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Video to Text Converter

Get the speech and the words shown on screen, from a file or a link.

or

For links

Listens and watches. Two minutes per minute of video.

Free to try, no sign-up. Links get speech and screen text. Files get speech on the web.

Open a recorded example

How it works

  1. Add a video or link

    MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM or MKV, or a public link.

  2. Scribiz reads the sound

    The browser extracts the audio and uploads only that.

  3. Switch layers

    Transcript for the speech, On screen for text and scenes.

Spoken and on screen

Sample
  1. 0:00

    The title slide.

    SaidWelcome, and thank you for coming to the last session of the day.

    On screenDesigning for slow networksPlatform team

  2. 0:34

    A slide with three short bullet points.

    SaidOur first rule: the page should be useful before the images arrive.

    On screenText firstImages secondScripts last

Illustrative sample from a conference talk. The speech and the slide text sit on one timeline.

Said and shown

People mean two things by text from video: the words spoken and the words shown. Scribiz returns both as layers on one timeline.

The on-screen layer is good at slides and titles, weaker on small or fast text.

A video with speech and no slides gets a transcript. A silent screen recording gets only the On screen layer. A video with both gets both on one timeline, so you can see what was on screen when a sentence was said.

What runs where

Reading the screen of a file needs a small copy of the video, built by the command-line tool. The Mac app is not out yet. In the browser, a file is read on your computer and only its audio is uploaded, so the picture never leaves.

InputYou get
Link, in BothSpeech and on-screen text, timestamped.
Link, in ListenSpeech only.
File in the browserSpeech. Only the audio is uploaded.
File in the command-line toolSpeech and on-screen text.

Which page to use

This page takes any video file or link, and keeps the two layers on separate tabs: Transcript and On screen. If you only have MP4s, MP4 to text says what leaves your browser. For sound with no picture, use audio to text.

Both on a link costs two minutes per minute of video, and Listen costs one. Without an account that is 10 minutes a day, for videos up to 15 minutes. Minutes and billing lists every mode.

For scene notes, not a transcript, the video analyzer describes each scene. The sources and limits page lists which links work.

Limits

Files: 100 MB and about 50 minutes of audio, Listen only on the web. On-screen text for a file needs the command-line tool (the Mac app is not out yet). Without an account: videos up to 15 minutes and 10 minutes a day.

See pricing · How minutes are counted · Paid plans are not on sale yet.

Which links work

Reliable
YouTube, public videos, Direct audio and video links, Podcast episodes, Files you upload
Best effort on the web
TikTok, Instagram, X, Vimeo, Facebook
Not supported
Spotify, Netflix and other DRM services, Private, age-restricted and login-walled videos, Live streams in progress

Best effort means the site sometimes blocks our servers. Uploading the file always works. Full list

Questions

Drop a video file or paste a link above. A file gives you a timestamped transcript, and a link in Both mode adds the text on screen.

Yes, for links in Watch or Both, and for files in the command-line tool (the Mac app is not out yet). A flash of text under a second can be missed.

MP4, MOV, M4V and WebM in most browsers. MKV is the least reliable, and if the browser cannot read the audio, nothing is uploaded.

No. Your browser decodes the audio first and only that is uploaded. Reading the screen of a file takes a small low-resolution copy, and the web tool never does.

Same engine, different starting point. This page also takes links and returns the text on screen. The MP4 to text and audio to text pages take one kind of file each.

Agents and code

Use it in your agentUse the API