How to transcribe WhatsApp voice notes to text

Voice notes have become the usual way to explain anything long. The trouble comes afterwards: you can’t listen to them in a meeting, you can’t search them and, if they contain an address or a list, you end up replaying them to write it down. Turning them into text solves that: you read in thirty seconds what would take five minutes to hear, copy the part you need and keep it with the rest of your notes. First you need to get the audio out of WhatsApp, then transcribe it. Neither step needs anything installed.

What kind of file is a voice note

WhatsApp stores voice notes in Opus, a format designed for speech that takes up very little space. The file usually ends in .opus and sometimes in .ogg, the container that holds the audio. Some older players and programs won’t open it, but current transcription services accept it without conversion. Don’t rename the extension by hand: it doesn’t convert anything and may stop the file being recognised. Because it’s so small, a note several minutes long fits easily in an email, so sending it to yourself is always an option.

Getting the audio on Android

1. Open the chat and press and hold the voice note until it’s selected.
2. Tap the share icon or, if it isn’t there, the three-dot menu and the share option.
3. Choose to save it to your phone’s storage or Google Drive, or email it to yourself.
4. If you’re transcribing on a computer, move the file across however suits you best.

Getting the audio on iPhone

1. Open the chat and press and hold the voice note until the menu appears.
2. Tap “Forward” and then the share icon, or whichever share option you see in the menu.
3. Choose “Save to Files” and a folder, or email it to yourself or AirDrop it to your Mac.
4. Open the Files app to check it’s been saved, and upload it from there to wherever you’ll transcribe it.

Menu names change between versions of WhatsApp and of your phone’s operating system. If you don’t see exactly these options, look for the one that says share, export or save.

From WhatsApp on your computer

If you use WhatsApp Web or the desktop app, many versions let you download a voice note from the message’s own menu: hover over it, open the arrow or the three dots and look for the download option. The file lands in your downloads folder and you skip moving it from your phone. It’s the easiest route if you need to transcribe several notes from the same chat: download them one after another and upload them together. Bear in mind that WhatsApp can only download what’s still on your phone; if an old note was deleted there, it won’t be on your computer either.

Transcribe it for free

With the file on your computer or phone, upload it to our free audio-to-text tool. It works in your browser, with nothing to install and no account needed for the first minutes of the audio. It detects the language by itself and gives you the text ready to copy. If the note is long and you want the full text, create a free account and upload all of it: no card needed.

Tips for better results

• Upload the original file. If it’s been forwarded through other apps or re-recorded on another phone, it loses quality.
• Check proper names. Names of people, brands and acronyms are what goes wrong most often. A quick read is enough.
• Combine notes in a row. If someone sent five short notes about the same thing, transcribe them one after another and paste them in order.
• Ask before sharing it. A voice note is a personal message: if you’re going to pass the transcript on to others, mention it to the person who recorded it.

If you transcribe voice notes often

For a one-off note, the free tool is enough. If you get voice notes from clients, interviews or work messages every week, an Echo account keeps them all in one place, fully transcribed and searchable. The same goes for Telegram messages, phone recordings or audio sent by email: if it’s audio or video, you can upload it. The Free plan includes a few hours a month.

• Upload several at once: up to 20 audio or video files, up to 2 GB each, in almost any format.
• Separate the speakers if the audio is a conversation, and add a summary of what matters.
• Get tricky names right: when uploading, add the words that tend to come out wrong (names, brands, acronyms).
• Search all your transcripts for a word and jump straight to the minute it was said.

Transcripts are processed and stored on Edorteam’s own servers in the European Union, and the AI is never trained on your audio. If a voice note contains personal data, such as an ID or account number, you can have it hidden in the text. There’s more detail in Transcription, and the plans are on the pricing page.