To transcribe audio to text accurately, there are only a handful of tools you need. You’ll need a word processor, some kind of audio player and a few free hours. Of course, if you’re looking to do it accurately and quickly, it’s better to partner with a professional service like Rev. We encourage everyone to try to transcribe audio to text at least once. So, if you’re interested in transcribing an audio file to text, here’s everything you need to know.

How to Transcribe Audio Files to Text Yourself

Before we give you the step-by-step guide, we want to mention that patience is also a huge part of transcribing audio to text. If the process is slow at first, don’t worry. You’ll get better with practice.

1. Set Up

The process of transcribing audio or speech to text is not complicated, but you can make it much less efficient if you aren’t set up for success. First, give yourself easy access to both your word processor and your audio file. You’ll be rewinding frequently, and you don’t want to add minutes to your process by constantly switching tabs and losing your place.

2. Find Your Shorthand

Some things, like the speakers’ names, will recur constantly while you’re transcribing the audio file. Make a quick reference of shorthand for these things you know you’re going to type over and over. If you’re the only person who will use the transcription, you’ll know what the shorthand means. If you plan to share the file with more people, you can either provide them the list or do a quick find and replace with the real word when you’re done.

3. Write What You Hear

This is the easiest part. Listen to your audio file and type what you hear.

4. Edit Your Text File

Once you’re done with your transcription, take one last listen through your audio file to fix any errors you might have missed. Be careful to check for any titles, references or context you might have missed, especially if you focused on simply typing what was said, word for word.

5. Export the Correct File

The file extension you use to save your text file is important. People who want to keep the text for themselves to edit or share later can simply save as a .doc file. However, if you plan to use the audio to text transcription for video subtitles or any other multimedia format, make sure you confirm what kind of file you need.

How to Transcribe Audio to Text with Rev

That process may sound too involved or time-consuming for some of you. That’s ok. If you’d rather not do the audio transcription yourself, just send your audio file to Rev. We’ll take care of it for you, and we offer a free trial to new customers.

Here’s how to transcribe audio to text with Rev.

1. Upload Your Audio File

Send us the URL of your audio media file, or upload the recorded audio file itself to our safe and secure network.

Rev allows users to upload both audio and video files.

You can choose Rev’s human transcription services ($1 per minute, extremely accurate) or the automatic speech recognition services (10 cents per minute, but much less accurate).

2. Choose Custom Transcription Options

• Rush My Order – Get your transcript back 5 times faster
• Timestamping – Sync your audio with timestamps on every paragraph. This allows you to jump to specific parts of the audio transcript.
• Verbatim – Catch every word. Um’s, ah’s, and mm-hm’s.
• Instant First Draft – AI-generated transcript delivered in minutes

3. Receive & Download Your Text File

We’ll handle all the transcribing, editing and file formats. You’ll be notified in an email when your file is ready and you can download it instantly.

Learn more about the benefits of learning how to convert audio to text, how to elevate your video content with your transcriptions, plus new products that Rev offers on our blog.