MP4

MP4 to transcript: transcribe an MP4 or MOV video with timestamps

MP4 to transcript works on the file as it was saved: upload an MP4 or MOV from a phone, Zoom or a screen recorder, and its sound track comes back as text with each phrase stamped by the second it starts, ready for TXT, SRT or VTT — your first recording is free without an account, up to 10 minutes. Longer videos cost a minute of balance per minute.

Updated October 3, 2026

Drop a file here or click to choose audio or video

Without an account: files up to 100 MB; the first transcription is free in full up to 10 min, then a short free fragment. After sign-in: up to 500 MB and 4 hours. · 1 min of balance per minute of recording

MP3 · M4A · WAV · FLAC · OGG · MP4 · MOV · MKV · WEBM · AVI · SRT · VTT

On this page

How to convert Where the files come from MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV When it won’t upload Files over the limit Subtitles, notes, chapters Cost in numbers Limits FAQ

How to convert MP4 to text

Converting MP4 to text takes four steps in the browser, and the clip is never re-encoded or re-saved along the way.

Drop the MP4. Drag the .mp4 or .mov onto the upload area at the top of the page, or click the area to pick it. Nothing needs converting first.
Start the transcription. Without an account your first recording starts right away and is free: in full up to 10 minutes, the first 10 minutes of a longer one. After sign-in you see the price of the whole video and press Transcribe.
Check the text against the picture. The video plays from your device next to the transcript; a click on a timestamp moves the player to that line.
Export the transcript. Download TXT or Markdown to read and edit, SRT or VTT to use as subtitles.

A 20-minute product demo or a 25-minute class comes back complete and free when it is the first thing you upload. Every other format takes the same route, so this page is one case of how you transcribe any video file to text here.

Where MP4 and MOV files come from

MP4 is the default format of Android phones and most meeting apps, and MOV is what an iPhone camera and a Mac screen capture produce.

Zoom recordings on a computer: the meeting is saved as an MP4, with a separate M4A audio file next to it.
Teams and Google Meet: recordings download from OneDrive, SharePoint or Google Drive in the same format.
iPhone camera: videos are saved as MOV.
Mac screen recordings made with Shift-Command-5 or QuickTime Player: MOV.
Android phones, Loom, most editing apps on export: the same format.

Zoom’s audio-only file is the lighter choice for a long meeting: the separate audio file Zoom saves can be transcribed as an M4A and gives the same transcript at a fraction of the upload.

MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV: what changes and what doesn't

For MP4 transcription only the container and its first audio track matter; the video codec inside, H.264, HEVC or AV1, is skipped without being decoded.

Container	Typical sound inside	Accepted
MP4, MOV	AAC	yes
WEBM	Opus or Vorbis	yes
MKV	AAC, AC-3, Opus and others	yes, first audio track only
AVI, WMV, MPEG, TS	MP3, WMA, AC-3, AAC	yes

The server copies the sound out with ffmpeg and turns it into a compact MP3, 16 kHz and mono, before recognition, so an MP4 to text converter on your side is never needed. The language spoken in the video is detected automatically.

When an MP4 won't upload

An upload is turned away for one of five reasons, and the page names the reason in plain words.

It is larger than the limit: 100 MB without an account, 500 MB after sign-in. Sign in, or upload the sound alone.
It is longer than 4 hours: split it into parts.
It has no sound: a screen recording made without a microphone gets “There is no sound in this file.”
It is not really a video: the server reads the actual container, so a renamed file of another type is refused.
It is damaged: a recording cut off by a crash may have no readable length; re-export it from the app that made it.

MP4 over the size limit? Upload the sound alone

A transcript depends only on the sound, so a video that is too big can be replaced by its audio track with the same result.

On a Mac: open the video in QuickTime Player and choose File → Export As → Audio Only; you get an M4A.
With ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i talk.mp4 -vn -c:a copy talk.m4a copies the sound without re-encoding it.
In a video editor: export the timeline as audio only, in MP3 or WAV.

An hour of speech as audio usually weighs tens of megabytes, while the same hour of 1080p footage can exceed the 500 MB cap. The price does not change: it counts minutes of recording, not megabytes.

From MP4 transcript to subtitles, notes or chapters

A finished MP4 transcript exports as TXT, Markdown, SRT or VTT at no extra cost, and the subtitle files are timed to the speech.

For captions on the same clip, export a video to SRT file for the same clip and load it in an editor. To keep only the words, strip the timecodes with the SRT to text converter in your browser. AI actions such as a summary, key moments, chapters with timecodes, detailed notes or an article run on the transcript of a video you have transcribed, with no second charge.

MP4 transcription cost, in numbers

A video uses one minute of balance per minute of length, rounded up, and the exact number is shown before anything runs.

A 12-minute screen capture, uploaded as a guest for the first time: free, no account.
A 45-minute Zoom meeting as the opening upload: 10 minutes free; the whole meeting uses 45 minutes, the 10 gift minutes plus 35 more from a pack.
A 2-hour webinar: 120 minutes of balance, after sign-in.

Packs, the gift and the guest allowance are laid out in one table on the page about how free video transcription works.

Limits of MP4 transcription

The transcription turns speech into text and nothing else.

No reading of on-screen text, slides or captions burned into the picture.
No extraction of subtitle tracks already stored in the file.
No speaker labels; only the first audio track.
No links to cloud storage: download the recording before uploading.
Files over 500 MB or 4 hours: upload the sound alone or split them.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert MP4 to text for free?

Upload the file: without an account, your first recording is transcribed free, in full up to 10 minutes and the first 10 minutes of a longer one. After that a video uses minutes from your balance, and signing up adds 10 minutes as a gift.

Do I need an account to transcribe an MP4?

No for your first recording, with files up to 100 MB. Yes for whole videos after that: sign-in works through a link sent to your email and raises the limit to 500 MB and 4 hours.

Do I have to convert MP4 to MP3 first?

No. Upload it as it is; the sound is taken out of it on our side. Converting it yourself only helps when the video is over the size limit.

Does it work with MOV files from an iPhone?

Yes. MOV is accepted the same way, whatever video codec is inside, because only the sound track is used.

Is my video kept on your server?

No. The video is deleted right after its sound is extracted, or after about an hour if the transcription never starts; only the text is kept, in your browser or in your account.

Can it extract subtitles already inside the file?

No. It does not read subtitle tracks stored in the file; it writes a new transcript from the speech.