German audio to text, with English translation side by side
Interviews, lectures, meetings, podcasts and voice messages in German become text with a timestamp on every line, in about 30 seconds per hour of audio. No software to install. 30 free minutes every month, then $1 per hour with no subscription.
30 free minutes every month · no credit card neededSee pricing
Real example
A 62-second recording, transcribed, translated and summarized by TranscriptGo, shown as it appears in your account. Nothing edited.
Bad Helmstedt.mp3
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AI summary
Dies ist eine Beschreibung des Ortes Bad Helmstedt.
- Bad Helmstedt ist ein Ortsteil der Stadt Helmstedt in Niedersachsen.
- Der Ort liegt im Brunnental inmitten des Lappwaldes, etwa drei Kilometer östlich der Kernstadt.
- 1755 wurden hier stark Schwefel- und kohlensaure Quellen entdeckt und nutzbar gemacht, was zur Entwicklung eines Kurbetriebs führte.
- Es entstanden Mäselsen-Kurhotels, ein Kurtheater und ein Kurpark.
- Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Ahlers trug mit der Eröffnung des Klarer Bades zur überregionalen Bedeutung bei.
- Ab 1894 versiegten die Quellen vermutlich durch den fortschreitenden Braunkohletagebau, was den Kurbetrieb beendete.
- Der Spielbetrieb des 1815 eröffneten Kurtheaters endete erst durch den Ersten Weltkrieg.
- Das Fachwerkgebäude des Theaters wurde 1924 abgerissen.
Transcript
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Transcribe now, free30 free minutes every month · no credit card needed
Audio: Bad Helmstedt.ogg, Adrian Blank · CC BY-SA 4.0 · excerpt, edited; text from German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
Upload German audio or video
MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV or a WhatsApp voice message, up to 120 MB. Choose German, or let auto-detect find it.
Get the transcript in seconds
The whole recording is transcribed, with a timestamp on every line. An hour of audio takes about 30 seconds.
Translate and download
Tick “Translate to” for English, or any of 99 languages, shown side by side. Download TXT, Word, SRT or VTT.
What people transcribe in German
Interviews for a bachelor's or master's thesis
Get a first-draft transcript with a timestamp on every line, then correct it and add speaker marks. Buy a few hours once instead of a monthly plan.
Lectures
Turn a recorded lecture into searchable text to study from, with an AI summary of the key points.
Meetings
Upload a Zoom, Teams or Google Meet recording and get the full text and a summary of what was decided.
Podcasts and YouTube
Get a transcript for show notes and SRT or VTT subtitles ready for YouTube.
Voice messages and memos
Long WhatsApp voice messages and voice memos become text you can read, search or translate.
Learning German
Read along with German audio and see the English translation line by line next to it.
What to expect from German transcription
German is one of the languages speech AI handles best. A few things decide how clean the text is, so you know before you upload.
- Germany, Austria and Switzerland
- Standard German spoken with a German, Austrian or Swiss accent works well. Swiss German dialect (Mundart) is a different matter and is not reliably transcribed.
- A draft to correct, not a finished academic transcript
- Speakers are not labelled and transcription rules such as pauses or overlaps are not applied. Use the text as a fast first draft and add those marks while you check it against the audio.
- Clear audio gives the cleanest text
- A microphone close to the speaker and one person talking at a time matter most. Loud background noise or people talking over each other lowers accuracy in every tool.
- Your files
- Uploads travel over an encrypted connection, only you can see your files, and they are never sold or used to train AI models. You can delete any file at any time.
Everything you need, included
- The whole German recording, with a timestamp on every line
- English translation side by side, or any of 99 languages
- AI summary of the recording
- Download as TXT, Word (DOCX), SRT or VTT
- No software to install
- About 30 seconds per hour of audio
- 30 free minutes every month, then $1 per hour that never expires
Frequently asked questions
How can I convert German audio to text for free?
Create a free account, open Transcribe, upload your file and choose German. Every account gets 30 free minutes every month, not just once, and no credit card is needed.
Is it suitable for interviews in a bachelor's or master's thesis?
Yes, as a fast first draft: every line has a timestamp, so quotes are easy to check against the audio. Speakers are not labelled, so add speaker marks and any transcription rules your university requires as you review. Many students buy one 5-hour block ($5) instead of a subscription.
How long does it take to transcribe an hour of audio?
About 30 seconds.
Can I turn WhatsApp voice messages into text?
Yes. Share or export the voice message as a file and upload it like any other recording. Long messages work too.
Does it work with Austrian and Swiss German?
Standard German with an Austrian or Swiss accent works well. Swiss German dialect (Schweizerdeutsch) is not reliably transcribed, so try a short file with the free minutes first.
Can I translate the transcript into English?
Yes. Tick “Translate to” and choose English. The English text appears line by line next to the German, with the same timestamps, and you can download either one. An AI summary is one more tick.
Can I make SRT or VTT subtitles for YouTube?
Yes. Download an SRT or VTT file with timestamps and upload it to YouTube or any video editor, in German or in a translated language.
What happens to my files?
They travel over an encrypted connection and only you can see them. Files are never sold and never used to train AI models, and you can delete any file at any time. On a free account the audio is deleted automatically after 7 days; the text stays.
Do I need a subscription?
No. After the 30 free minutes each month, prepaid hours cost $1 per hour, sold in blocks of 5 hours, and they never expire. Monthly plans are there if you transcribe every week.
Try it on your own recording
30 free minutes every month. Upload a file and see the transcript in minutes.
Transcribe now, free