MELD
Don’t want to install MELD? 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.
Multimodal emotion corpus from Friends TV show — conversational emotion recognition.
Best for conversational emotion recognition; multimodal (audio + video + text). Pricing: research-only.
What it is
MELD extends EmotionLines with audio + video from Friends TV show. 13k utterances across 7 emotion classes in conversation. Audio/video copyright-bound.
Watch out for: GPL-3.0 metadata · audio-visual content from Friends TV show is COPYRIGHTED · research-only fair-use claim. Cite: Poria et al., ACL 2019.
Install / use
git clone https://github.com/declare-lab/MELDWhat people actually do with MELD-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 | Yes |
| Word-level timestamps | No |
| Streaming / real-time | No |
| Languages supported | 1 |
| HIPAA eligible | No |
Links
MELD vs Whipscribe
| Feature | MELD | Whipscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open source | Transcription APIs |
| Pricing | research-only | $6–$24 one-time packs (credits never expire) · first 20 minutes free |
| Speaker identification | Yes | Named in the summary, key quotes and chapters |
| Word timestamps | No | Yes |
| Streaming | No | No |
| Languages | 1 | 99 |
| Platforms | GitHub | Web, API, MCP |
Alternatives to MELD
Frequently asked about MELD
Does MELD work on Mac, Windows and Linux?
MELD runs on GitHub. It is not listed for other platforms; check the vendor for anything beyond GitHub.
How many languages does MELD support?
MELD lists 1 languages.
Does MELD identify different speakers?
Yes — MELD has speaker diarization, so a two-person interview comes back with each speaker labelled.
Does MELD give word-level timestamps?
No — MELD produces segment or sentence timing only, so subtitle cues can land mid-word.
Can MELD transcribe live audio?
No — MELD works on finished files, not a live stream.
Is MELD HIPAA compliant?
MELD 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 MELD?
GPL-3.0 metadata · audio-visual content from Friends TV show is COPYRIGHTED · research-only fair-use claim. Cite: Poria et al., ACL 2019.
Who is MELD best for?
Conversational emotion recognition; multimodal (audio + video + text).
Does MELD run offline?
MELD runs on your own machine — it is open source, so nothing leaves the computer unless you configure it to.
Can I use MELD in the browser?
No — MELD is a GitHub application, not a web app. You install it rather than sign in to it.
Where is the MELD source code?
On GitHub at github.com/declare-lab/MELD. It is maintained by SenticNet group / NUS.
What kind of tool is MELD?
In this directory MELD is filed under dataset as a open-source tool.
What are the alternatives to MELD?
There is a side-by-side page at /tools/meld-alternatives comparing MELD with the closest tools in the same category on price, platform and features.
Can I automate MELD-style transcription without running it myself?
Yes. If what you want is transcripts rather than the tool itself, Whipscribe does the same job as a hosted API: submit a file or URL, poll a job id, pull the result as txt, json, srt, vtt or docx. $0.012 a minute — about $0.72 an audio hour — bought as credits that never expire. The automation recipes on this site show it wired to Drive folders, Zoom recordings, S3 buckets and no-code platforms.
How is Whipscribe different from MELD?
MELD is something you run; Whipscribe is something you call. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training, and every job returns five formats plus an AI summary, quotes and topics. The first 20 minutes of any recording are transcribed free, and a pack from $6 (500 minutes) transcribes the rest and opens every export.
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.
Transcribe your recordings
Running MELD yourself? Send the same file here and compare the transcript. Transcribe any language, any recording · Transcription services from $0.29 an hour · Transcribe from any meeting or recording platform · How to transcribe, step by step
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Long recording to get through?
One file up to 10 hours, as an upload or a link: see MP3 to text for long recordings, transcribing a podcast episode and the SRT file generator.
Rather have it done for you?
Free tools cost setup time. When you want a finished transcript instead: see an honest roundup of the best transcription services, the cheapest way to transcribe an hour of audio and our transcription service with prices and turnaround.