Turn a meeting recording into minutes

How it works

1. Add the recording — an audio file or a video. The models download the first time and are then already there.
2. Press Transcribe. Speaker separation and the times are already switched on, because a meeting needs both.
3. Download the draft. It opens in any text editor and pastes into a document with its headings intact.
4. Fill in the date, the place and what was decided, and put real names in place of Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.

Frequently asked questions

Does it write the minutes for me?

No, and it will not pretend to. It writes down what was said, who said it and when — everything a recording actually contains. What a set of minutes is for is the other half: what was decided, who is doing what, by when. That is not in the words of a meeting, it is a judgement about them, and getting it out would need a model that reads for meaning. Those headings are in the draft, empty, because a document nobody had to think about is a document nobody checked.

How well does it tell people apart?

Well enough to be worth having and not well enough to trust blindly. It hears how many voices there are and which stretch belongs to which, so a discussion comes back as an exchange rather than as a wall; it has no idea who anyone is, so they are Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 until you rename them. People talking over each other, a voice heard only once, and a recording made across a large room are where it slips.

Which languages?

Nine. Japanese goes through ReazonSpeech, English through Whisper base, and German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Korean and Turkish through Whisper small — for each language the model that measured best on it.

How long does it take?

Longer than the meeting, usually. The recording is read once for the words and a second time for the voices, on one thread, on your own machine. A long meeting is worth starting and leaving. Trimming to the part that matters first is the fastest thing you can do about it.

Is the recording uploaded?

No. Every model runs in your browser and the audio never leaves your device. A meeting recording is the clearest case on this site: it contains other people who did not agree to be sent anywhere, and in many places recording them at all came with an understanding about where it would go.

What if I want the formal document?

Take the draft to the minutes maker, which lays the facts out in a ruled box with the agenda, the decisions and a table of who is doing what by when, and gives you a PDF to circulate.