Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about PlainScribe's transcription and translation services.
With PlainScribe, your transcription and translation needs are seamlessly handled. Effortlessly upload any audio or video files, and we will transcribe (in 47 languages) or translate them for you.
We support most of the popular audio and video formats including but not limited to: 3GP, AAC, AVI, FLAC, FLV, M4A, MKV, MOV, MP3, MP4, MPEG, OGG, OPUS, WAV, WEBM, WMA, and WMV. If you have any questions regarding a specific format, please contact us or just give it a try with your free first transcript.
PlainScribe uses state-of-the-art AI models to deliver highly accurate transcriptions, and results are best on clear audio with minimal background noise. Factors like audio quality, language, speaker accents, and technical terminology all affect accuracy. Choosing the source language yourself (instead of auto-detect) can help for some languages, and correction rules let you fix names and terms the AI tends to get wrong.
Yes! PlainScribe supports transcription in 47 languages including: Arabic, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Unlike typical subscription plans that force users into long-term commitments, we use a straightforward per-hour pricing model. You purchase prepaid credits and use them for transcription as needed. This approach avoids monthly fees and long-term contracts while keeping costs tied to your actual transcription work.
Yes. Every account's first transcript is free, up to 2 hours of audio, with no credit card required. If your first file is longer than 2 hours, the first 2 hours are free and the remainder is charged at the normal rate. It's one free transcript per account, so you can test our transcription quality and features before making a purchase.
Paid credits expire one year after purchase. You can use them any time during that one-year period.
The minimum purchase of $10 is necessary to cover the expenses associated with processing and storing your files securely. While we understand your concerns, setting this minimum limit allows us to maintain the high-quality service you expect from us. We value your feedback and suggestions, so please reach out to us with any further questions or comments.
Once your transcription is complete, you can download it in multiple formats. Simply navigate to your completed transcriptions, click on the file, and choose your preferred download format. We offer TXT, Markdown, CSV, SRT, VTT, and JSON formats to suit different needs. Transcripts are deleted automatically after 30 days, so download anything you want to keep.
Yes, PlainScribe can generate SRT subtitle files from your audio or video content. When downloading your transcription, simply select the SRT format option. The SRT file includes timestamps synchronized with your media, making it ready to use with video editors or media players.
PlainScribe's AI summarization feature analyzes your transcribed content and generates a concise summary of the key points. This is perfect for quickly understanding the main topics discussed in meetings, interviews, or lectures without reading the entire transcript. The summary highlights the most important information while preserving context.
As soon as your files are processed, we promptly delete all uploaded content. We retain the transcripts for a maximum of 30 days for your convenience (you have the option to delete the transcripts manually through the user interface). We use secure connections and encryption to protect your data during upload and processing. Be aware that cloud transcription passes your file to third-party providers, which are named in our Privacy Policy and operate under their own terms — they may retain or use data passed to them, including to train their own models. We make a reasonable effort to opt out of model training where a provider offers it (for example, we opt out of Deepgram's model improvement program), but we cannot guarantee it in every case. We do not sell your data. For genuinely sensitive material, use the included desktop app, which transcribes entirely on your own machine and never uploads the file.
As soon as your files are processed, we promptly delete all uploaded content. We retain the transcripts for a maximum of 30 days for your convenience (you have the option to delete the transcripts manually through the user interface). We use third-party APIs to generate transcripts and summaries, and every one of them is named in our Privacy Policy. These providers operate under their own terms and may retain or use data passed to them, including to train their own models, which is outside our control. Where a provider offers a way to opt out of model training, we make a reasonable effort to do so, but we cannot guarantee it in every case. If a recording is sensitive enough that this matters, use the offline desktop app — it transcribes entirely on your own machine and sends nothing to any third party.
Uploaded audio and video is deleted once processing finishes, and transcripts auto-delete after 30 days. Be aware that cloud transcription passes your file to third-party providers, which are named in our Privacy Policy and operate under their own terms — so for genuinely sensitive material we recommend the included desktop app, which transcribes entirely on your own machine and never uploads the file at all. If you have specific compliance requirements, get in touch.
PlainScribe does not have a full text editor, but you can shape the transcript before downloading it. You can rename speakers (for example, "Speaker 1" to "Dr. Lee"), group lines into paragraphs, and set up find-and-replace correction rules for names and terms the AI gets wrong; those rules are applied to your transcripts automatically. For anything else, download the transcript (TXT, Markdown, CSV, SRT, VTT, or JSON) and edit it in the tool of your choice.
PlainScribe's web uploader supports files up to 1GB. For larger files, we recommend splitting them into smaller segments, extracting the audio track, or using PlainScribe Desktop for local transcription workflows.
Transcription time depends on the length and quality of your audio or video file. Generally, you can expect transcription to complete in roughly one-third to one-half of the media duration. A 60-minute recording typically takes 20-30 minutes to transcribe. You'll receive a notification when your transcription is ready.
PlainScribe is an invaluable tool for transcription jobs. It serves as an excellent first step in obtaining accurate text transcripts, providing a strong foundation for you to further enhance and perfect the text using your expertise.
We currently support 47 languages. The spoken language is detected automatically by default, or you can choose it yourself when uploading, which can improve accuracy for some languages. Supported languages include: Arabic, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Yes, we do! Our Enterprise plans include higher file size limits, priority processing, dedicated support, enhanced security options, and custom integrations. Please contact us, and we'll discuss your requirements.
Absolutely! PlainScribe is perfect for transcribing meeting recordings from Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other platforms. Upload your meeting recording and get an accurate transcript with speaker timestamps. You can also use our summarization feature to quickly capture the key points and action items.
Yes, PlainScribe can identify and label different speakers in your audio. This feature is especially useful for interviews, meetings, and podcasts with multiple participants. The transcript will indicate when speakers change, making it easier to follow conversations.