How to Automatically Transcribe Videos Like a Pro

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5 min read

Posted:

June 15, 2024

Updated:

August 27, 2024

Video content is a big part of our lives these days, both personally and professionally. Tutorials, lectures, podcasts, you name it. And having transcripts is a huge help. Not only do they make your content accessible to a wider audience, including those with hearing impairments or those who prefer to read, but they also improve the overall user experience. Fortunately, thanks to some pretty cool new tech, we can now automatically transcribe videos with ease.

In this article, we'll take a look at some top methods to get the hang of it.

Why It’s Worth Learning How to Transcribe Videos?

Before we jump into the techniques, let's take a moment to appreciate what automatic video transcription has to offer:

It saves us time: Transcribing by hand can be a slow, tedious job, especially when it comes to lengthy videos. Automated transcription tools can shave off hours and help you free up your time for more pleasant tasks.
It improves accessibility: Transcripts make your video content accessible for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who prefer watching videos on mute. This can expand your audience reach and ensure inclusivity.
It helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Transcripts give search engines more textual data, which can help make sure that your content shows up more often in search results.
It helps repurpose your content: You can turn those transcripts into a bunch of different formats, like blog posts, articles, or e-books. That way, you can get the most out of your video content and save plenty of time.

What Tools Can You Use to Auto Transcribe Videos?

Built-in Transcription Tools

A lot of popular video platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo, have built-in automatic transcription tools. These little helpers analyze the audio in your video to generate captions or subtitles, which you can then edit and refine as needed.

YouTube Auto Captions

You can get YouTube to generate captions on the fly for your videos. The captions might not be perfect, but they’re still a good place to start.

Vimeo Automatic Captions

Just like YouTube, Vimeo lets you add automatic captions to your videos. Furthermore, you can then choose to edit, download, or share them.

Online Transcription Services

How to automatically transcribe a video? There are tons of online transcription services out there that use advanced speech recognition technology to automatically transcribe your videos. These services often have different levels of accuracy and prices to suit your needs.

Rev

Rev is a popular online transcription service that offers both human and automated options for getting your words down. Their automated transcription service uses AI to generate transcripts quickly and relatively affordably.

Temi

Temi is another solid online transcription service with competitive rates. Their transcripts come from state-of-the-art speech recognition technology and can be edited for more accuracy.

Rev is the company that powers Temi, but if you’re looking for a simpler option and are not interested in human transcription services, then the latter might be a better choice for you.

Desktop Transcription Software

If you’d rather transcribe video automatically from your own computer, there are a bunch of desktop apps that’ll let you do just that. You can use them to transcribe videos directly to your machine, and often they come with extra perks like editing, formatting, and export features.

Express Scribe

Express Scribe is a flexible transcription software that can handle a wide range of audio and video formats. There are quite a few features that can help you work more effectively like:

Variable playback speed
Foot pedal support
Customized keyboard shortcuts, and more

Mobile Transcription Apps

If you'd like to learn how to transcribe videos on the go, there are some great mobile transcription apps out there. These use your phone or tablet's microphone and speech recognition capabilities to turn your recordings into transcripts.

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a popular mobile transcription app that offers real-time transcription, making it ideal for meetings, interviews, or lectures. It supports a bunch of different languages and lets you sync up transcripts across multiple devices.

Google Live Transcribe

Google Live Transcribe is a free app for Android devices that provides real-time transcriptions. It transcribes speech from nearby speakers or audio sources, so you can use it for transcribing videos or podcasts.

A Few Ways to Improve Automatic Transcription Accuracy

Now you know how to automatically transcribe a video.

But even though automatic transcription tools have come a long way, they might still produce mistakes, especially when dealing with complex audio or background noise. Here are some tips to help you make your automatic transcriptions more accurate:

Improve the Quality of Your Audio

If the audio quality in your video is poor, it can affect how accurate automatic transcription is. Make sure your video has clear audio with as little background noise or interference as possible. If you need to, you can use external microphones or noise-canceling equipment to enhance the audio quality.

Try to Speak Clearly

Automatic transcription tools use speech recognition algorithms, which can sometimes have trouble with slurred speech and mumbling. Speak clearly and make sure you're pronouncing your words properly to improve the transcription accuracy.

Edit and Refine Your Transcripts

Transcription software can help you save a lot of time, but it's still a good idea to go over and edit the generated transcript for accuracy. Many of these tools offer editing features or allow you to export the transcript to work on later, so don’t forget to take advantage of that.

Train the Software

Some transcription tools let you not only auto transcribe videos but also customize the actual tool so that it becomes more accurate. For example, you could get the software to recognize specific terms, jargon, or names related to your industry or topic.

Video Creation Made Easy with Screen Story

If you're in the market for a powerful and efficient screen-recording tool that can take your video-creation game to the next level, look no further than Screen Story. This versatile Mac app is all you need to turn those boring screen recordings into something truly captivating in just a few simple clicks.

Screen Story's automatic transcription capabilities are one of its best features. When you're recording your screen, the app types up what you're saying in real time. That means you can easily transcribe video automatically and make your content more accessible.

But don’t just take our word for it! Check out everything that Screen Story has to offer with our convenient month pass.

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How to Automatically Transcribe Videos Like a Pro

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