MP3 to text converter
MP3 to Text, From Any Bitrate
Drop an MP3 and this MP3 to text converter reads it first: length, bitrate, sample rate and title. Pick plain text, a DOCX document, SRT or VTT subtitles, CSV or JSON, and the file downloads when the words are ready; the document, subtitles and data files carry the speakers and times.
- all converted word for word
- 8 to 128 kbps
- per MP3, up to 1 GB
- 3 h
- first, five more formats
- TXT
- credits per minute
- 2
- with the sign-up credits
- 30 min
- the text shows in the page
- On screen
How do you convert MP3 to text?
To convert MP3 to text, drop the MP3 on the converter, check its length and the credits, and pick the file you want: TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, CSV or JSON. The words come back with speakers and timings, and the file downloads by itself. Low bitrates convert as well as high ones; our test below shows it.
Transcribe MP3 files in three steps
The text appears right in the page, ready to read.
Pick the file
TXT is ready to go; choose a DOCX document, subtitles, a spreadsheet or JSON instead if that is where the words are going.
Drop the MP3
Its length, bitrate, sample rate, channels and title show at once, with the credits the conversion will use.
Read, check, download
The file saves itself when it is done. Click any word to hear it, rename speakers, and download again in any format.
An MP3 to text converter that reads the file first
MP3s come from voice recorders, phone calls, podcasts and audiobooks, at every bitrate. These parts are built for them.
See what is inside your MP3
Before anything converts, the page reads the file in your browser: how long it plays, its bitrate and sample rate, mono or stereo, and the title in its tags when it has one. You know what you are converting and what it costs.
Low bitrate MP3s convert word for word
One of our voices read a script once; we saved it as MP3 at 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 kbps and converted each, clean and again over loud background noise. Every one came back with the script word for word, so an MP3 converts as it is.
Long MP3s, cut and joined for you
An MP3 can run 3 hours. Long ones are cut into parts that overlap by a minute, converted, and joined back into one text, with each speaker matched across the joins.
Transcribe MP3 calls with each speaker named
Phone calls and interviews come back as turns, Speaker 1 and Speaker 2, with the time each one starts. Rename them once and every file you download uses the names.
Podcast music and sounds, marked
Switch on sound marking and the theme tune shows in brackets, as [jazzy music] did in our sample, with laughter and applause marked the same way, so the text of a podcast episode still reads like the episode.
TXT first, five more files from the same run
Plain text downloads by default. The DOCX document, SRT and VTT subtitles, CSV and JSON come from the same conversion, one click each, at no extra cost.
Does an MP3’s bitrate change the text?
One reading of the same script, saved at five bitrates and the sample rates such files use, converted clean and over loud background noise. Play any cell to hear that file.
The same 82-word script, read once by one of our voices and saved at each bitrate, then converted by this tool. The noisy files have loud pink noise mixed under the voice, about 10 dB quieter than the speech.
MP3 to text samples
Each MP3 was converted by this tool and is shown exactly as it came out. Play one and the line being spoken lights up; switch formats to see it as a document, subtitles or rows.
MP3 to text guide: sources, bitrates and long files
MP3 to text for every kind of recording
Voice recorders often save MP3 at 32 to 64 kbps in mono, which keeps hours of speech small. Call recorders save narrow, phone-quality sound. Podcast episodes arrive as stereo MP3s at 96 to 128 kbps with music at the start, and audiobook chapters are long single voices.
All of them transcribe the same way. Drop the file as you have it; there is no need to rename it, change its tags or convert it to another format first.
Does MP3 bitrate affect transcription?
For speech, much less than people expect. In our test, the same reading converted word for word at every bitrate from 8 to 128 kbps, and again with loud background noise mixed under it. What a low bitrate removes is mostly high treble, and speech carries its words lower down.
What does cost accuracy is the recording itself: a microphone far from the speaker, people talking at once, wind and echo. If an MP3 converts poorly, those are the causes to look for, and the file you already have is the best one to convert: it holds every word the recording caught.
Keep your recorder at its speech setting. A 64 kbps mono MP3 holds about two hours in 60 MB and converts as well as a large file.
Long recordings: MP3 to text in one go
Lectures, meetings and audiobooks run long. An MP3 of up to 3 hours converts in one go: the converter cuts it into parts that overlap by a minute, so no word falls in a gap, then joins the text and matches each speaker across the parts.
The credits are counted from the MP3’s length and shown before you start, so a two-hour lecture costs what it says.
TXT or subtitles for an MP3?
Take TXT or DOCX when people will read the words: notes from a dictation, the text of a podcast episode, a chapter of an audiobook. Take SRT or VTT when the MP3 is the sound of a video you are making, so the subtitles line up with it. Take CSV or JSON to search, sort or process the lines.
Tidying the text after converting
Most recordings need only a few touches before you share the text.
- 1Rename Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 to real names, and every line follows.
- 2Use find and replace for names that recur, such as a company or a street.
- 3Click a word you doubt to hear that moment, and double click its paragraph to fix it.
- 4Download again: every format uses your edits.
MP3s from video sites and song lyrics
The converter takes files, not links: save the MP3 to your device first. If what you have is a video, the MP4 to MP3 converter makes its sound an MP3 in your browser.
Speech converts best. Songs come out as text too, but singing over music is harder to hear than talking, so expect to check more words.
What people convert from MP3 to text
Dictation
Notes spoken into a recorder become text for a report.
Phone calls
A recorded call becomes turns you can quote, speaker by speaker.
Podcast episodes
Publish the text of each episode, with the music marked.
Audiobooks
Read along, quote a passage, or check a chapter against its script.
Lectures
An hour-long MP3 becomes notes with times to jump back to.
Meetings
Minutes from the recording, with who said what.
MP3 to text FAQ
More ways to work with MP3s and text
Convert MP3 to text now
Drop an MP3, see what is inside it, and download the text, a document or subtitles in minutes.