LibriSpeech
Need a transcript, not a dataset? Drop the file here.
The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free: a recording up to 20 minutes transcribes in full, a longer one is previewed, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export, and credits never expire.
1000h read English audiobook corpus — the canonical ASR benchmark since 2015.
Best for training and evaluating English ASR models — every modern paper reports test-clean/test-other WER. Pricing: free.
What it is
LibriSpeech is the 1000-hour read-English benchmark derived from LibriVox audiobooks. Splits: train-clean-100 / train-clean-360 / train-other-500 + dev/test-clean + dev/test-other. The de-facto WER reference for English ASR. License: CC BY 4.0. BibTeX: panayotov2015librispeech.
Watch out for: CC BY 4.0 · read audiobook speech only · low ambient noise · single-speaker · not representative of conversational or domain audio. Cite: Panayotov et al., ICASSP 2015.
Install / use
from datasets import load_dataset; ds = load_dataset('openslr/librispeech_asr', 'clean')What people actually do with LibriSpeech-style transcription
The tool is the means. These are the jobs — each one priced at published rates, each one wired up on its own page.
Features
| Speaker diarization | No |
| Word-level timestamps | No |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | 1 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
LibriSpeech vs Whipscribe
| Feature | LibriSpeech | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | free | $6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free |
| Speaker identification | No | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | No | Yes |
| Streaming | No | No |
| Languages | 1 | 99 |
| Platforms | HuggingFace, OpenSLR | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to LibriSpeech
Frequently asked about LibriSpeech
Is LibriSpeech free?
Yes. LibriSpeech is free and open source.
Does LibriSpeech work on Mac, Windows and Linux?
LibriSpeech runs on HuggingFace and OpenSLR. It is not listed for other platforms; check the vendor for anything beyond HuggingFace and OpenSLR.
How do I install LibriSpeech?
Download the installer for your platform from the vendor. No terminal needed.
How many languages does LibriSpeech support?
LibriSpeech lists 1 languages.
Does LibriSpeech identify different speakers?
No. LibriSpeech does not label speakers; a conversation comes back as one continuous text. If you need speaker labels, that is a separate tool or a different service.
Does LibriSpeech give word-level timestamps?
No — LibriSpeech produces segment or sentence timing only, so subtitle cues can land mid-word.
Can LibriSpeech transcribe live audio?
No — LibriSpeech works on finished files, not a live stream.
Is LibriSpeech HIPAA compliant?
LibriSpeech does not claim HIPAA compliance. For PHI, run it on infrastructure you control or choose a service that will sign a BAA.
What are the limitations of LibriSpeech?
CC BY 4.0 · read audiobook speech only · low ambient noise · single-speaker · not representative of conversational or domain audio. Cite: Panayotov et al., ICASSP 2015.
Who is LibriSpeech best for?
Training and evaluating English ASR models — every modern paper reports test-clean/test-other WER.
Does LibriSpeech run offline?
LibriSpeech runs on your own machine — it is open source, so nothing leaves the computer unless you configure it to.
Can I use LibriSpeech in the browser?
No — LibriSpeech is a HuggingFace and OpenSLR application, not a web app. You install it rather than sign in to it.
Where is the LibriSpeech source code?
On GitHub at github.com/openslr/librispeech_asr. It is maintained by Vassil Panayotov / Daniel Povey / JHU CLSP.
What kind of tool is LibriSpeech?
In this directory LibriSpeech is filed under dataset as a open-source tool.
What are the alternatives to LibriSpeech?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/librispeech-alternatives comparing LibriSpeech with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Whipscribe is a hosted transcription service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.
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