01
Pick the MP4
Drag the file onto the box or choose it from a folder. Nothing is sent yet: your browser reads the file and shows how long it is.
MP4 → text
MP4 to text converter — transcribe an MP4 video to text.
Pick an MP4 from your computer and get back the spoken words as plain text, ready to copy or save as a .txt file.
Screen recordings, recorded calls, lectures saved from a video platform, phone clips: most of them end up as MP4 files. This MP4 to text converter opens the file in your browser, takes out the soundtrack, and sends only that audio to be transcribed. The text comes back onto this page.
- Plain text
- Every spoken word, on the page.
- Copy or .txt
- One click to copy or save.
- Audio only
- The MP4 stays on your device.
How it works
Transcribe MP4 to text in three steps.
02
Choose the range
Move the start and end markers, or type the times, to keep only the part that matters. Skipping an intro or a silent stretch keeps the transcript focused.
03
Get the text
The audio of that range is extracted on your device and transcribed. While it works you see the text building up; when it is done, the whole transcript sits on the page.
What you get
A transcript you can use straight away.
The transcript on the page. The text is split into paragraphs and shown in full, so you can read it or check a passage without opening another tool.
Copy. One button puts the whole transcript on your clipboard, ready to paste into a document, an email, a subtitle editor or a chat.
Download .txt. Save the text as a plain-text file named after your video. Plain text opens anywhere, from Notepad to a word processor, and it is easy to search.
A notes summary, if you want one. The Turn it into notes button opens the notes converter, where the same MP4 becomes a summary, key points and a timeline.
A worked example
From a recorded seminar to searchable text.
Say you have seminar.mp4, a 50-minute recording of an online seminar, and you only need the 35-minute talk in the middle. Choose the file, set the start to 8:30 and the end to 43:30, and select Get the text.
Your browser pulls the soundtrack for those 35 minutes out of the file. That audio is sent in parts, and each part is transcribed in turn, so the text starts to appear before the last part is finished.
At the end you have the talk as plain text. Copy it into your own notes, search it for the question someone asked at the end, or download the .txt file and keep it next to the recording.
Privacy
Your MP4 stays on your device.
The video file is never uploaded. The audio is extracted inside your browser, on your own computer, and only the audio of the range you chose is sent to be transcribed. The picture, and any part of the file outside your range, stays with you.
Because only audio leaves your device, even a large MP4 does not have to travel over your connection in full. The details of what is processed, and by whom, are on the privacy page.
Long files
How much of an MP4 you can transcribe.
The MP4 can be up to 2 GB. Without signing in, a single selection can be up to 1 hour of audio, within the guest allowance.
Sign in to use a Trial PRO or a purchased hour pack, and one selection can be up to 2 hours, as long as your remaining balance covers it.
For a recording that is longer than that, transcribe it in parts by moving the range, or use the Chrome extension, which is built for long videos.
For long recordings
Transcribe long MP4s with the Chrome extension.
The Video to Notes extension for Chrome opens local video files and supported YouTube videos in a side panel and turns them into a transcript and notes while you keep working.
- Long MP4s and other local video files
- A transcript, summary, key points and timeline
- Export to PDF, Markdown, HTML or TXT
FAQ
MP4 to text questions
How do I convert MP4 to text?
Choose your MP4 in the box at the top of this page, set the start and end of the part you want, and select Get the text. The audio is pulled out of the MP4 in your browser and transcribed, and the transcript appears on the page. Copy it, or download it as a .txt file.
Is my MP4 uploaded?
No, the MP4 file itself stays on your device. Your browser extracts the audio of the range you selected, and only that audio is sent to be transcribed. The picture is never sent.
How long can the MP4 be?
The file can be up to 2 GB. Without signing in, one selection can be up to 1 hour of audio, within the guest allowance. Signed in with a Trial PRO or a purchased hour pack, one selection can be up to 2 hours, as long as your remaining balance covers it. For a longer recording, transcribe it in parts or use the Chrome extension.
Which languages work?
Leave the audio language on Auto-detect, or pick English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or Finnish. The transcript stays in the language that was spoken. When you make notes from the same file, you can choose the language the notes are written in.
Which other formats work?
The file picker accepts any video or audio file. Besides MP4, that includes M4V, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI and OGV video, and MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC and OGG audio. A file only works if your browser's audio engine can read its audio track, so an unusual codec can still fail.
Can I get notes as well as the text?
Yes. This page gives you the plain transcript. Select Turn it into notes under the result to open the notes converter, choose the same MP4 there, and it writes a summary, key points and a timeline you can download.
How accurate is the transcript?
Clear speech with little background noise usually transcribes well. Music, crosstalk, heavy accents or a quiet microphone lower the accuracy, and names or technical terms can come out wrong. Read the text through before you rely on it.
Ready when you are
Turn your MP4 into text.
Pick the file, choose the part you need, and read the transcript.