How to transcribe a video to text on Mac and iPhone

A video file is an audio file with pictures attached, and transcription only needs the audio. This guide takes an MP4 or MOV you already have, turns it into a transcript on your Mac or iPhone, and ends with a caption file you can put back on the video. It also covers the batch case (a folder of lecture recordings or client videos) and the honest comparison with the automatic captions a video platform generates for you.

Transcription happens on your device and works offline. There is no account, and your videos and transcripts are never sent to us.

What happens to a video when you transcribe it

Speech recognition reads the audio track. When you import an MP4 or MOV, ThinkScribe takes the audio out of the file, transcribes it, and keeps its own copy of that audio so you can play any line back. Your original file is not moved or changed.

Two consequences worth knowing before you start:

• Only what is spoken becomes text. Slides, a whiteboard, an on-screen name card, a chart someone points at: none of that reaches the transcript. If the meaning of a video lives in the picture, you will need to add that context yourself.
• The timings are the video's timings, as long as you transcribe the same file you will caption. Transcribe the master, not a trimmed export, and the SRT you produce will line up when you drop it back on the video. Trim after transcribing and every timestamp shifts.

Which video files work

MP4 and MOV import directly on Mac, iPhone and iPad, as do M4V and 3GP. That covers most of what you actually have: iPhone recordings from Photos, Mac screen recordings, exports from a video editor, downloaded webinars, and files from a camera or a conferencing app. Audio files import alongside them: MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, CAF, OGG and Opus.

ThinkScribe also imports MKV, AVI, WebM, WMV, FLV, MTS and M2TS video files directly, on your device, without converting them first. Copy-protected video, such as purchased or rented films, cannot be opened.

How to transcribe a video to text on Mac

1. Open ThinkScribe and drag the video from Finder onto the window until you see "Drop to import". You can also choose Transcription > Import File... or press ⌘I and pick the file.
2. Make sure the spoken language is set (one of 28 languages, or Auto-detect when it is offered).
3. Wait while the transcript is made and the speakers are separated. Transcription runs on your Mac.
4. Open the transcript in the Workspace. Click a line to play the audio from that point, and rename "Speaker 1" or "Speaker 2" to real names.
5. Export the result: Plain Text, SRT Subtitles, VTT Subtitles, Markdown, PDF, Word Document, CSV or JSON.

Speakers are separated automatically, so an interview or a panel arrives already split, and a name you give a voice is recognized automatically in new recordings. See teach ThinkScribe who is speaking. The transcript shows cleaned text by default, with hesitations and fillers removed; Show Original brings back the raw text.

How to transcribe a video on iPhone or iPad

1. In Photos, Files, or any app holding the video, tap the Share button and choose ThinkScribe. It confirms "Added to ThinkScribe. Open the app to transcribe."
2. Open ThinkScribe. Or start from inside the app: on the Record tab, tap Import Audio File and pick the video from Files.
3. When the transcript is ready, open it from the Library. Tap a line to play from there, with the same speaker separation, Summary and Chat as anything you record.
4. To export, tap ... > Export and choose the format (TXT, SRT, VTT, JSON, Markdown, PDF, DOCX or CSV). Save it to Files or AirDrop it to a Mac.

On iPhone, files import one at a time. For the full walkthrough on both platforms, see transcribe an audio or video file and transcribe audio to text on iPhone.

Batch: a folder of videos on Mac

This is where the desktop earns its keep. Select several files in the ⌘I dialog, or drag a handful from Finder onto the window at once. They queue and process one after another while you do something else.

Turn on Auto-Export After Transcription in the Mac settings and each finished transcript is exported as soon as it completes, so a folder of raw footage turns into a folder of documents with no further clicks. Drop a day of conference talks in before lunch and come back to the files. To skip the import step as well, pick a Watch Folder under Settings > Transcription: videos and audio files added to that folder are transcribed by themselves, and files already in it are left alone. The export guide covers the formats and the collection export (Export All), which hands over a whole project at once.

Get captions back onto the video

Export SRT or VTT from a finished transcript and you have a caption file in seconds, so the round trip to transcribe video to text and export captions is one import and one export. Then pick the route that suits where the video is going:

• A media player: put the .srt next to the video with the same base filename, talk.mp4 and talk.srt, in the same folder. Most desktop players pick it up automatically, and you can also open it from the player's subtitle menu.
• A video editor: most editors import SRT as a caption track, which you can then restyle and nudge without retyping anything. If the destination will not accept a separate file, the editor can burn the captions into the picture.
• The web: VTT is the format the HTML <track> element expects, so it is the one to use for a video on your own site.
• A video platform: uploading your own subtitle file is almost always an option and is better than the automatic one, because you have already checked the names and the numbers.

Keep the SRT even when you burn captions in. Burned-in captions cannot be switched off, corrected or restyled later; a sidecar file can. Captions are also what makes a video usable for deaf and hard of hearing viewers: see live captions and transcripts as an accessibility tool. The SRT subtitles guide goes deeper on the format, on fixing an offset, and on line-length conventions.

Platform auto-captions, or your own transcript?

Video platforms generate captions for you, and for a public video that nobody will quote, they are often good enough. The trade-offs are real in both directions.

Auto-captions from a platform are better when the video is already uploaded, you do not need the text anywhere else, and nobody will be reading the transcript as a document.

Your own transcript is better when:

• The video is not published yet. Auto-captions arrive after upload and processing. A transcript made on your device exists before anyone sees the video, which matters if you are writing the description, the chapters or the blog post from it. For a recorded show, that is the same job as turning an episode into show notes and chapters.
• The content is confidential. An unlisted upload is still an upload. Client footage, internal all-hands recordings and unpublished research are transcribed on your device and never sent to us. The on-device versus cloud comparison sets out what that distinction covers.
• You need the text, not just captions. A platform gives you captions on that platform. A transcript gives you TXT, Markdown, PDF, Word, CSV, JSON, SRT and VTT, a library you can search, and a summary with action items.
• There are several speakers. Automatic captions rarely label who is talking. A transcript with named speakers reads like a document instead of a wall of text.
• You are working offline. No connection, no upload, no wait.

Video you cannot download

Transcription needs a file. ThinkScribe does not import from a link or a video site, and the terms of most platforms restrict downloading in the first place.

Two legitimate ways round it: download the file when the platform provides that option, which many lecture and webinar systems do for their own recordings, or, on a Mac, record the playback with the System audio source on, which captures whatever your Mac is playing. That is also the route for a live webinar with no recording feature. Follow the platform's terms and local law, and get consent where people are being recorded. See record a call or a video on Mac.

Frequently asked questions

Can I transcribe a video without converting it to audio first?

Yes. ThinkScribe imports MP4, MOV, M4V, 3GP, MKV, AVI, WebM, WMV, FLV, MTS and M2TS video files directly on Mac, iPhone and iPad and transcribes the audio track on your device. Only copy-protected video cannot be opened.

Does transcribing a video upload it anywhere?

No. Transcription and speaker separation run on your Mac or iPhone and work offline, and your recordings and transcripts are never sent to us. Features provided by Apple, such as Apple Intelligence or Translation, follow Apple's own rules.

How do I get subtitles from a video file?

Import the video, wait for the transcript, check any names or numbers by clicking a line to hear it, then export SRT or VTT. Put the SRT next to the video with the same filename for a media player, import it into your video editor as a caption track, or use VTT for a video on a web page.

Can I transcribe a screen recording?

Yes. Mac and iPhone screen recordings are MOV or MP4 files and import like any other video. Only the spoken audio becomes text; whatever was on screen does not, so a silent screen recording produces an empty transcript.