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AI interview transcription

Interview Transcription with Speaker Roles and Timestamps

Upload an interview, a focus group or a podcast. Get every line marked by role with its time, verbatim or clean, and the themes with quotes.

Research interviewUser researchFocus groupOral historyPodcastJob interview

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MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM, MP4 or MOV, up to 500 MB and 3 hours

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Every word, ums and false starts included

$1.20 an hour, or $5 for 4 hours.
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  • Speakers named by what they say, with timestamps
  • Charged by the minute when you click, refunded if it fails
  • Recording and results deleted within 7 days; we never use them to train AI
00:0001:45

Lines marked restored were heard partly in another language and put back into the recording's language by AI. Check them against the recording.

  1. Interviewer:Good morning, Ed. How are you doing?

  2. Participant:I'm doing all right, thanks.

  3. Interviewer:All right. As I explained briefly to you, I'm conducting a short research project to understand how trends in the discipline of anthropology take shape. Is it to do with funding bodies, how funding bodies interact with personality, with political issues?

  4. going on in the world with events chance. um, so, if I could take a few minutes of your time, uh, and first of all, if you could maybe tell me how you s-, how you became an anthropologist in the first place? What what hmm made you decide? Was it something you had already mind or.

  5. something that happened.

  6. Participant:I think like many people, the story of why I became an anthropologist works different sorts of levels to my background, what sort of things I was interested in when I was younger, but also serendipity and chance have played roles too.

  7. um, In my own case, it quite simply, when I was younger, I went travelling um by accident to South Asia. I had not really intended to do this at all. um, And I realized that because I'd gone by accident, I didn't know anything about the land I was passing through, what I was seeing. um, And I spent a lot of time.

  8. I was just thinking about the people i met along the road um And when I got back to Europe the year later um I was really curious I just wanted to know more I wanted to learn about where I'd been and what I'd seen because I'd not had an opportunity to read about it in advance or to think about where I was going to go in advancerestored

  9. um And that took me to study anthropology at the University of Manchester at the time um

ExampleFrom “Ethnographic interview, Anthropology Virtual Classroom” by SOAS University of London, CC BY 3.0. Source
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Interview transcription examples from real recordings

Each result is what this tool returned for the recording, unedited.

Interview transcription for research, podcasts and hiring

Pick the kind of interview, and the speakers are labelled by their role in it.

Qualitative research interview transcription

A research interview for a thesis or a study needs a transcript you can code: every turn marked Interviewer or Participant, with the time, so you can go back to the recording when a passage matters.

The summary lists the themes with quotes in the participant's exact words and their timestamps, and the follow-up questions you could ask next time. It is a starting point for your analysis, not a replacement for it.

  • Read the consent statement on the recording, before the first question.
  • Use one recorder close to both of you, in a quiet room.
  • Rename the participant to their code before you export.
Transcribe your own recording · Verbatim

Should a research interview be transcribed verbatim?

It depends on your method. Discourse and conversation analysis need every um and pause; thematic analysis usually works from clean verbatim. Check what your supervisor or ethics protocol asks for, and pick the output that matches.

Example · Ethnographic research interview

From “Ethnographic interview, Anthropology Virtual Classroom” by SOAS University of London, CC BY 3.0. Source

00:0001:45

Lines marked restored were heard partly in another language and put back into the recording's language by AI. Check them against the recording.

  1. Interviewer:Good morning, Ed. How are you doing?

  2. Participant:I'm doing all right, thanks.

  3. Interviewer:All right. As I explained briefly to you, I'm conducting a short research project to understand how trends in the discipline of anthropology take shape. Is it to do with funding bodies, how funding bodies interact with personality, with political issues?

  4. going on in the world with events chance. um, so, if I could take a few minutes of your time, uh, and first of all, if you could maybe tell me how you s-, how you became an anthropologist in the first place? What what hmm made you decide? Was it something you had already mind or.

  5. something that happened.

  6. Participant:I think like many people, the story of why I became an anthropologist works different sorts of levels to my background, what sort of things I was interested in when I was younger, but also serendipity and chance have played roles too.

  7. um, In my own case, it quite simply, when I was younger, I went travelling um by accident to South Asia. I had not really intended to do this at all. um, And I realized that because I'd gone by accident, I didn't know anything about the land I was passing through, what I was seeing. um, And I spent a lot of time.

  8. I was just thinking about the people i met along the road um And when I got back to Europe the year later um I was really curious I just wanted to know more I wanted to learn about where I'd been and what I'd seen because I'd not had an opportunity to read about it in advance or to think about where I was going to go in advancerestored

  9. um And that took me to study anthropology at the University of Manchester at the time um

User research and market research interview transcripts

In a user interview or a usability test, the value is in the participant's own words: what they do today, what got in their way, what they expected to happen.

With the user research scenario the summary groups those into themes with quotes and timestamps, ready to paste into a research report or a slide. The clean transcript keeps their words and drops the fillers.

  • Ask the participant to think aloud during tasks.
  • Say the task out loud before they start it, so the transcript shows it.
Transcribe your own recording · Clean verbatim

Focus group transcription with a moderator and participants

A focus group has one moderator and several participants who react to each other. The transcript marks the Moderator and numbers the participants, so you can follow who said what.

Ask people to say their name or a number before they speak at first; that makes the voices easier to tell apart and lets you rename them afterwards.

  • Seat people around one microphone, or use a room recorder in the middle.
  • Ask people not to talk over each other.
  • For an online group, upload the recording of the call.
Transcribe your own recording · Clean verbatim

How many participants can a focus group transcript tell apart?

Usually all of them when they take turns, but voices that sound alike or speak only once may be merged or split. Check the transcript against the recording and rename the speakers where needed.

Example · Focus group on pets and play

From “Online Focus Group Demonstration” by Dr Jill MacKay, The University of Edinburgh, CC BY 4.0. Source

00:0001:45

  1. Moderator:What does it feel like to you when you're playing with your bat?

  2. Participant 1:I think it's fun, I think it's cute, it makes me happy, especially if it's the more relaxed version, because Missy's not like a lap cat or anything, she won't sit on you, she always sits near you, and she did like claps, or very rare for as well, she will take them, but she's the one to seek them out, you can't really go to her, and just.

  3. get her into it. so, it's very nice when Missy will sit with me.

  4. it's almost like she's playing with me.

  5. Participant 2:hmm.

  6. Moderator:That seems very sweet, that seems very rewarding. Yeah. Linda, do you have any thoughts on that?

  7. Participant 3:I agree. It's really good fun. When we play this hide and seek type games, and I can see her face when I know she's gonna creep up on me, even if I'm not playing hide and seek, she'll be across the room, and she'll suddenly go.

  8. But it sometimes feels like duty. I get in from a late shift, I'm tired, and I think I have to play with her before to go to bed, because I can't have her she's been alone the whole day, because I've been at work. I can't just go to bed and leave her.

  9. Bored and.

  10. she may not.

  11. Be happy if I do that. So I guess there is a sort of duty element there for me as well.

Oral history interview transcription, word for word

An oral history keeps a person's memories in their own voice, and the transcript is what researchers and families read later. Verbatim keeps the way the narrator speaks.

The transcript marks the Interviewer and the Narrator, and the summary groups the stories into themes with quotes and timestamps, so the recording is easy to find your way around.

  • Record in the narrator's home, away from clocks and the television.
  • At the start, say the date, the place and who is speaking.
  • Ask the narrator to spell names of people and places.
Transcribe your own recording · Verbatim

Example · Oral history of a Wyoming family

From “Margaret Laybourn Oral History - Part 1” by Wyoming State Archives, CC0 1.0. Source

00:0001:45

  1. Interviewer:OK, who were your parents?

  2. Narrator:wonderful parents, Mark. Seriously wonderful parents. My father Royal Reid was a salesman for the Earl Boyl Ford Motor Company in Casper for 16 years, and my mother was just a brilliant talented.

  3. Woman that inspired my sister and I, and we give her credit for our brains, and we give our dad credit for our hearts, because he was a true gentleman, he never wanted to talk about anybody, or he never knowingly heard anybody's feeling, but he was a.

  4. good guy.

  5. Interviewer:How did your parents get to Casper?

  6. Narrator:My.

  7. Mother's family.

  8. Interviewer:Oh, by the way, what's her name? What was her name?

  9. Narrator:Kathleen.

  10. Interviewer:Kath, what was her maiden name?

  11. Narrator:Kathleen Doran.

  12. Interviewer:How do you spell that?

  13. Narrator:D O R A N, it's Irish. My grandmother and grandfather both had immigrant parents from Ireland.

  14. uh And when he got here, he was 12 years old, and his big sister was 15, and they came over, and his godmother had given him the advice to get a job in food, because then you'll never be hungry.

  15. Interviewer:Was it your grandfather?

  16. Narrator:That's my grandfather.

  17. Interviewer:Yeah.

  18. Narrator:my mother's side, and so he became a cook, and he was a cook all his life. He worked on the, they called it working on the cars, because the kitchen was in the train, a railroad cars.

  19. And they lived in a railroad car for much of the time in Colorado.

Podcast interview transcripts with host and guest

A podcast interview transcript is for show notes, quotes for social posts and the people who would rather read than listen. The transcript marks the Host and the Guest.

Export to SRT to add captions to the video version, and use the summary's themes and quotes as the start of your show notes.

  • Record each person on their own microphone if you can.
  • Cut long music beds before you upload: the price counts every minute of the file.
Transcribe your own recording · Clean verbatim

Example · NASA podcast interview

From “Houston We Have a Podcast, Episode 434: Artemis III Training” by NASA Johnson Space Center, Public domain (US government work). Source

00:0001:45

  1. Host:Hi, Debbie. Thank you so much for joining us today on Houston, we have a podcast.

  2. Guest:Yeah, I'm excited to be here.

  3. Host:Well, I want to talk about Artemis three, obviously, you are the chief training officer. But before we get into what you're doing right now, tell me about the beginning. Tell me about you. Did you always know you wanted to work at NASA? How did that come to be?

  4. Guest:No, actually I didn't know what I wanted to be at all growing up. I was one of those kids that anything sounded awesome, I couldn't decide on what I wanted to be. So, I did go into engineering, I nailed that down in high school, I'll be an engineer. NASA wasn't even on my radar, and.

  5. till a recruiter came, and it didn't believe it was a real job, of course I applied. I was ecstatic telling my mom, she didn't believe me, you're gonna go train astronauts, no way. But it's a dream job, absolutely. Were you in college when you met a recruiter?Yes.OK.Yeah.Where did you.

  6. Host:go to school.

  7. Guest:embry riddle, yeah, down in florida.

  8. Host:and you got your aerospace engineer degree.

  9. Guest:uh huh, yep.

  10. Host:awesome.

  11. Guest:love of airplanes, that's how i got there. even that didn't start as a kid, my dad would drag me to air shows instead of vacations, and it was always hot. not something i.

  12. enjoyed until I got older, and then just the powerfulness of an airplane, and the engine, and going farther, faster, exploring. Of course, that intrigued me, so it's not a surprise that I love my job here, because it definitely relates.

  13. Host:That is so cool, I agree, every.

  14. I didn't grow up with a lot of exposure to aircraft, but now.

Job interview transcription for hiring teams

A job interview transcript lets the hiring team compare candidates on what they actually said, not on what the interviewer remembered.

The transcript marks the Interviewer and the Candidate, and the summary groups the candidate's answers into themes with quotes and timestamps, so each point can be checked against the recording.

  • Tell the candidate you are recording and why, before you start.
  • Ask every candidate the same core questions.
Transcribe your own recording · Clean verbatim

Is it legal to record a job interview?

Rules differ by place, and in many the candidate has to agree. Ask at the start, keep the recording only as long as you need it, and delete it here once the notes are in your hiring system.

Example · Job interview for a kitchen role

From “Job Interview: I Want to Learn (ESL)” by ESLLearning, CC BY 3.0. Source

00:0001:40

  1. Interviewer 1:Mary.

  2. Candidate:hi.

  3. Interviewer 2:hello, I'm Susan Thompson, resource manager.

  4. Candidate:hi, I'm Mary Hansen, and I'm applying for one of your kitchen jobs.

  5. Interviewer 2:Great.

  6. Candidate:Here's a copy of my resume.

  7. Interviewer 2:Great, have a seat, Mary.

  8. Candidate:Thank you.

  9. Interviewer 2:Murray, do you have any experience working in the kitchen?

  10. Candidate:No, but I want to learn. I work hard and I cook a lot at home.

  11. Interviewer 2:OK, well, tell me about yourself.

  12. Candidate:Well, I love to learn new things. I'm very organized, and I follow directions exactly.

  13. That's why my boss at my last job made me a trainer, and the company actually gave me a special certificate for coming to work on time every day for a year. And I'm taking an English class to improve my writing skills.

  14. Interviewer 2:That's great. Why did you leave.

  15. Candidate:your last job? It was graveyard, and I need to work days. Oh, I see. Well, what hours can you work? I'm from 8:00AM until 5:00PM.

  16. Interviewer 2:OK, well, do you have any questions for me, Mary?

  17. Candidate:Yes, what kind of training is needed?

  18. Interviewer 2:Not a lot, most new workers can learn everything the first day. Do you have any other questions?

  19. Candidate:No, I don't think so, but I've heard a lot of good things about your company, and I would really like to work here.

  20. Interviewer 2:Well, I have a few more interviews to.

  21. today.

  22. but i will call you tomorrow if you get the job.

  23. it was sure nice to meet you.

  24. Candidate:nice.

How it works

  1. 1

    Upload the interview

    Drop the MP3, M4A, WAV or video file, up to 3 hours. It stays in your browser until you click Transcribe.

  2. 2

    Pick verbatim or clean

    Verbatim keeps every um and false start; clean removes them and keeps the words. The price of the recording is on the button, and nothing is charged before you click it.

  3. 3

    Check, rename, export

    Play any line from its timestamp, give the speakers their names, and export to Word, TXT, SRT or CSV. We keep the files for 7 days.

Pay by the minute, cheaper as you buy more

Packs are one-time and last a year, and a bigger pack makes every minute cheaper. With Floatboat Pro or Max an hour of audio here is $0.72. Credits work here and in the Floatboat app.

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250 minutes of audio

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$10

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$0.96 an hourSave 20%

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  • One-time payment, credits last a year

Or a Floatboat plan

A monthly plan for the whole Floatboat app, with transcription here at the lowest price.

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$39.98/month

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Transcription here: $0.72 an hour, up to 55 hours a month

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$199.98/month

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Transcription here: $0.72 an hour, up to 277 hours a month

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Renews monthly, cancel anytime. Monthly credits do not roll over. All plans, and yearly billing with 2 months free

Floatboat app

Free to start

Free to start: 200 credits when you sign up, 300 more the next day.

  • No time limit. Transcribe a whole series of interviews, straight from the folders on your computer.
  • Keep going in the same chat. Ask for the themes across ten interviews, or the quotes about one topic.
  • The same app handles the rest of your work too, from the report to the slides.

Verbatim vs clean verbatim interview transcription

A verbatim transcript keeps everything said, including ums, repeated words and false starts. Researchers who analyse how people speak, such as in discourse or conversation analysis, need it, and so do legal records. A clean verbatim transcript removes the fillers and the stumbles but keeps the speaker's words and order, which is what most qualitative research, journalism and podcast show notes use. Both outputs here come from the same transcription, so you can pick the one your method calls for; neither one rewrites what people meant.

An interview transcription example and transcript template

A good interview transcript has a header with the project, the date and the people's roles, then one line per turn with the speaker, the time and the words. The examples on this page show that layout on real recordings, with the interviewer and the participant labelled by what they do in the conversation. Export one to Word and use it as your template; for a research project, add the participant's code instead of a name in the header.

Consent, confidentiality and interview transcription for research

Tell people you are recording and why, and for research get the consent your ethics board approved before you start. Here the recording stays in your browser until you click Transcribe, the files are deleted after 7 days or at once with the delete button, and nothing is used to train AI. Names appear only when they were said; to anonymise, rename each speaker to a participant code before you export, and replace any names inside the answers.

Frequently asked questions

How much does interview transcription cost here?

Five credits a minute of recording, so a one-hour interview is 300 credits, a little over one US dollar. With the 2,500-credit pack, or with a Floatboat Lite or Standard plan (under All plans, below the prices), a minute is 4 credits, and with Pro or Max it is 3. Credits are always 250 per US dollar. The price of your recording is on the Transcribe button, nothing is charged before you click it, and if a transcription fails its credits are returned.

Can I use the free sign-up credits in the browser?

No. The free credits you get when you sign up are for the Floatboat app, where it is free to start. Transcribing in the browser uses credits you bought or get with a Floatboat plan.

How does it know who is the interviewer?

The speech model separates the voices, then a language model reads the conversation and labels each voice by what it does, so the one asking the questions becomes the Interviewer and the one answering the Participant, Narrator, Guest or Candidate, depending on the kind of interview. Several people on one side are numbered. Rename the labels to names or codes and every line and export follows.

Can I import the interview transcript into NVivo or ATLAS.ti?

Yes. ATLAS.ti imports the SRT export as a transcript linked to the recording, so each line jumps to its moment in the audio. In NVivo, import the Word export as a document to code it; NVivo can also link a transcript to its audio when each paragraph starts with a timestamp, which the transcript part of the TXT export does, so delete the summary above it first.

What happens to my interview recordings?

Before you sign in, your recording stays in your browser and is not uploaded. After the transcription, the recording, the transcript and the summary are kept for 7 days so you can come back to them, and the delete button on this page removes them at once. We do not use your recordings to train AI.

How accurate is the interview transcription?

Best with one microphone close to each person, little background noise and people not talking over each other. Accents and crosstalk cause mistakes, so read the transcript against the recording; click any timestamp to hear that line. When one person shows up as two speakers, give both the same name.

How long can an interview be, and which files and languages work?

Up to 3 hours and 500 MB in the browser; the Floatboat app has no time limit. MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM, OGG, FLAC, MP4 and MOV work. The tool transcribes English and Chinese speech, and the summary is written in the language spoken.

Transcribe your own recording