How to transcribe audio and video on Mac
A big screen and a keyboard are the best place to polish a long transcript. Transcription has a native Mac app that syncs with your iPhone, so recordings you capture on the go are ready on your desk.
Install and sign in
Get Transcription from the Mac App Store. Sign in with the same account you use on iPhone and your transcripts sync automatically.
Transcribe a file
- Drag any audio or video file into the window, or use Import. MP3, M4A, WAV, AIFF, MP4, MOV and more are supported.
- Pick the spoken language.
- Choose online for maximum accuracy or on-device to keep it offline.
Edit with keyboard and audio
Click a word to play the audio from there, type to correct, and use search to jump through every mention of a name. This is the fastest way to finish a long interview or meeting transcript.
Export
DOCX and RTF for documents, PDF for sharing, SRT for video captions, Zip for everything at once; MP3, M4A or WAV for the audio.
Use transcripts with AI agents on your Mac
The Mac app can run a local MCP server, so Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and other agents on the same Mac can read your transcripts without the internet. Turn it on in Settings → AI assistants → This Mac. For cloud assistants see connecting Claude and ChatGPT.
On someone else's computer
Open the web editor, scan the QR code with the Transcription app on your phone, and edit or export any transcript from the browser.
FAQ
Which macOS versions are supported?
The Mac app runs on recent versions of macOS; the App Store page always lists the current requirement.
Can I use it on Windows?
There's no Windows app, but the web editor at transcription.today works in any modern browser on Windows or Linux for editing and exporting transcripts.
