Automated transcriptions for English-language recordings is a feature for users on the professional plan.
📝 Transcriptions for an episode recorded in the ‘Record Audio and Video’ recording mode is shown below but work the same way on the other two recording modes.
In this article:
What Are Transcriptions And Why Use Them?
When you record in English on Zencastr, a transcription of the entire conversation is automatically generated after you finish recording and all participants' files upload to the recording page. The transcript is saved in the CSV and TXT file formats and there is also an option to copy it to your computer’s clipboard.* The transcript is organized by hour:minute:second.millisecond (hh:mm:ss.ms) timestamps with each individual speaker noted.
Using these automated transcriptions can save you significant time and effort that you might otherwise spend manually transcribing your own recording. Additionally for podcasting, transcripts can:
Be used as an SEO tool that helps with audience growth
Enhance the accessibility of your podcast
Assist you in your overall editing process
*Transcriptions processed between October 7, 2021 and November 16, 2021 are available as CSV files only. Transcriptions processed November 17, 2021 and after have the CSV, TXT, and Copy options.
Running Transcriptions For New Episodes
Transcriptions are automatically generated for all episodes created after October 7, 2021, provided that the language selected when creating the episode is English. After the host stops the recording, a transcription track shows on the Recording Page above the host track.
Running Transcriptions For Past Episodes
To run a transcription for an episode recorded before October 7, 2021:
From the Dashboard, click an episode title.
On the transcription track, click the Transcribe Recording button.
Result: The Transcribe Recording button will turn to ‘Processing’. When the transcript is ready, solid blue CSV, TXT, and COPY buttons will appear.
Downloading Transcription Files
Locate the Transcription track on the Recording Page.
Click the CSV button and the transcription file downloads to your computer.
OR
Click the TXT button and the transcription file downloads to your computer.
Related Questions
Why does my CSV file open in Excel? Can I open it elsewhere?
On many computers, the CSV file type is set to open in Excel by default. However, CSV is a flexible file format that you can also open in text-editing programs such as Word, Notepad, or TextEditor. See these instructions for opening your CSV file in another program or correcting the format in Excel. Alternatively, you can download the TXT file.
My transcription isn't completing. What can I do?
If I record in a language other than English (e.g. Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.) will I be able to use transcriptions?
At this time transcriptions are only available for English-language recordings. We hope to offer support for additional languages in the future.
What is the transcription word error rate/accuracy?
Zencastr Transcriptions are produced by our own language modeling AI and proprietary machine learning tools. The Word Error Rate (WER) of our technology is currently comparable to that of transcription industry leaders such as Google, Descript, and Otter.ai. And we only expect the WER to improve in the future!