# Transcribe Video to Text — Free, Private, No Signup

Transcribe video to text on your own device — the file is processed in your browser and zero bytes are uploaded. No signup, no account, no daily cap. Works on video and audio files you already have.

The file is processed in your browser. Zero bytes are uploaded. Most tools that transcribe video to
text never say where your file goes — this page does, and it says it first: the work happens on your own
device, inside the tab you already have open, and there is no signup. Drop in any video or audio file you already
have — a phone recording, a Zoom or Teams capture, a Reel, or a file saved from YouTube, TikTok or
Facebook.

Drop a video or audio file here
Nothing to install — no download, no plug-in, no app, no signup. It runs in the tab you already have open.

Spoken language. The picker lists 30 options: English, 中文 / Chinese, Español / Spanish, Français / French, Deutsch / German, Português / Portuguese, Italiano / Italian, Nederlands / Dutch, 日本語 / Japanese, 한국어 / Korean, Русский / Russian, العربية / Arabic, हिन्दी / Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Tiếng Việt / Vietnamese, ไทย / Thai, Türkçe / Turkish, Polski / Polish, Українська / Ukrainian, فارسی / Persian, עברית / Hebrew, Svenska / Swedish, Dansk / Danish, Suomi / Finnish, Norsk / Norwegian, Čeština / Czech, Ελληνικά / Greek, Română / Romanian, Magyar / Hungarian.

The model shipped here cannot work out the language on its own — it has to be
told. Pick the language that is *spoken* in the file; if English is picked for a Chinese clip, the
transcript comes back in English. The choice is remembered on this device.

Clear

Copy
Export .TXT
Export .SRT
Export .VTT

This page works on a file that is already on your device. It does not fetch a video from a link.
MP4 · MOV · WEBM · M4A · MP3 · WAV · AAC · OGG. That list is what we have tested; a file
outside it may still work, but we do not promise it. You can also paste a file straight in with Ctrl+V.
### What this page supports

This is a **video to text converter** that runs entirely on your own device. The
recognition model is downloaded once, then all work happens locally. Two different things happen here, and it is
worth keeping them apart: **your file is never uploaded** — not one byte of it leaves your device, it is never
stored, and nothing is sent to this site; **the model is downloaded to your browser once**, about 44 MB of
model files, and your browser caches it after that.
- **Input formats** — MP4, MOV, WEBM, M4A, MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG. That list is what we have tested; a file outside it may still work, but we do not promise it.
- **Output formats** — TXT, SRT, VTT, plus one-click copy.
- **Limits** — **60 minutes of audio and 512 MB per file**. A file past
either one is turned away before it starts rather than run until the browser runs out of memory and the tab
dies. That is the trade for doing the work on your own device instead of on a server, and we would rather state
it than imply “any length” — this page does not.
- **Privacy** — the file is processed in your browser. Zero bytes are uploaded.
- **Accounts** — none. No signup, no login, no daily quota, no credits, no paywall.

**Timed on this machine** — re-run 2026-09-17 on clipquill.com after the latest change: Windows,
Chrome 153, whisper-tiny quantized, end-to-end in a real browser tab.
**A first visit transfers about 44 MB** (measured on clipquill.com, compressed in transit) — about
66 MB once decompressed: the ~44 MB model files plus the ~22 MB runtime that runs them.
Your browser caches all of it, so from the second file on nothing is downloaded again and later
runs only do the transcription itself.
· 13 s of audio → 33.4 s the very first run — that run also carried the
one-time 66 MB download — then 26.3 s once the model is cached
· 60 s of audio → 72.6 s, model cached
· 277 s of audio (4 min 37 s) → 119.0 s, model cached
· 1610 s of audio (26 min 50 s) → 541.1 s (9 min 1 s),
model cached
**Online cold start** — measured 2026-09-17 on clipquill.com: 13 s of audio took 36.7 s from
opening the page to the finished transcript, 33.4 s of which was the transcription itself.
**On a phone-sized window** (375 px wide, same machine) the layout holds — no horizontal overflow,
no broken layout. That is a narrow window on a desktop, not a phone — real phone hardware has not been
timed, so no phone numbers are listed here and no claim is made for them.
We do not say “any length” — at 60 minutes this page stops. A file longer than that is
refused up front rather than run until the browser runs out of memory and the tab dies.
Clips of one to three minutes are where it feels smoothest. Long files still work, they just take real time,
and on a phone a long file means a long wait.

### Accuracy and languages

**What we measured.** On one 11-second clip of clear, single-speaker speech the transcript came back
word-for-word identical to the original script — **22 words out of 22 correct, 0 wrong**, the same
result on three separate runs. The clip is a sample of John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address, and the
reference text is the publicly available text of that sentence.
That is one clip in ideal conditions, not an accuracy rate. We have not measured noisy audio,
music under speech, several people talking at once, or strong accents, so **this page publishes no accuracy
percentage** — the same rule as the timings above: only numbers we actually ran. Because everything
happens on your own device, you can re-run a file as many times as you like at no cost and check the words
yourself.
**Languages.** The model bundled with this page is multilingual and carries **99 language tokens**, so
files in those languages can be transcribed. **You have to pick the language that is spoken** — this
build of the model cannot work it out on its own. Pick the wrong one and the transcript comes back in the
language you picked: choose English for a Chinese clip and you get English, not Chinese. Whatever you pick is
remembered on this device. Of those 99 we have run English audio and one short Chinese clip ourselves; that is
the whole of what we have tested, so those two are the only ones we can speak about at all — and we publish
no accuracy figure for either.

### How to save an Instagram Reel to your phone

Same for YouTube, TikTok and Facebook — anything you can get onto your device works here.
This tool reads a file you already have, so the first step is getting the Reel onto your device.
Pick whichever matches your situation:
#### Your own Reel

1. Open Instagram and go to your profile.
1. Open the Reel you want.
1. Tap the three dots, then **Save** (Android) or **Save to Camera Roll** (iPhone).
1. The Reel is now in your gallery or Photos app — upload it above.

#### Someone else's Reel

1. Open the Reel and tap the three dots.
1. Choose **Copy link**.
1. Paste that link into Instagram's own **Save** feature if it is offered, or ask the creator for the file.
1. If Instagram does not offer saving for that Reel, you can instead record your screen while it plays, then upload the recording.

#### On a computer

1. Right-click the Reel and choose **Copy link** if you need the reference.
1. To get an actual file, use Instagram's built-in save on mobile and transfer it, or record the screen with your system's screen recorder.
1. Upload the resulting file above.

Deliberately simple: this page does not fetch videos from Instagram for you. A field that promises to
pull a Reel from a link would have to send that link to a server, and that is exactly what this page refuses to do.

### FAQ

#### Is this Instagram transcript generator really free?

Yes. There is no signup, no daily cap and no credit system. The model is downloaded to your browser once and
every transcript after that costs nothing on our side, because your own device is doing the work.
#### Do I need to upload my Reel?

No. The file stays in your browser tab. An **Instagram reels transcript** is produced locally
and disappears when you close the tab. Nothing is kept.
#### Can I just paste a link?

No. This page reads a file that is already on your device, and it never sends anything anywhere — which
also means it cannot fetch a video from a link for you. Save the video first, then upload it. The three ways to
do that for a Reel are written out above, under **How to save an Instagram Reel to your phone**. The same
goes for YouTube, TikTok and Facebook: whatever you can save to your own device, this page can read. Where the
file came from does not matter, only that you have it.
#### How long does it take?

It depends on your device, not on us. The measured figures above are real runs on real hardware, not
estimates. Two things dominate: the first file you run also downloads about 66 MB, and after that the time
scales with the length of the audio — a one-minute clip is quick, a half-hour file is not.
#### How accurate is it?

Most accurate on quiet audio with one person speaking clearly. It drops when there is background music,
several people talking over each other, or a strong accent — that is true of any automatic
**Instagram video to text** tool, not just this one. Whatever the audio, read the result before you
use it: **numbers, names and technical terms are what you should check yourself.**
We do not publish an accuracy percentage, because we have not measured one. Because everything runs locally,
you can re-run as many times as you like at no cost.
#### Can I get subtitles for my Reel?

Yes. Export as SRT or VTT and you have a subtitle file ready to drop into your video editor. That is the
usual way people turn an **Instagram reels to text** result back into captions.
#### Can I download the transcript?

Yes — TXT, SRT and VTT download buttons appear once the transcript is ready. There is no
**Instagram transcript downloader** account to create and nothing to unlock.
#### Does it work on a phone?

The layout is built for a phone screen and the file picker works the same way. But we have not timed it on a
phone yet, so we are not posting phone numbers — those go up after real-device runs. Practical advice until
then: start with a short clip and be on Wi-Fi, because the first run downloads about 66 MB. A long file on
a phone means a long wait.
#### Can I transcribe video to text for free, without an account?

Yes. There is no account, no daily cap and no credit system. The model is downloaded to your browser once, and
after that every run costs nothing on our side because your own device is doing the work. Free here is not a
trial with a meter on it, and it is not a quota that resets tomorrow.
#### Is a **video to transcript** the same thing as captions?

They are the same text, taken two ways. A transcript is the plain words in order — export it as TXT and
that is what you get. Export the same words as SRT or VTT and you have a subtitle file with timings, ready to
drop into a video editor. One run of **video to text transcription** here gives you both, so you do
not have to decide before you start.
#### What happens to my file after the transcript is done?

Nothing, because nothing was sent. The file stays in the browser tab and is gone when you close it. There is
no copy on a server to ask us to delete and no retention period to read — which is exactly what most
services that convert video to text do not put in writing.

ClipQuill — Runs on your device. No upload, no account, no cap on how many files you run.