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GarageBand · export M4A, MP3, WAV

Transcribe a GarageBand recording to text.

A GarageBand project is not an audio file until you export it. Use Share → Export Song to Disk, drop the result here, and the podcast episode, interview or voice-over comes back as text with timestamps.

Free preview and summary Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file 99+ languages TXT · DOCX · SRT · VTT · JSON

The file you have

What GarageBand saves, and what to export.

Project file
A .band project. It only opens in GarageBand and cannot be uploaded.
On a Mac
Share → Export Song to Disk, then AAC (an .m4a), MP3, AIFF or WAVE.
On iPhone or iPad
In My Songs touch and hold the song → Share → Song, pick a quality, then Save to Files.
Best choice
MP3 or AAC. Uncompressed AIFF and WAVE are ten times larger with the same transcript.

There is no link to paste for this one. Get the file onto your phone or computer first, then upload it in the box above.

How it works

Three steps, the first one is the only one that takes any thought.

1

Export the song

Share → Export Song to Disk on a Mac, or Share → Song on iPhone and iPad.

2

Drop the file here

M4A, MP3, AIFF and WAV all upload as they are.

3

Write the show notes from it

Use the summary and chapter list as a draft, and export DOCX or SRT for the episode page.

Good to know

What trips people up, and what to do about it.

Example. A 38-minute podcast episode recorded on two microphones is shared as a 36 MB M4A. The transcript is back in about a minute and a half, with chapter titles that become the episode's timestamps in the show notes.

What comes back

More than a wall of text.

The same four things for every GarageBand recording, whatever its length.

A transcript with timestamps

Every line carries its time. Click a line to hear that second again, or search a name or phrase and jump to each place it was said.

A summary, chapters and key quotes

A brief with the takeaways, chapters with their start times, and the quotes worth keeping. Speakers are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters.

Questions answered from the recording

Ask where a topic came up or what was decided, and get the answer with the time it was said, instead of scrolling the whole text.

Every export

TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON from the same transcript: a document to edit, caption files for video, plain text to paste, structured data for your own tools.

Pricing

Free preview. Packs from $4, and the minutes never expire.

A 38-minute episode is 38 minutes, so the $4 pack (500 minutes) covers it 13 times over. Every recording gets a free preview and a summary you can read before paying; a pack opens the full transcript and every export. Packs are one-time purchases with no subscription and no seat fee.

Pick a pack to open secure checkout. Workspace is $19 a month for unlimited transcription (300-hour fair-use mark). Full pricing

What we measured, last 30 days

1,901 recordings, 830 audio hours, 64 languages detected. An hour of audio came back in 3.7 minutes for half of the recordings and within 19.7 minutes for nine in ten, measured from the moment the file landed to the finished transcript. Refreshed 2026-10-02; method on how we test.

FAQ

GarageBand to text, answered.

How do I transcribe a GarageBand project?

Export it first: Share → Export Song to Disk on a Mac (or Share → Song on iPhone). Then drop the exported M4A, MP3 or WAV in the box on this page.

Why does my transcript stop halfway?

The export stopped there. Usually the cycle region was on, so only that part was exported. Turn it off and export again.

Can I upload from GarageBand on my iPhone?

Yes. Share the song, save it to Files, then open this page in Safari, tap the upload box and pick the file.

What does transcribing GarageBand recordings cost?

The preview and the summary are free. A pack opens the full transcript: $4 for 500 minutes, $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes, $24 for 5,000 minutes. Packs are one-time, credits never expire, and Workspace is $19 a month if you transcribe every week.

How long can the recording be?

One file can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB. The box on this page takes files up to 500 MB; a larger file continues on the main upload page, which uploads it in parts. Most recordings come back in about two minutes per hour of audio.

Is the recording kept private?

Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. You can delete a recording and its transcript at any time.

Keep going

More audio recording sources: Audacity · Adobe Audition

Related: Transcribe a podcast episode · Audacity transcription · Transcribe an M4A file · Podcast show notes generator

Every file type, recording and source · All platforms · All file formats · Long recordings · Transcription services

Drop the recording. Read the summary in minutes.

Free preview, no signup to try. Up to 10 hours or 5 GB in one file.

Recording on this platform?

For the recordings and videos it produces: see a video transcription service for uploads and links, online transcription services and transcription services from $4.