV makes the file ten times larger and puts back nothing that was lost. Send the original as it came off the device. Convert only to make a file smaller, and only when it is too large to send as it is.
Settings for the next recording
Mono is enough for one room, since a transcript does not need stereo width. A sample rate of 44.1 or 48 kHz with AAC or MP3 at 96 to 128 kbps leaves headroom for quiet speakers and keeps a full day of recording under a gigabyte.
Format choices
Bigger files are not better transcripts.
✗ Common format mistakes
Choices that cost upload time and change nothing in the text.
- Recording a full day as stereo WAV
- Converting MP3 back to WAV
- Very low bitrates that blur speech
- Keeping video when only audio matters
- Re-saving the same file several times
- Splitting to fit a small upload cap
✓ Sensible choices
What keeps long files small and clear.
- M4A or MP3 at 64 to 128 kbps
- Mono for a single room
- The original file, sent as it is
- Audio-only export for huge videos
- FLAC when you want lossless and smaller
- One file per session, up to 10 hours
Sample output
Six hours of M4A, nothing lost.
Illustrative lines invented for this page, not from a real recording, from a long oral-history session saved as a compressed audio file.
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
Questions about audio formats.
What format is best for long audio transcription?
Compressed audio such as M4A or MP3 at 64 to 128 kbps. It keeps speech clear, keeps 10 hours under about 600 MB and uploads quickly, while any other common format is also accepted as it is.
Is WAV better than MP3 for transcription?
Not in a way that changes the words for ordinary speech. WAV is far larger, about 635 MB an hour in 16-bit stereo, so long WAV files reach the 2 GB and 5 GB lines quickly. If you want lossless, FLAC is smaller.
Should I record in mono or stereo?
Mono suits one room and one microphone, and halves the size of uncompressed audio. Keep stereo only when each channel holds a different person on a separate mic, and send the file as recorded.
Which format do phone recorders use?
The iPhone Voice Memos app saves M4A, which is ideal. Android recorders vary between M4A, MP3 and other formats, and all the common ones upload without conversion.
What does a long recording cost in any format?
Format does not change the price; running time does. A 6-hour M4A is 360 minutes on the $6 pack of 500, and a 9-hour FLAC is 540 minutes on the $12 pack of 2,000.
What comes back, and is the file kept private?
A transcript with timestamps in TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON, with speakers named in the summary, key quotes and chapters. Your audio is transcribed on our own servers and is never used for training.
Related
Related format pages.
Whatever the format, send the original file.
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