Speech to Text

What is speech to text?

Speech to text, also called voice typing or dictation, turns the words you speak into written text. Instead of typing on a keyboard, you talk into your microphone and the text appears on the screen while you speak. It is a fast way to write emails, notes, messages, essays and drafts, and it helps people who find typing slow or difficult.

Our free speech to text tool works right in your browser. Choose your language, click Start listening, and speak. You can correct the text at any time, then copy it or download it as a text file. There is nothing to install and no account to create.

Features of this voice to text converter

• Live text while you speak: Words appear as you talk, with a grey preview of the sentence that is still being recognized.
• Many languages: Choose from 16 languages, including English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French and German.
• Editable text: Fix mistakes or add punctuation by typing in the same box, even while listening.
• Copy and download: Copy the text with one click or save it as a text file.
• Word and character count: See the length of your text as it grows.
• Automatic restart: If the browser stops after a pause, the tool starts listening again until you click Stop.

How does speech to text work?

When you click Start listening, your browser asks for permission to use the microphone. It then listens and turns your speech into text using the speech recognition feature built into the browser. The text appears while you speak, and you can edit it at any time. Our page does not record, save or store your voice or your text.

Important: browsers usually process speech on the servers of the company that makes the browser, for example Google in Chrome and Apple in Safari. This means your audio may leave your device, so please do not dictate passwords, banking details or other sensitive information.

Supported browsers and languages

Speech recognition works in Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari. Firefox does not support it yet, so the tool shows a message if your browser cannot use it. The page also needs a secure connection (HTTPS), which every normal website has.

The tool offers English (US and UK), Urdu (Pakistan), Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Which languages work well depends on your browser, so if a language does not work, try another browser.

Tips for accurate results

• Use a quiet place: Background noise, music and other voices make mistakes more likely.
• Use a good microphone: A headset or a close microphone is usually clearer than a laptop speaker across the room.
• Choose the right language first: Select your language before you click Start listening, because it cannot be changed while the tool is listening.
• Speak clearly at a natural pace: Do not rush, and pause briefly between sentences.
• Add punctuation by hand: Speech recognition may not add commas and full stops for you, so read through the text and add them.
• Proofread before you use the text: Names, numbers and technical words are the most likely to be wrong.

What can you use speech to text for?

• Emails and messages: Dictate a reply while your hands are busy or when typing is slow.
• Notes and ideas: Capture a thought quickly before you forget it.
• Drafts of articles and essays: Talk through your first draft, then edit it with the keyboard.
• Accessibility: Voice typing helps people who find typing difficult or tiring.
• Content creators: Draft scripts, captions and video outlines by speaking them.
• Writing in your own language: Dictate in Urdu, Hindi or Arabic when your keyboard layout is slow or unfamiliar.

Troubleshooting

• The microphone is blocked: Click the lock or settings icon in the address bar, allow the microphone for this site, and try again.
• Nothing appears: Check that the right microphone is selected in your device settings and that its volume is not muted.
• The text is in the wrong language: Click Stop, choose the correct language, and start again.
• My browser is not supported: Open the page in Chrome, Edge or Safari.
• It stopped by itself: Browsers can stop after a long pause or a very long session. Click Start listening to continue.

Limits of speech to text

Accuracy depends on your accent, your microphone, background noise and the language you choose, and some words will always be misheard. The tool listens to your live microphone only. It cannot convert an audio or video file, and it does not tell different speakers apart. For important documents, always proofread the result.