Don’t want to install MacWhisper? 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.
Set up MacWhisper, choose between free and Pro models, and fix the usual problems: model download failures, slow large-v3 runs, missing speaker labels, exports.
Download from Gumroad or the Mac App Store. The free tier includes tiny/base/small models; Pro (one-time license) unlocks large-v3, batching and diarization.
Drag the file in, pick a model, wait for the in-app model download on first use.
Diarization is Pro-only and adds a second pass — expect roughly 2× the run time.
The models come from Hugging Face — corporate networks and some ISPs block it. Try another network, or download the .bin manually and drop it in via Settings → Models.
On Intel Macs that's expected — large-v3 is really an Apple-Silicon feature. On M-series, close other heavy apps; the Neural Engine build needs free memory.
That's how local diarization works — it separates voices but can't name them. Rename in the editor, or use a service that lets you relabel inline.
No — MacWhisper is file-based. Download the media first, or paste the link into a hosted service that fetches server-side.
Whisper's timestamps drift on multi-hour audio; re-align with word-level timestamps enabled, or split the file at chapter points.
More on MacWhisper: the full MacWhisper page · MacWhisper alternatives · all transcription tools
One file up to 10 hours, as an upload or a link: see transcribing a long MP3 or M4A, a podcast episode as text from its link and an SRT subtitle file from any recording.
If you would rather pay a service than run software yourself: see how the best transcription services compare, the cheapest way to transcribe an hour of audio and how our transcription services work.