About WhatsApp Audio to Text
Read a voice note instead of listening to it: in a meeting, on a bus without headphones, or when someone sends a five-minute message and you only need the address in the middle. The tool listens to the recording and writes down what was said, so you can read it, search it, copy it into a reply or keep it as a note.
It uses Whisper, an open speech recognition model that understands more than 90 languages, and runs it in your browser. Your voice notes are never uploaded: only the speech model is downloaded, the first time, and your browser keeps it for next time. It works with WhatsApp voice notes (.opus and .ogg) and with recordings from other apps, such as M4A, MP3 and WAV.
How to use it
- Save the voice note from WhatsApp (see below), then choose or drop it here. You can add several at once.
- Leave the language on Detect automatically, or choose the language spoken.
- Press Transcribe. The words appear while the recording is being listened to.
- Copy the text, or save it as TXT or Word (DOCX).
How to save a voice note from WhatsApp
- Android: press and hold the voice note, tap Share (the arrow at the top) and save it to Files or Drive.
- iPhone: press and hold the voice note, tap Forward, then the Share button at the bottom, and choose Save to Files.
- WhatsApp Web and Desktop: point at the voice note, open its menu (the small arrow) and choose Download.
Good to know
- The first time takes longer, because the speech model downloads. After that it starts straight away.
- A computer is faster than a phone. On a phone, Fast is chosen for you; Accurate makes fewer mistakes, especially in languages other than English.
- Choosing the language helps with short voice notes and with languages that sound alike, such as Urdu and Hindi, which are written in different scripts.
- With several voice notes, the text of each one comes under its file name.
Questions
How do I transcribe a WhatsApp voice note?
On a phone, press and hold the voice note in WhatsApp, tap Share (or Forward, then Share) and save it to Files. On WhatsApp Web or Desktop, open the menu on the voice note and choose Download. Then add the file here and press Transcribe.
Which languages does it understand?
More than 90, including English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Persian, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Swahili, Chinese and Japanese. Leave the language on Detect automatically, or choose it for a better result.
Can it translate a voice note into English?
Yes. Under Write the text in, choose English (translate it), and a voice note in any supported language comes out as English text.
Are my voice notes uploaded?
No. The speech recognition runs in this page on your own device. Only the speech model is downloaded, once; your recordings never leave your phone or computer.
Is it accurate?
Very good on clear speech. Background noise, several people talking at once, strong accents and mixed languages give more mistakes, so read the text before you use it. The Accurate setting makes fewer mistakes than Fast.
Related tools
Toololo is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta. WhatsApp is a trademark of its owner.