We show the transcript here and email you the text, SRT and VTT, so you still have them tomorrow.
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Every pack: recordings up to 3 hours, no limit on how many, Word and Notion export, notes with timestamps. A 47-minute lecture uses 47 minutes.
How do I turn a WhatsApp voice note into text?
Get the voice note out of WhatsApp as a file (on iPhone: open the chat, tap the contact or group name, Export chat, With selected media, pick the voice note, then Save to Files; on Android: More options, More, Export chat, Include media), then upload it here. WhatsApp voice notes are Ogg files with Opus audio, and Slice takes them as they are, whether the file ends in .opus or .ogg, along with M4A, MP3, WAV and most other audio, up to 600MB. You get the text on screen plus .txt, .srt and .vtt files, with speakers labelled if more than one person talks. The language is detected from the audio, so it does not matter what language your phone or WhatsApp is set to. Free: two recordings a month, each up to 1 hour; the first needs no account. For more, Slice Transcribe hour packs (1 hour for $1.99, 5 hours for $4.99, 15 hours for $9.99 or 40 hours for $24.99) are paid once and never expire, and each voice note uses only its length, rounded up to the minute. Audio is deleted after 7 days.
Free, or hour packs
| Feature | Free | Hour packs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | From $1.99, paid once |
| Longest recording | 1 hour | 3 hours |
| How many | 2 recordings a month | As many as your hours cover |
| How hours are counted | Each recording counts as one of the month’s free ones | Each recording’s length, rounded up to the minute: a 47-minute lecture uses 47 minutes |
| Do they run out? | They reset on the 1st of each month | Never: the hours do not expire |
| Account | Not for your first one; then a free account | A free Slice account |
| Downloads | .txt, .srt, .vtt | Word (.docx), Copy for Notion, notes with timestamps, plus .txt, .srt, .vtt |
| Speaker labels | Yes, when more than one person talks | Yes, when more than one person talks |
| How long the text is kept | 30 days | On your account until you delete it |
| Audio kept | 7 days, then deleted | 7 days, then deleted |
Paid once by card through Stripe. No subscription, nothing renews, and the hours never expire. Any pack can be bought as a gift: you get a link to send, and the hours go to whoever redeems it. More on Slice Transcribe.
Getting the voice note out of WhatsApp
WhatsApp’s own Help Center gives one way to take media out of a chat: Export chat.
iPhone
- Open the chat and tap the contact’s name or the group name.
- Tap Export chat, then With selected media, and pick the voice note.
- Choose Save to Files. WhatsApp saves the export as a ZIP file.
- In the Files app, tap the ZIP to open it. The voice note is inside as an audio file.
Android
- Open the chat, tap More options, then More, then Export chat.
- Tap Include media. WhatsApp attaches the chat’s most recent media, so this works best for a recent voice note.
- Choose how to send it. WhatsApp lists Quick Share, Gmail or Chat as examples; emailing it to yourself is the simplest way to reach the device you will upload from.
Then upload the audio file here. The chat’s text file that comes with it is not needed.
What .opus is, and why there is nothing to convert
WhatsApp’s developer documentation says voice messages are .ogg files encoded with the Opus codec. Opus is the sound; Ogg is the box it comes in, and a file like that can be named .opus or .ogg. Some music players will not play it, which is why many guides tell you to convert it to MP3 first.
You do not need to here: Slice takes Ogg audio directly. Converting only adds a step and a website that sees your file. If a browser refuses the .opus name, renaming it to .ogg is enough, because it is already an Ogg file. Renaming it to .mp3, which some guides suggest, does not change what is inside and is not needed.
Files Slice does not take: .amr and .3gp, which some Android recorders make. Convert those to MP3 first.
WhatsApp’s own transcripts
WhatsApp can show a transcript of a voice message you receive: turn on Voice Message Transcripts in Settings, Chats, choose a language, then tap and hold a message and tap Transcribe. WhatsApp says the transcripts are made on your device, that the sender cannot see them, and that the feature is only on some devices for now. On iPhone it needs iOS 16 or newer with Siri on.
Use this page when:
- The voice note is in a different language from the one you chose in WhatsApp.
- The feature is not on your phone yet.
- You sent the voice note yourself and want it as text.
- You need the words as a file to keep, quote or translate, rather than on screen in the chat.
Long voice notes and lots of them
Most voice notes are a few minutes; some run much longer. Any voice note up to 1 hour is free, two a month. With hour packs, there is no count: each one uses its own length, rounded up to the minute, and a file can be up to 3 hours. Hours never expire, so a pack bought for one batch of voice notes is still there next time. All the packs are on Slice Transcribe.
How to transcribe a WhatsApp voice note
- 1Export the voice noteIn the chat: Export chat, then With selected media (iPhone) or Include media (Android).
- 2Save the fileSave to Files on iPhone and open the ZIP, or email it to yourself on Android.
- 3Upload it hereThe .opus or .ogg file as it is, up to 600MB.
- 4Read or downloadThe text appears on screen and is emailed to you, with .txt, .srt and .vtt files.
Questions
Does it take .opus files?
WhatsApp can transcribe voice messages itself. Why use this?
How do I save just one voice note?
Is it free?
Is it private?
Can I transcribe a voice note in Spanish, Portuguese, French or another language?
For other recordings
- Voice memo to text: iPhone Voice Memos and Android recorder files.
- Transcribe a meeting recording: Zoom, Teams and Google Meet recordings.
- Transcribe a focus group: Many voices, each one labelled.
The same tool, for other files
Audio to text · MP3 to text · Video to text · Audio to SRT · Transcribe a podcast · Your transcripts
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