Free transcription tools are often not the first things on a transcriptionist’s mind. There is always that huge project looming, and it can be hard to figure out which tools you need and where to find them, let alone time to download and try everything out.
And once you have all your tools up and running, how do they measure up? Are they easy to learn? What about the interface, is that easy to understand? Will I be able to get everything done promptly without lots of effort on my part?
You’ve probably found yourself asking a bunch of questions like these. Lucky for you, there are lots of new and free transcription tools out there that can make your life easier while still helping you get the work done.
The best thing about these free transcription tools is that they’re free and high-quality, and once you try out a couple, you’ll probably be wondering how you ever got by without them.
Since we’ve all been there, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite free transcription tools available for anyone to use. This list contains many tools, and we hope it can be a useful resource to you in all your transcription endeavours.
Best Free Transcription Tools
The following are the best free transcription tools available right now. Check them out and see which one works best for you!
1. Express Scribe Transcription Software
The first free transcription tools on our list are Express Scribe. This free transcription tool is designed to run on your desktop. It’s reasonably easy to download and run, especially if you already have it installed on another computer.
This tool is unique because it has keyboard hotkeys that control the playback speed without affecting the audio pitch. This can be very helpful for people editing recorded lectures, podcast recordings, or any other type of lecture that needs to be transcribed.
They also offer support if you need help getting the most out of their software. Their website contains a “Help” section that can lead you through all the features and use them.
2. Google Docs
Okay, it’s not a free transcription tool, but Google Docs is great for proofreading. Transcriptionists often need proofreaders, especially if they’re transcribing videos or podcasts.
The text can sometimes get jumbled after being converted to speech, so the more eyes on the text, the better.
Google Docs is a great tool because it allows multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously. Even if spelling errors are in the original text, Google Docs will highlight them quickly and easily fixed.
Afterwards, you can print or download your document as a PDF too!
3. The FTW Transcriber
The FTW Transcriber is a free transcription tool, a Windows and Android transcribing program with time-saving capabilities like automatic timestamps, better sound quality, and more.
It’s employed by thousands of solo transcribers, police departments, hospitals, parliaments, and businesses of all sorts.
It’s a great tool if you plan on working from home and need your transcription tools to run in the background, and it’s even got customizable hotkeys.
4. oTranscribe
oTranscribe is a free transcription tool and web app to take the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews and meetings, and it’s great for newbies.
It lets you listen to the recording while simultaneously typing the text into your chosen document — no more hassle watching and typing!
You can speed up or slow down playback without changing the pitch or tone of voice, which is a big perk for those wanting to work as transcriptionists.
Another feature of oTranscribe is a word cloud, which displays the words you’ve typed most frequently. It also lets you see where you spend your time compared to the total length of the recording.
5. Inqscribe
Another good transcription tool is Inqscribe, which is free for 14 days. This Mac and Windows-based program includes variable playback speeds, automatic bookmarking, and the ability to play audio into multiple soundcards simultaneously!
It also comes with a built-in word processor that you can use to edit your transcriptions with Free transcription tools before printing them out.
6. Transcribe!
Transcribe! is a free transcription tool that is a free and open-source application for windows and mac that allows you to carry out the transcription process efficiently. The application uses various processing methods such as cutting, labelling, moving, etc.
These are the transcription methods implemented in Transcribe!
Transcribe! is a popular transcription tool that you can download for free. It’s great for making the most out of an audio file and comes with tools that allow users to fade in and out of playback modes.
This is a necessary aspect of your transcription process for anyone planning on editing interviews or recorded lectures.
7. Express Scribe
ExpressScribe is an audio player and a free transcription tool. It plays multiple audio formats and speeds up your work in transcribing audio files by automatically removing silences and prolonging playback times.
The tool has a transcription mode to configure hotkeys for foot pedal control.
8. Transcriber and Editor
Transcriber and Editor is a free text editing software that makes it easy to transcribe audio files for transcription purposes.
The application comes with an integrated sound recorder and provides various features such as foot pedal control, silence detection, hotkeys, shortcuts, variable speed playback, etc.
9. Online Video Text Converter (Subtitle Edit)
This free transcription tool is an online video text converter that converts one language’s subtitles into another. For instance, if you have an English subtitle file, you can use this tool to convert it into Arabic.
It also enables you to edit subtitles in various ways, such as changing the font colour, modifying text formatting, and using Free transcription tools.
10. Free Online Video Subtitler
This simple helps online tool automatically transcribes English subtitles from a video file in a foreign language or vice versa.
Helping online video subtitlers works on the optical character recognition (OCR) principle, which means it scans through your subtitles and extracts the text.
As a result, this tool provides high-quality English subtitles regardless of the quality of your subtitles.
In Summary:
Free transcription tools are essential for those in the business of transcription.
They make the process easier and faster and can even be used for personal purposes such as creating subtitles or translations.
We’ve shared with you some of the best free transcription tools available online.
