How to Transcribe Audio Files: Audio Transcripts

Transcribing audio files into text doesn’t have to be complicated. With Glasp’s AI-powered audio transcription tool, free to start, you can upload audio files like MP3, WAV, or M4A and instantly turn them into accurate text transcripts.

Beyond transcription, Glasp helps you turn audio into reusable knowledge you can search, annotate, and connect across your tools.

Whether it’s podcasts, interviews, meetings, lectures, or voice memos, Glasp lets you:

• Automatically generate accurate transcripts from audio files

• Automatically detect and label different speakers in the transcript

• Highlight key insights and add notes directly to transcripts

• Organize and tag spoken ideas for future reference

• Search only the important parts by focusing on your highlights

• Reuse transcript highlights across your knowledge workflow

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through how to upload audio files, generate transcripts, highlight important ideas, and turn spoken content into structured knowledge, so you can spend less time replaying audio and more time thinking.

Use it when

• You have a lecture recording and want the key points without listening twice.

• You interviewed someone and need exact quotes, with speakers labeled.

• You recorded a meeting, podcast, or voice memo and want notes you can search later.

Where it works and what it costs: Upload from any browser on desktop (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, or Opera) at glasp.co/audio-transcriber. Supported files are mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpga, m4a, wav, and webm, up to 300MB or 5 hours each. The Free plan includes 30 minutes of transcription a month, Pro includes 300 minutes, and Unlimited includes 1,500 minutes (pricing). Transcripts are private by default.

In short: Open your Glasp dashboard, click +, then Audio Transcription. Upload the file. A few minutes later, read, highlight, summarize, or download the transcript.

Step 1: Sign up for Glasp

Choose your preferred browser, such as Google Chrome, Brave, Safari, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox.

In your browser’s address bar, type glasp.co and you’ll be taken directly to Glasp’s website. You can also access it using the link below.

👉 Glasp - Audio Transcriber

Once you’re on the site, click Sign up and continue with your Google account.

You can sign up for Glasp with either Google Sign-in or Apple Sign-in. If you’re not an iPhone/iPad user, we strongly recommend you use Google Sign-in.

After finalizing your account, you will be taken to welcome page.

Step 2: Go to Your Glasp Dashboard (Profile Page)

Once you’ve signed up for Glasp, go to Glasp – Audio Transcriber and click “Dashboard.”

This will take you to your Glasp dashboard (your profile page), where you can upload audio files and manage your transcripts.

This will take you to your profile page. From there, click the + button in the left sidebar.

Step 3: Start a New Audio Transcription

Once you’re on your Glasp dashboard (profile page), click the “+” button in the left sidebar and select “Audio Transcription.”

This will open the upload screen where you can add your audio file.

Drag and drop your audio file into the upload area, or click “Select File.”

Once the file is added, click “Upload Audio File” to start the transcription.

Glasp automatically detects the language of your audio file, so you don’t need to manually select it. (You can still choose a language if you prefer.)

Click “Upload Audio File” to begin uploading.

Once the file is uploaded, Glasp will start generating the transcript automatically. Depending on the length of the audio, this may take a few minutes.

When the transcript is ready, you’ll see the summary and full transcript on your audio page.

Step 4: View and Use Your Transcript

Once the transcription is complete, you’ll see the full transcript on your audio page.

From there, you can:

• View the transcript by speaker (automatic speaker detection)

• Highlight key sentences

• Add notes to important moments

• Generate an AI summary

• Copy the transcript with one click

• Download it as .srt or .mp4

Your audio is now fully searchable and reusable.

View Speakers (Speaker Detection)

Glasp automatically detects different speakers in your audio and labels them in the transcript (e.g., SPEAKER 1, SPEAKER 2).

To see the conversation organized by speaker, switch the view from Timeline to Speakers using the toggle at the top of the Transcript section. Each speaker gets a color-coded label with timestamps, so you can easily follow who said what.

This is especially useful for podcasts, interviews, panel discussions, and meeting recordings.

Highlight the Transcript with Glasp

Simply select a sentence and choose a highlight color from the popup.

Your highlight will be saved to your Glasp profile, just like web articles or PDFs.

Add a Note to the Transcript

Select a sentence in the transcript and click the note icon in the popup.

A note window will appear where you can write your thoughts, insights, or summaries. Click “Save” to attach your note to that highlighted section.

Fix Names and Terms

Automatic transcripts can miss names, jargon, and acronyms. Click Edit Transcript to correct typos or adjust formatting before you share or reuse the text.

Copy the Transcript

Click “Copy” to copy the entire transcript with one click. You can paste it into Notion, Google Docs, Obsidian, or anywhere you work.

Play the Audio

Use the built-in audio player to listen directly from the transcript page. You can change the playback speed, skip ahead, or adjust the volume as needed.

Summarize the Transcript

Click “+ Summarize” to instantly generate an AI-powered summary of your transcript. This helps you quickly grasp the key ideas without rereading the entire conversation.

Once the AI finishes generating the summary, it will appear at the top of the page.

The summary includes key sections and timestamps, so you can quickly understand the main ideas at a glance.

Download or Repurpose Your Content

Click “Download” to choose how you’d like to export your content.

You can:

• Download the transcript as an .srt file

• Download the original audio file (.m4a)

• Generate a short audio video (~3 minutes) for easy sharing

(Optional) Step 5: Edit the Title

To rename your audio file, click the three dots (⋯) in the top right corner and select “Edit Title.”

Enter a new title and click “OK” to save your changes.

(Optional) Step 6: Share Your Transcript

Audio files are saved privately by default.

If you’d like to share your transcript, switch the visibility to Public and use the generated link to send it to your team, audience, or collaborators.

(Optional) Step 7: Delete the Audio File

Click the three dots (⋯) next to the title and choose “Delete.” Once confirmed, the audio file and transcript will be permanently removed.

Turn the Transcript Into Something You Can Use

A raw transcript is rarely the final product. Copy it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another AI assistant and ask for the format you need, for example:

"Turn this interview transcript into a Q&A article with Speaker 1 as the interviewer. Keep the full answers and remove filler words."

"Write meeting notes from this transcript: decisions, action items with owners, and open questions."

"List the five main ideas from this lecture, each with the timestamp where it starts."

For a step-by-step example, see How to Create a Q&A-Style Article from an Audio File Using Glasp.

The lines you highlight are saved to your Glasp profile with your other highlights, so you can find them again later, and AI assistants connected through the Glasp MCP Connector can search them.

Other Ways to Transcribe Audio, and When Glasp Helps

You can type a recording out by hand, which is free but takes several times the length of the audio. Many phones, recorder apps, and word processors can also transcribe on the device, and they are worth trying if you already have them. Glasp is most useful when you want more than the text: speaker labels, timestamps in a subtitle file, highlights and notes on the transcript, an AI summary, and one place where every transcript is searchable alongside what you read.

Audio shouldn’t disappear after you press play.

With Glasp, you can transcribe, highlight, annotate, summarize, and repurpose your audio, making every conversation part of your long-term knowledge system.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Glasp and start building knowledge from everything you consume, including audio.

FAQs

Q. What audio file formats does Glasp support?

Glasp supports mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpga, m4a, wav, and webm files. The maximum file size/length per upload is 300MB or 5 hours.

Q. How accurate is the transcription?

Accuracy depends on audio quality (clear voices, minimal background noise). For most standard recordings (lectures, meetings, interviews), Glasp provides highly reliable transcripts.

Q. Can I download the transcript?

Yes. You can download the transcript as an .srt file, download the original audio (.m4a), or generate a short audio video. You can also copy the full transcript and paste it into any note-taking or document tool.

Q. How many minutes can I transcribe for free?

The Free plan includes 30 minutes of audio transcription a month. Pro includes 300 minutes a month and Unlimited 1,500 minutes. See pricing.

Q. Can I transcribe a voice memo from my iPhone?

Yes. Export the memo from the Voice Memos app and upload it. See How to Transcribe an iPhone Voice Memo with Glasp.

Q. Can I transcribe a YouTube video that has no captions?

Yes. Open the video with the Glasp extension and click the audio icon in the Glasp panel header to run Audio Transcription on it. See How to See a Summary of a YouTube Video with Glasp.

Q. Can I summarize my audio transcript automatically?

Yes. After generating the transcript, you can click the + Summarize button to get a concise AI-generated summary.

Q. Can Glasp detect different speakers?

Yes. Glasp automatically detects and labels speakers (e.g., SPEAKER 1, SPEAKER 2) in the transcript. Switch to the Speakers view at the top of the Transcript section to see the conversation organized by speaker.

Q. Can I keep my transcripts private?

By default, all transcripts are private. If you want to share them, you can switch the visibility to Public and copy the shareable link.

Q. Can I edit or delete an uploaded audio file?

Yes. You can rename the file, edit the title, update its visibility, or delete it at any time from your Glasp profile.

Q. Can Claude or ChatGPT read my Glasp highlights?

Yes. With the Glasp MCP Connector, AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code can search and read your own highlights, notes, Kindle highlights, and AI summaries, including your YouTube summaries. The connection is read-only and private to you. See How to Connect Glasp to Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code (MCP Connector).

Before you leave

Thanks for reading. We hope this tutorial helps you turn your audio files into clear, usable transcripts.

See you next time,

Glasp team