15 Best Video Transcription Software in 2024

Transcribing video makes your content shareable in every country and accessible to all. The trouble is, that transcribing takes a long time to process, and translation into other languages can be pricey.

Transcription software for video helps make this process easier, cheaper, and faster. I’ve used transcription software on my own videos and worked as a transcriber, so I understand the positive impact reliable software can have on the end result. 

Keep reading to learn more about what makes useful transcription software for video, with hands-on reviews of the 15 Best Video Transcription Software 2024. I’ll also answer some common questions about transcribing video.

Research Process

I signed up for as many free trials and demos as I could get my hands on to make sure I got a first-person perspective of what it’s like to use the video transcription software featured in this guide, as well as scouring online user reviews.

Time taken to research this article: 10 hours

Total tools researched online: 21 tools

Top tools shortlisted for review: 

1. Notta AI

2. Rev

3. HappyScribe

4. Descript

5. Sonix

6. Otter

7. GoTranscript

8. Trint

9. Audext

10. Express Scribe

11. The FTW Transcriber

12. Nova AI

13. HyperTRANSCRIBE

14. InqScribe

15. oTranscribe

Comparing the 15 Best Video Transcription Software

We compare the 15 video transcription software from the accuracy rate, supported languages, system, and other aspects.

What to Consider When Choosing Video Transcription Software

Multi-language support

To make your video content inclusive and discoverable, transcribing in multiple languages is key. If your videos are accessible worldwide then your audience needs to be able to understand your content.

Similarly, if you’re creating video content for students to learn from, they may find the lessons easier to absorb in their own language.

Wanting to boost SEO? Speakers of other languages might search using keywords that appear in your content’s translated transcriptions.

Identifying speakers

A chunk of text with no discernable speakers makes for hard-to-understand transcription. Software that can identify when individual people are speaking clarifies your message. For example, let’s say you’re transcribing a meeting with four participants. Knowing who said what gives you a clearer picture on each person’s contribution and understanding of the meeting’s topic.

If you can, get software that automatically identifies separate speakers to save time separating the text manually.

Timestamping

Timestamps are needed for syncing captions to videos, citing specific quotes in interviews, and navigating to a point in the conversation. 

You might use timestamping to help students navigate to part of a lesson, help colleagues refer to action points in a meeting, or find when a question was answered during research. 

Some software automatically tracks the timestamps of the speech so you don’t have to add this in manually. Especially useful for formatting caption files so that captions show up at the correct points in a video.  

Variety of export options

You’ll use transcriptions in a variety of ways, so having the choice to export in popular formats make this process easier. For example, SRT files are used for captioning a video, whereas a DOC file might help you turn transcripts into a blog post.

Some common files:

• SRT- captions

• PDF - printable transcripts

• DOC - for editing in a word processor

• CSV - for analyzing data in spreadsheet

High accuracy

The tech that transcribed audio and video can sometimes misinterpret words. This leads to a transcription that might be unclear or confusing. Choosing software with a high level of accuracy means fewer corrections you’ll have to make. Automatic transcription is usually around 80% accurate and higher—Notta can reach an accuracy of 98.86% with clear, high-quality audio files. 

Security & privacy

Any audio, video, or written data you share could potentially be intercepted by hackers. That’s why it’s vital to choose a transcription service you trust. Choose a service that complies with data protection laws and encrypts your information. 

Fast transcript processing

Waiting around for a finished transcription is common with human transcribing, but with automatic transcription services, it’s much quicker. If you need text fast–whether that’s to summarize a meet or post as show notes to a podcast episode–select software that can keep up with demand. For example, Notta can transcribe around 1 hour of audio or video in roughly 5 minutes!

Reviews of the 15 Best Video Transcription Software

1. Editor’s Choice: Notta

Best web app to transcribe and translate videos

Notta’s simple web dashboard allows you to upload a video file from your computer, share a Google Drive or Dropbox URL, and even record your screen. Transcription takes around 5 minutes for a video up to 1 hour long. Plus, we can transcribe in 58 languages and translate to 41 languages.

Once your transcription is ready, you can add notes, search the text for keywords, and playback the video at multiple speeds. If there are several speakers in one video, Notta identifies them each with their own label. 

When you’re ready to use your transcription in show notes, blog posts, captions, or study notes, export them in TXT, DOCX, SRT, and PDF formats. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Use a web platform, mobile app, or browser extension

• Real-time transcription

• Notta Chrome extension to transcribe any audio in your web browser

Pros:

• Transcribes live meetings in Zoom, Meet, and Teams

• Generous free plan

• 58 transcription languages

Cons:

• You can’t export the AI summary

Price: 

• Free for 120 minutes per month.

• Pro for 1,800 minutes per month at $9, billed annually

• Business for $27.99 per user per month

• Custom enterprise options available

Our verdict: Best cloud-based video transcription software if you work with recorded and live videos

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2. Rev

Best manual transcription service

If you’re a freelancer, you may have heard of Rev as one of the most popular websites for transcription jobs. But did you know it also has a robust automatic transcription software, too? It claims its automated service gives you text that’s over 90% accurate in just a few minutes.

You can transcribe your video either by uploading the file directly or with a URL from YouTube, Zoom, or Vimeo. From there, you can edit the text and share with others in the interactive editor. 

Although Rev boasts a high accuracy level, it states audio quality must be high enough with no background noise or heavy accents. If the audio is hard for its AI to understand, you’ll instead have a freelancer transcribe it for you. Of course, this will affect the turnaround time.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Mobile app to transcribe video on-the-go

• Translates in 15 languages

Pros:

• Simple pricing structure

• You can import a video from a URL

Cons:

• Not as many available languages as other options

• Sound quality could make transcription more expensive as the human service costs $1.50/minute

Price:

• Free for the first 45 minutes

• $0.25 per audio minute after that

• Rev Max subscription is $29.99/month with a free 14-day trial - 20 hours/month

Our verdict: Helpful option for videos that have high-quality audio

3. Happy Scribe

Best for quick video transcription with a ton of export options

This app to generate transcript from video is simple to use and claims to offer around 85% accuracy in just a few minutes. Unlike some transcription software, there’s no limit to the file size or video length you can transcribe.

We’re impressed with how simple it is to upload a file. You can either pick one from your computer, cloud storage, or from a URL like YouTube or Vimeo. From there, choose your language and the machine transcription will deliver the text, complete with timestamps. 

When you’re ready to download the transcription, there are the usual options of TXT and DOC files, as well as unusual options like HTML and XML. This could be helpful if you’re importing text directly into websites, spreadsheet, or video editing software.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Share transcripts in view-only and edit modes 

• 120 languages, accents, and dialects

• A wide range of file formats to export

Pros:

• File formats include some unique options such as DaVinci Resolve markers (.edl) and JSON

• No file size or length limit

• Play videos back in 0.2x to 5.0x speeds

Cons:

• Better accuracy costs more

Price:

• Free forever plan - limited minutes

• Basic from $10/month - 120 minutes/month and a few export formats

• Pro from $17/month - 300 minutes/month and a variety of formats

• Business from $29/month - 600 minutes/month, 3 users 

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: A simple video transcriber with a wide range of export options for all kinds of creators

4. Descript

Best for automatic transcription with cloud-saving

Descript’s known for its video editing and AI speech editing capabilities, but it also has a pretty solid transcription service, too. You’ll need to download Descript to your computer to transcribe your video files. However, it syncs all work to the cloud so you can access it on other devices. 

Import a video file from your computer or record a video live while sharing your screen or camera. It’ll automatically transcribe your audio—you can edit the text and timestamps. 

We found the visual drag-and-drop timestamping really helpful, meaning you can move words and phrases with your mouse to fit the video. Plus, it supports 22 languages.. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Descript app works on Windows and macOS

• Choice of file import and live video recording

• 22 languages supported

Pros:

• Unique feature where you can take a transcription you already have and upload it along with a video—it automatically syncs the text with the speech

Cons:

• If you used Descript to transcribe a video and the software updates, you might not be able to access it any more (I had this trouble when attempting to open an old project from only six months ago)

• The desktop app needs you to have at least 20GB of free space on your hard drive to work correctly, even after you’ve installed it

• Chromebooks, iPads, and Linux aren’t supported

Price:

• Free forever - 1 hour/month

• Creator plan from $12/month - 10 hours/month

• Pro plan from $24/month - 30 hours/month

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: a powerful choice if you use Windows or Mac

5. Sonix

Best for transcription editing and sharing

With an in-browser editor and integrations with your favorite tools, Sonix offers quick and reliable transcriptions for your videos. Using automated speech-to-text technology, it can transcribe videos in 38 languages and translate that into over 40 languages. 

For video, Sonix can add automatic subtitles to your videos or provide a transcription that you can download. What we found handy is the ability to integrate the transcription tool with other platforms like Zoom and Adobe Premiere, cutting down on manually processing transcribed conversations. 

If your videos have multiple tracks, Sonix helpfully transcribes each one individually then condenses it into one finished file to use wherever you need to. See more details on Notta vs. Sonix.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Export transcription in a variety of formats

• Cut and trim the video by deleting the words from your transcripts

• Highlight important parts of your conversation

Pros:

• Add notes to the transcript and it color codes the highlighted text

• You can add your own custom dictionary

Cons:

• The subscription is monthly, yet you still have to pay per audio hour

Price:

• Pay-as-you-go $10/hour

• Premium subscription $22 per user/ month - $5 per hour

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: Helpful if you want to add subtitles and share videos quickly

6. Otter

Best for live meetings transcription

Otter’s main focus is on transcribing meetings. You can integrate it into virtual meeting software like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams to transcribe conversations automatically, but it also works on Android and iOS if you want to capture in-person conversations, too.

As well as automated video transcription, it puts together a summary alongside your audio, slides and notes. Plus, its AI assistant OtterPilot™ joins your meetings and participants can ask it questions about the conversation—it can reply with summarized answers. 

Although its primary focus is transcribing meetings, you can sync it to Dropbox to transcribe audio or video there, too. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Sync with your calendar to auto-join meetings

• Otter is for Web, Android, and iOS

• Helpful AI assistant can summarize the transcription

Pros:

• Minimal, clean interface that’s easy to navigate

• Real-time transcription for meetings so there’s no need to upload recorded meeting videos

Cons:

• Only teams with a business plan get unlimited video uploads

• Only useful for meetings

Price:

• Free forever - 300 minutes/month, 30 mins per conversation, 3 imports a month

• Pro plan from $8.33/month - 1200 minutes/month, 90 minutes per conversation, 10 imports a month

• Business plan from $20/month - 6000 minutes/month, 4 hours per conversation, unlimited imports

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: Smart option of you only need to transcribe meetings

7. GoTranscript

Best for straightforward human-only transcription service

If you prefer the human touch, GoTranscript might fit your needs. Its focus is on providing human-only transcription services, with no automated speech recognition in sight. It offers transcription in roughly 25 languages, with translation in over 70 languages. 

As this service relies on actual people to transcribe your videos, the turnaround time is between 24 hours to a few days, but they claim the accuracy is much higher than automatic alternatives.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Human-only transcription

• Provides transcription and translation services

Pros:

• Accuracy may be higher than AI powered transcription

Cons:

• Many languages need a minimum amount of hours to place an order

• Price list varies between languages, transcription and translation

• Fastest turnaround is 6-12 hours and you have to pay a premium for it

Price:

• Prices vary greatly, but start at $0.84/minute for English, Turkish, Filipino and more for a 5-day turnaround

Our verdict: An accurate choice if you’re not concerned with turnaround time or cost

8. Trint

Best transcription tool for teams collaboration

If you’re working in a team of people, tools that help you collaborate make you more productive. Trint offers an automatic transcription service that lets you and others make notes, highlight, and comment on your transcribed conversations in real time, just like you’d add comments in a Google Doc. In fact, the text is laid out like a document, making it easy to edit and download. 

All you need to do is upload our video file. You can grab the video from your device or cloud storage like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox and the transcription is ready in a few moments. You can get your text in over 30 languages and translate into more than 50 languages. When you want to get changes you’ve made signed off, share the transcript edits and then download i a variety of different formats to use however you’d like. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Over 30 languages to transcribe videos

• Cloud-based so collaborations happen in real-time

• A wide choice of file formats for export

• Customizable personal dictionary

Pros:

• You can upload videos from your computer, cloud storage, or live record in the browser

• Create a read-only link to share with people without the risk of unwanted changes

• Add captions to your video in one click

Cons:

• Interface is a little buggy at times

Price:

• 7-day free trial

• Starter plan from $48/month - import 7 video files a month

• Advanced plan from $60/month - unlimited transcription 

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: Document-style editing that’s helpful if you work with a team 

9. Audext

Best simple automatic transcriber with a minimal editor

Audext is a super simple video transcription software that works like a text editor and a video player combined. Using AI, it automatically transcribes your conversations in video to text in around 10 minutes for every hour of video. 

It features basic speaker identification and timestamping that you can edit via the in-browser editor. With 80% accuracy, it’s not the most accurate option in our list, but it does provide transcription in over 60 languages. If you want to up the precision, you can work with a professional transcriptionist instead to deliver over 99% accuracy. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Transcribes over 60 languages

• Find and replace word tool

• Multiple video playback speeds

Pros:

• You can try out the service for free for up to 10 minutes of audio or video

• We were impressed by how easy it is to share a read-only version of the transcription—share in one click

Cons:

• A limited number of file formats to export your text—just DOC, TXT, and SRT

Price:

• Classic pay-as-you-go with 10 free minutes, $12/hour

• Subscription plan for $30/month with 10 free minutes and 2 hours transcription, then $5/hour

• Enterprise options available

Our verdict: A quick solution to transcribe your videos if you don’t need all the bells and whistles 

10. Express Scribe

Best reliable choice for transcriptionists

If you’d rather take care of your own transcription, this software could be a good fit for you. Instead of relying on a machine or another person to turn your conversations into text, Express Scribe is designed to help you transcribe your own videos. You can use a foot pedal or keyboard shortcuts to type, edit, and sync your transcription to videos of your choice. As you’re paying for a software license key rather than a subscription to an online platform, you can transcribe an unlimited number of videos. 

Download this software for Windows or Mac, then import files from your computer. You can type the transcription into your favorite word processor like Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Works with foot pedals

• Windows and Mac

• Use your favorite word processor

• Supports 45 audio and video file formats

Pros:

• A simple license key gives you unlimited use

• You can integrate it with speech-to-text software to provide automatic transcription

Cons:

• It doesn’t automatically transcribe video

• No cloud saving

Price:

• Free demo available

• Basic license for personal use $80

• Professional license for commercial use $99

Our verdict: If you’re a transcriptionist or want to manually convert videos to text, it’s an easy to use software

11. The FTW Transcriber

Best transcription software for basics on Windows and Android

Another option for transcriptionists, FTW packs some helpful tools into a fairly basic-looking interface. Again, this is designed for people who want to transcribe their own videos, so it doesn’t offer automatic transcription. However, it does let you use a foot pedal to control video playback, as well as handy features like automatic timestamps and hotkeys for common indicators such as ‘unclear’ or ‘crosstalk’. 

You just load a video into the player and use your fave word-processing software to write the transcript. The interface provides video controls to adjust the playback speed and volume. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Programmable hotkeys

• Works with popular foot pedals

• Video playback controls

Pros:

• All license fees are a one-off payment, great if you prefer to avoid subscriptions

• Start transcriptions from any timecode, not just 00:00:00 (handy if there’s silence or music at the beginning of your video)

Cons:

• Interface feels dated

• Not available on Mac or iOS

Price:

• 1-month license $14

• 24 months license $29

• 36 months license $40

• 60 months license $48

• All prices are a one-off payment

Our verdict: Good for basic transcription if you use Android or Windows and don’t want a recurring payment

12. Nova AI

Best video transcription and subtitle editing software

Nova claims 97% accuracy with its automatic transcription software. Much like most of the other auto-generated transcription software on our list, to use it you upload a video and transcription takes a few minutes to process. You can transcribe in 37 languages and translate into 75 languages. 

When the text is ready, you can edit it just by typing corrections or removing sections. Drag and drop subtitles into videos with your mouse and click to add more sections. 

What’s a little different about Nova is that you can perform simple video editing such as hardcoding subtitles, video transitions and added audio effects. When you’re ready to use your transcription text, download it in usable formats such as SRT and TXT.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Simple video editing

• Transcribe into 37 languages

• Automatic translation into 75 languages

• Auto caption feature

Pros:

• Nova supports dialects of languages—for example, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese

• Can auto-detect the language in the video

Cons:

• The interface is a little tricky to navigate for transcriptions

• A bit slow to process compared with other software

Price:

• Free plan - 30 mins/month with hardcoded subtitles only

• Basic plan from $8/month - 150 minutes/month

• Pro plan from $14.41/month - 300 minutes/month

• Business plan from $4/month - 900 minutes/month

Our verdict: Combines handy captioning and video editing in one place if you make a lot of video content 

13. HyperTRANSCRIBE

Best simple traditional transcription software for Windows and Mac

HyperTRANSCRIBE feels like traditional transcription software made much simpler. If you’re all about writing your own transcriptions but don’t want to spend time figuring out how to connect a foot pedal or how to use separate software for typing, this could be what you’re looking for. It combines video playback and a text editor in one simple interface. The design looks a little old-fashioned, but it’s fairly easy to use without unwanted features or distractions.

Upload your video file from your device, then use the text editor to write your transcription. There are a handful of useful keyboard shortcuts to stop, start, and loop video to boost productivity while typing. Add timestamps and commonly used phrases, too. 

We found it helpful that your license key works for both Windows and Mac and you can download it onto any device you use with the same license. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• A single license key covers all downloads on your devices

• Video player and text editor in one

• Keyboard hotkeys for ease of use

Pros:

• You don’t need to learn how to use a foot pedal—it’s designed for use without professional equipment

Cons:

• Software UI looks old-fashioned

Price:

• Commercial license is $199

• Non-profit license is $139

• Accredited educational institution license is $99

• Student license is $39

Our verdict: If you want to type your own transcriptions but don’t want the steep learning curve, this has everything you need to get started

14. InqScribe

Best traditional manual transcription software with minimal UI

Similar to our previous entry, InqScribe is another transcription software that lets you type in your own text manually. It plays your videos directly from your hard drive, flash drive, or a URL, then gives you a built-in text editor so you can view the playback and type in the same window. With this software, insert timestamps that you can click to replay and use shortcuts for commonly used phrases such as ‘inaudible’ or ‘crosstalk’. 

If you’d rather, you can use the text editor to take notes and form a video summary instead of a word-for-word transcription of videos you want to share. Transcribe an unlimited number of videos and audio on your license, available on Windows and Mac.

Top Features & Benefits:

• Support foot pedals

• Available on Windows and Mac with volume discounts available

Pros:

• Edit the font and size to use in the editor to make it easier on the eyes as you type

• You can change the timestamp format from the settings menu

• Export options include TXT, HTML, XML and plenty of others

Cons:

• The interface is sparse—it’s a bit of a learning curve to find features you need

Price:

• 14-day trial license

• Individual license is $99

• 5 or more licenses save 10%

• Academic or non-profit organizations save 30%

• Students get $60 discount

Our verdict: If you’re comfortable using transcription software, this has everything you need to create quality video transcriptions. It might not suit beginners, however. 

15.oTranscribe

Best simple manual transcription software for Web

For simple, web-based software with no frills, oTranscribe has you covered for basic manual transcription. No account needed—simply upload a video from your computer or paste a YouTube URL. From there, type your transcribed text into the window below.

There’s really nothing advanced about this interface—you have a couple of shortcuts to format your text or add a timestamp and that’s it. For reference, there’s a word counter and buttons for bold and italic text. When you’re done and want to use your transcription, export in Markdown (the first time we’ve seen this in any of the transcription software we tried!) plain text, or send it to your Google Drive account. 

Top Features & Benefits:

• Web-based means you can use it on any device with an internet connection

• Keyboard shortcut cheat sheet included

Pros:

• Distraction-free interface

Cons:

• No account means nowhere to store unfinished projects to refer back to 

Price:

• Free

Our verdict: For on-the-fly transcription, this is as simple as it gets with nothing to download. 

FAQs about transcription software for video

What is the difference between automatic transcription and manual transcription?

Automatic video transcription software uses speech recognition or AI to distinguish what a person is saying and types it out for you. Manual transcription is when a human listens to the audio or video and types it out by hand.

What are the benefits of using transcribe video to text software?

Automatic transcription is much quicker to process as a human doesn’t have to listen to the audio and type it out manually. For this reason, it’s also much cheaper. If the audio quality is clear with no background noise or mumbling, it can be as accurate as human transcription. 

Can an iPhone transcribe a video?

Yes, if you have an iPhone, navigate to your settings and toggle on Live Captions. It’ll display captions of any audio or video playing or recording. However, it only displays the transcription in real time and doesn;t have the option to export the conversation as text. Instead, choose the Notta app for iOS. 

How can I use transcription as captions?

You’ll need to save your transcription with timestamps in SRT format. Then, you can upload the caption file to your video hosting platform (like YouTube). If you want hardcoded captions (where they’re embedded directly into the video) you’ll need to use a video editor. 

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Final thoughts on transcription software for video

Videos are a fantastic way to share your ideas, but the real magic happens when those ideas can be understood by everyone, everywhere. Transcribing and translating your videos can seem time-consuming and costly.

As someone who's been on both sides of the transcription game, I can tell you first-hand how much of a game-changer these tools are. They're not just transcribing words but opening up your content to the entire world. Pretty cool, right?

With the right tools, everyone can hear what you have to say—try Notta for free today.