The short answer
To turn a voice recording into text, give the audio file to a tool that transcribes it, then copy or export the text.
- On iPhone: recent versions of Voice Memos can show a transcript of a recording.
- On a Pixel phone: the Recorder app transcribes as you record.
- On a Mac or Windows PC: drop the file into SayBriefly's Transcribe tab, then Copy or Download .txt. Best for recordings up to about half an hour.
- Need names on each line? Otter and Notta label speakers on paid plans.
Two jobs get mixed up here. Recording is capturing the audio, and every phone does that well. Transcribing is turning that audio into text you can edit, search and paste. This guide is about the second job. If you want words to appear while you talk, that is dictation, and our voice typing guide covers it.
We build SayBriefly, so here is our bias up front. Our Transcribe tab is one of the six ways below, and we say plainly where the others do more.
Six ways to turn a voice recording into text, at a glance
| Tool | Where | Speaker labels | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
 iPhone Voice Memos | iPhone | No | Memos you recorded on the phone |
| Pixel Recorder | Pixel phones | Yes, on Pixel 6 and later | Recording and text in one app |
 Google Docs | Browser | No | A quick workaround with no upload |
 Otter | Web, apps | Paid plans | Meetings and interviews with names |
 Notta | Web, apps | Paid plans | Long files and many languages |
 SayBriefly | Mac, Windows, web | No | Dropping a file on your computer, plain text back |
Checked on each product's own site or help pages, September 2026.
How to turn a voice recording into text on iPhone
Voice Memos: the recorder you already have
Voice Memos is the built-in voice recorder on iPhone. On recent versions of iOS, it can also show a transcript of a recording, which makes it a voice recorder with text built in. The steps:
- Record as usual. Open Voice Memos and tap the red button. Hold the phone close to whoever is speaking.
- Open the recording. Tap it in the list, then open its full view.
- Show the transcript. Tap the transcript button (a speech bubble with quote marks). The text follows the audio as it plays.
- Copy the text. Select it and copy, then paste it into Notes, Mail or a document.
Transcripts depend on your iOS version, your iPhone and the language set on it. If you do not see the button, update iOS first. If you still do not see it, send the memo to your computer as an M4A file and transcribe it there. That works for older memos too.
Good for your own memos. No speaker labels, and exporting long text is clunky.
How to turn a voice recording into text on Android
Recorder on Pixel: a voice recorder with transcription
Google's Recorder app on Pixel phones transcribes while you record. Google's help pages cover creating, editing and sharing transcripts, and speaker labels on Pixel 6 and later.
- Open Recorder and tap record. The words appear on the Transcript tab as people talk.
- Stop and save. Give the recording a title so you can find it.
- Edit the transcript if a name came out wrong.
- Share or save the transcript as text to paste or send on.
Other Android phones have their own recorder apps, and some of them add transcripts too. Look in the recorder's settings or share menu. If yours does not, move the audio file to a computer and transcribe it there.
The most complete phone option, if you have a Pixel.
How to transcribe a recording with Google Docs
Google Docs voice typing: the free workaround
Google Docs has no file upload for audio, but it has voice typing (Tools, then Voice typing, in Chrome, Edge or Safari). People use it as a trick: play the recording out loud next to the mic and let voice typing type it.
- Open a blank doc in Chrome and choose Tools, then Voice typing.
- Click the mic. Allow microphone access when the browser asks.
- Play the recording from your phone or speakers, close to the mic, at normal speed.
- Watch it type, then fix what it missed.
It works for a short, clear memo. It struggles with anything else: it hears the room, not the file, it stops if the audio goes quiet, and you have to sit there while it plays. Treat it as a last resort, not a workflow.
Costs nothing, but it is a workaround. Fine for two minutes, painful for twenty.
Otter and Notta: when you need speaker names
Otter
Otter imports audio and video files and transcribes them. Its pricing page lists 3 lifetime file imports on the free Basic plan, 10 imports a month on Pro, and unlimited on Business. It transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese, and paid plans identify speakers by name.
Notta
Notta takes file uploads on every plan. Its pricing page lists 120 minutes a month on the free plan with a 3 minute cap per recording, and up to 5 hours per recording on Pro and above. Speaker identification is on the paid plans.
If your recordings are long interviews or meetings and you need to know who said each line, one of these is the better pick than a plain transcriber. For meetings you have not recorded yet, an AI notetaker that captures the call directly saves the whole record-then-upload step.
Pick Otter or Notta for speaker labels and long files.
How to turn a recording into text on your computer with SayBriefly
The Transcribe tab in SayBriefly's Dictation app
SayBriefly is a desktop app for Mac and Windows, with a web app too. Its Dictation app has a Transcribe tab, right after Overview. Phones record, SayBriefly transcribes the file on your computer.
Drop an audio or video file
or click to pick one · MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4 and more · up to 100 MB
Okay, notes from the Brightside call. They want the launch moved to Tuesday the 14th. Mei is fine with cutting the second workshop if we keep the survey. Budget stays at eight thousand four hundred. I need to send the revised timeline by Friday and ask Jordan for the new logo files.
A mock of the Transcribe tab. The text is an example.
- Get the file onto your computer. AirDrop or share a voice memo from iPhone, or copy it from your Android phone, Zoom folder or email.
- Open SayBriefly, then the Dictation app, and choose the Transcribe tab.
- Drop the file on the box, or click to pick it. MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4 and more work, up to 100 MB.
- Wait for the text. It is transcribed with Whisper large-v3. You do not pick the language, it is detected automatically.
- Copy it or press Download .txt. The audio file is deleted right after.
Good
- Works with files from any phone or app
- Language detected for you
- Plain text you can paste anywhere, or a .txt file
- The file is deleted after
Worth knowing
- No speaker labels, you get one block of text
- Best for voice memos, interviews and recordings up to about half an hour. Very long recordings may not finish yet.
- Counts toward your dictation minutes
- No phone app, the file goes to your computer first
Pick SayBriefly if you want a file turned into plain text on your computer, in the same app you already dictate in.
The same app also types as you talk. Double-tap Shift on Mac or press Ctrl+Shift+D on Windows, and your words are typed where your cursor is. More in SayBriefly dictation.
How to record clean audio, so the text comes out right
The tool matters less than the recording. A clear file gives a clean transcript in any of the six tools. A muddy one gives errors in all of them.
Get close. The phone about a hand's width from the speaker's mouth beats a phone in the middle of the table.
Kill the noise. Turn off the fan, close the window, pick the quiet corner of the café.
One voice at a time. Crosstalk is the hardest thing to transcribe, for people and machines.
Say names slowly. Spell unusual names out loud once. You will thank yourself later.
Two more habits help. Record a five-second test and play it back before a long interview. And for long sessions, stop and start a new recording every 20 to 30 minutes. Shorter files are easier to transcribe, easier to find, and if one goes wrong you lose less.
Clean audio in, clean text out. The mic is half the job.
Which file types and sizes work
| Source | Usual file | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone Voice Memos | M4A | Share or AirDrop it to your computer, then drop it in |
| Android recorder | M4A, MP3 or similar | Share it to your computer or copy it over USB |
| Zoom local recording | M4A audio and MP4 video | Use the M4A, it is smaller |
| Screen recording | MP4 or MOV | Video files work, check the size |
| Podcast or studio export | WAV or MP3 | Export MP3 if the WAV is over 100 MB |
SayBriefly accepts files up to 100 MB. Compressed audio like M4A or MP3 fits a long recording into a small file. An uncompressed WAV fills up fast, so export a long WAV as MP3 before you drop it in. Length matters more than size, though: keep each file to about half an hour for the best result.
A worked example: a freelancer's interview, start to finish
Priya is a freelance UX writer. On Tuesday she interviews a client's customer for 25 minutes in a café, recording on her iPhone. Here is how the recording becomes something useful.
Because the Transcribe tab gives plain text without speaker labels, Priya marks the turns herself. For a two-person interview that takes a few minutes. For a five-person focus group, she would use Otter or Notta instead, and says so to the client.
What to do with the text once you have it
A transcript is raw material. These are the jobs people do next, with a template you can copy.
- Pull the decisions and to-dos into your to-do list.
- Write a short summary for the people who were not there.
- Quote exact words in a report or article, with the time in the recording.
- Keep the .txt file next to the project so you can search it later.
Recording: Brightside customer interview 1 · 25 min · 24 Sep
In three lines: Uses the app weekly for invoices. Gets lost on the settings page. Wants reminders by email, not push.
Decisions: None, research only.
To-dos: Share quotes with Mei by Friday. Book interview 2.
Best quote: "I just want to know what I owe before the month ends."
Common mistakes, and fixes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Phone far away in the middle of the table | Move it close to the main speaker |
| One 2-hour file | Record in 20 to 30 minute parts |
| Expecting speaker names from a plain transcriber | Mark turns by hand, or use a tool with speaker labels |
| Uploading a giant WAV | Export as MP3 or M4A first |
| Trusting names and numbers blindly | Check them against the audio once |
| Using dictation to type a recording | Use a tool that reads the file, not the room |
Privacy: where your recording goes
Every cloud transcriber receives your audio to turn it into text. The questions to ask are what happens to it after and who can see the result. With SayBriefly's Transcribe tab, the file is deleted right after it is transcribed, and you keep the text you copy or download. Otter and Notta keep your recordings in your account, which is the point of those apps, so read their policies if the audio is sensitive. Phone recorders keep recordings on the phone and in your phone's cloud backup if you use one.
Before you record anyone, tell them. In many places recording a conversation needs the other person's consent. It is also simply polite.
Related guides
Voice to text apps
Apps that type as you talk, on Mac and Windows.
Speech to text on Mac
Set up dictation on your Mac step by step.
Best dictation apps
Six dictation apps, honestly compared.
Speech to text online
A free tool that types as you talk, in the browser.
Voice typing
Mac, Windows and Google Docs, with commands.
SayBriefly dictation
Double-tap Shift and talk, in any app.
Questions people ask about voice recording to text
How do I convert a voice recording to text?
Open the recording in a tool that transcribes files, wait for it to finish, then copy or export the text. On a Mac or Windows computer, SayBriefly's Transcribe tab takes the file, transcribes it and gives you Copy and Download .txt. On a phone, Voice Memos on recent iPhones and Recorder on Pixel phones can show a transcript.
Can I turn a voice recording into text for free?
Some ways cost nothing extra: the transcript in Voice Memos on supported iPhones, the Recorder app on Pixel phones, and Google Docs voice typing if you play the audio aloud. Otter and Notta have free plans with limits on file imports and minutes.
What is the best voice recorder with transcription?
On a phone, the one already built in: Voice Memos on iPhone or Recorder on Pixel. For recordings you want to transcribe on a computer, drop the file into a transcription tool like SayBriefly's Transcribe tab, Otter or Notta.
How do I record speech to text as I talk?
That is dictation, not transcription. Use voice typing on your computer (double-tap Shift in SayBriefly on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+D on Windows, Win+H for Windows voice typing) or our free speech to text online tool in the browser.
Which file types can SayBriefly transcribe?
Common audio and video files such as MP3, M4A, WAV and MP4, and more, up to 100 MB per file.
How long can the recording be?
SayBriefly's Transcribe tab is best for voice memos, interviews and recordings up to about half an hour. Very long recordings may not finish yet, so split a long file into parts.
Does SayBriefly label who is speaking?
No. The Transcribe tab gives you plain text without speaker labels. If you need names on each line, Otter and Notta offer speaker identification on their paid plans.
Which languages are supported?
SayBriefly detects the language of the recording automatically. You do not pick it first.
Is my audio file kept after transcription?
No. SayBriefly deletes the file right after it is transcribed. You keep the text you copy or download.
Can I transcribe a voice memo from my iPhone on my Mac?
Yes. Share or AirDrop the memo to your Mac as an M4A file, then drop it into the Transcribe tab in SayBriefly's Dictation app.
Can I convert a WhatsApp voice note to text?
Save or export the voice note as an audio file, move it to your computer, then drop it into a transcription tool. Check the file size and length first.
How accurate is voice recording to text?
For one clear voice close to the mic, modern transcription needs only a few fixes. Background noise, crosstalk, far-away speakers and names are where it slips. Clean audio matters more than the tool.
Does transcribing a file use my dictation minutes in SayBriefly?
Yes. A transcribed file counts toward your dictation minutes.
Is there a voice recorder with text on the phone and computer?
SayBriefly has no phone app. Record on your phone with its built-in recorder, then transcribe the file in SayBriefly on your Mac, Windows PC or in the web app.
