Whisper Transcription Without the Setup
NovaScribe is a web-based transcription app that uses OpenAI Whisper to convert audio and video to text for podcasters, researchers, journalists, and teams. Plans start at $2/month (200 minutes) with a free 30-minute trial. No coding or API setup required.
Supported formats:
Upload a file → Get transcript with speaker labels → Export as TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, or JSON.
Limits & Specifications
| Max file size | 2 GB |
| Max duration | 10 hours per file |
| Turnaround time | ~1 minute per 10 minutes of audio |
| Speaker detection | Up to 10 distinct speakers |
| Languages | 99 (auto-detected or manual selection) |
| Input formats | MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, MP4, MOV, WEBM |
| Export formats | TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON |
What is Whisper?
Whisper is OpenAI's open-source speech recognition model, released in 2022. It's trained on 680,000 hours of multilingual audio data and delivers impressive accuracy across 99 languages.
The model is available for anyone to use, but running it yourself requires technical setup: Python programming, GPU hardware, and ongoing maintenance. For most users, this creates a significant barrier to access.
NovaScribe removes that barrier. We run Whisper on our infrastructure, add speaker detection (which Whisper doesn't include by default), and provide a simple upload-and-download interface.
Learn more about general audio transcription or explore our features.
Sources: OpenAI Whisper GitHub · OpenAI Whisper Research
Whisper API vs NovaScribe
Using Whisper Directly
- ✗Requires Python programming knowledge
- ✗Need to set up API keys and billing
- ✗No speaker detection built-in
- ✗No user interface—command line only
- ✗Must handle file size limits yourself
- ✗Raw output needs formatting
Using NovaScribe
- ✓Upload files in your browser
- ✓No API keys or setup needed
- ✓Speaker detection included
- ✓Built-in editor and transcript viewer
- ✓Large files handled automatically
- ✓Export as TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON
Cost Comparison: NovaScribe vs Whisper API
NovaScribe | Whisper API (DIY) | |
|---|---|---|
| Per-minute cost | ~$0.005 | $0.006 + setup |
| Setup required | Not Included | Extra Work |
| Speaker detection | Included | Not Included |
| User interface | Included | Extra Work |
* NovaScribe cost based on Basic plan ($5/1000 min = $0.005/min). OpenAI API pricing as of January 2026; excludes development time and infrastructure costs. Source
How Speaker Detection Works
NovaScribe adds speaker diarization on top of Whisper transcription, identifying and labeling different voices as Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc. You can rename speakers in the editor before exporting.
Specifications
- •Supports up to 10 distinct speakers per file
- •Works best with clear turn-taking (minimal crosstalk)
- •Speaker labels included in SRT, VTT, and JSON exports
Best Practices
- ✓Use quality microphones for clearest results
- ✓Minimize background noise and overlapping speech
- ✓For interviews: lapel mics produce best speaker separation
Known Limitations
Speaker detection may merge voices when speakers have similar vocal characteristics or when there's significant crosstalk. You can manually adjust labels in the editor.
View sample transcript output
[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast. Today we're discussing... [00:00:05] Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to share... [00:00:12] Speaker 1: Let's start with the basics. Can you explain... [00:00:18] Speaker 2: Absolutely. The key concept here is...
Privacy & Data Handling
- Encryption: Files encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256)
- Retention: Files auto-delete after 30 days; manual deletion available anytime
- Training: We do not use your audio to train models
- Processing region: EU (Frankfurt)
See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for details.
Whisper Transcription App
NovaScribe is essentially a Whisper app with a user-friendly interface. You get the power of Whisper's speech recognition without needing technical skills. Upload your audio, get your transcript, export in your preferred format.
How Whisper Transcription Works
Upload Your Audio
Drag and drop any audio or video file. We handle the conversion and preprocessing automatically.
Whisper + Speaker Detection
Your file is processed using Whisper for transcription, plus our speaker detection layer to identify different voices.
Review & Export
Edit your transcript in our built-in editor. Export as plain text, Word document, or subtitle files.
NovaScribe Whisper Features
Whisper's accuracy with additional features for real-world use
Whisper-Level Accuracy
Whisper achieves word error rates (WER) of approximately 3-5% on clear English audio, based on OpenAI's published benchmarks.
No Coding Required
Skip the Python scripts and API documentation. Just upload your file and get your transcript.
99 Languages
Whisper supports 99 languages including English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi.
Speaker Detection Added
Speaker detection identifies up to 10 distinct speakers and labels them automatically; you can rename speakers before exporting.
Cloud Processing
No need to buy a GPU or run overnight processing jobs. Our servers handle the heavy lifting.
Secure Processing
Files are encrypted in transit and at rest. NovaScribe does not use customer audio to train machine learning models.
Whisper Transcription FAQ
¿Qué es Whisper y cómo funciona para transcripción?
Whisper es un modelo de reconocimiento automático de voz (ASR) desarrollado por OpenAI. Fue entrenado con 680,000 horas de datos de audio multilingües, lo que permite alta precisión en muchos idiomas y acentos. Whisper convierte audio en texto procesándolo a través de una red neuronal que ha aprendido patrones del habla. Puede manejar diversas calidades de audio, ruido de fondo y múltiples hablantes. NovaScribe usa tecnología basada en Whisper para proporcionar transcripción precisa sin que necesites configurar ni ejecutar el modelo tú mismo.
¿Qué tan precisa es la transcripción Whisper?
Whisper es considerado uno de los modelos de voz a texto más precisos disponibles. Para audio claro en inglés, logra tasas de error de palabras muy bajas comparables con la transcripción humana profesional. La precisión varía por idioma — inglés, español, alemán y algunos otros idiomas muestran excelente rendimiento, mientras que idiomas menos comunes pueden tener tasas de error más altas. La calidad del audio afecta significativamente la precisión; grabaciones limpias con mínimo ruido de fondo dan mejores resultados.
¿Qué idiomas soporta Whisper?
Whisper soporta transcripción en 99 idiomas. Muestra mejor rendimiento en español, inglés, italiano, alemán, portugués, francés, holandés, polaco y otros idiomas comúnmente hablados. También puede transcribir chino, japonés, coreano, árabe, hindi y muchos más idiomas. El modelo puede detectar automáticamente el idioma hablado, o puedes especificarlo manualmente para mejor precisión.
¿Necesito habilidades técnicas para usar transcripción Whisper?
Usar Whisper directamente requiere conocimiento técnico — necesitas instalar Python, configurar dependencias, gestionar recursos GPU y escribir código para procesar archivos de audio. Esto puede ser desafiante para no desarrolladores. NovaScribe elimina esta complejidad completamente. Manejamos toda la infraestructura técnica, tú simplemente subes tu archivo de audio a través de nuestra interfaz web y recibes tu transcripción. Sin programación, sin configuración, sin gestión de servidores.
¿En qué se diferencia NovaScribe de usar Whisper directamente?
Usar Whisper directamente significa configurar tu propia infraestructura: instalar el modelo (requiere espacio significativo en disco y memoria GPU), escribir código para procesar archivos, manejar errores y gestionar recursos de cómputo. NovaScribe ofrece una solución completa construida sobre tecnología basada en Whisper: interfaz de subida simple, procesamiento automático, editor integrado para correcciones, detección de hablantes, múltiples formatos de exportación y almacenamiento en la nube para tus transcripciones. Piénsalo como la diferencia entre comprar un motor vs comprar un auto.
¿Está NovaScribe afiliado con OpenAI?
No, NovaScribe es una empresa independiente. No estamos afiliados, respaldados ni asociados con OpenAI. Construimos nuestro servicio de transcripción usando tecnología de voz a texto que se basa en o incluye modelos similares a la arquitectura Whisper de OpenAI. Nuestro objetivo es hacer que la tecnología de transcripción poderosa sea accesible para todos a través de una aplicación web simple y asequible.
Note: NovaScribe is not affiliated with OpenAI. We use Whisper-based technology for transcription. Results may vary based on audio quality and content type.
NovaScribe makes Whisper transcription accessible to everyone. Explore our related tools for specific use cases.