Transcribe a long MKV straight out of OBS.
MKV is a common OBS recording format, chosen because a crash cannot ruin the whole file, so long streams, calls and screen recordings often end up as MKVs of several gigabytes. At similar settings an MKV is about the size of an MP4, roughly 1 to 2 GB per hour at 1080p. Upload one up to 5 GB and 10 hours, and only its audio is transcribed and counted.
OBS files, hours long
The file OBS left you, transcribed.
Why your recording is an MKV
If the computer or the app crashes mid-recording, an MKV stays playable up to the moment of the crash. That safety matters most on long sessions, which is why multi-hour MKVs are so common among streamers and people who record calls.
Remux if a picker refuses it
If a browser's file picker greys out the MKV, use File, then Remux Recordings in OBS. It rewraps the same audio and video into an MP4 without re-encoding, so it is quick and loses nothing. Larger results upload best from the upload page.
Speech split across tracks
OBS can write several audio tracks into one MKV, such as a microphone on one and desktop audio on another. If the voices you want are spread across tracks, export one mixed audio file before uploading so every voice ends up in the transcript.
Find the moment in hours of capture
A four-hour session holds a lot of dead air and side talk. Chapters with timestamps, key quotes and a chat over the transcript point you to the minute where the thing you remember was said.
Before / after
An MKV should not need a conversion pipeline.
✗ Converted before it is read
Long OBS captures often meet tools that only take MP4 or audio, and only under a size limit.
- MKV missing from the list of accepted formats
- A full re-encode that takes as long as the stream
- A 3 GB capture refused at the upload box
- A four-hour session chopped into four files
- Half the voices lost because they sat on another track
- A price based on file size, not on speech
✓ Upload the capture, read the session
The MKV, or its quick remux, goes up whole.
- One MKV up to 5 GB and 10 hours
- Remux in OBS when a picker needs MP4
- Four hours processed in about eight minutes
- One timeline matching the recording
- Speakers named across the brief, quotes and chapters
- A four-hour session uses 240 minutes of a $6 pack
Sample output
A long session, the parts worth finding.
Illustrative sample, not from a real MKV. It shows a long OBS capture returned with times that match the recording.
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
- Unlimited AI chat per 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
- Priority queue
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Long MKV questions.
How long does a four-hour MKV take to transcribe?
About eight minutes after it has uploaded, at around 2 minutes per hour of audio. On a slow connection a capture of a few gigabytes may take longer to upload than that.
What does it cost to transcribe a long MKV?
Only the audio minutes count. A four-hour session is 240 minutes, which fits on the $6 pack (500 minutes) with at least 260 to spare, and a ten-hour capture is 600 minutes on the $12 pack (2,000 minutes). The first 20 minutes of your first recording are free.
My MKV is over 5 GB. What are the options?
Remuxing will not shrink it, since it keeps the same streams. Export only the audio, which brings hours of capture down to a few hundred megabytes, or record future sessions at a lower video bitrate. Anything above 2 GB waits for a pack on your account before it starts.
What if the session ran longer than 10 hours?
Split the capture into two files at a break, or export the audio in two parts, and upload each. Each transcript has its own clock starting from zero.
Which languages are recognised?
99 languages are detected automatically, so a stream or call in any of them needs no setting.
What can I export, and where is the MKV processed?
Every capture exports to TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON. Captures are transcribed on our own servers and never used to train models.
Related
Related pages.
Hours of capture, one upload. MKV or its MP4 remux.
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