By skyforbes 
Here’s the thing about video transcription tools: there’s a growing list of them and picking one hasn’t been as easy as it should be — until now.
Consider this your compressive guide to figuring out what you should be looking for in a video transcribing software, and which tools are worth considering.
What Is A Video Transcription Tool?
A video transcription tool is software that converts audio from videos into text. These tools are equipped with features that accurately transcribe speech, so every spoken word is accurately represented in the text format.
While video transcription tools convert audio to text, they are also an important part of your marketing tech stack, more on this below.
The Role of Transcription in Live Streaming
Transcription tools offer a considerable amount of value, no matter if you live stream your fitness classes or podcasts. They fit into your tech stack, making content production simpler and more efficient, and also help you reach audiences you may have previously overlooked. Here’s a closer look at how transcription tools support businesses:
More marketing content
There’s always a need for fresh content and transcription tools help fill your content calendar. You can repurpose live show recordings into various content formats. You can batch-create social posts, and depending on the nature of the video, potentially produce other important marketing content like case studies or short guides that can be gated to generate leads.
SEO benefits
Transcriptions support search engine optimization (SEO) by providing text content that search engines can crawl, making it easier for more people to find your content and experience your brand.
Improved accessibility and legal compliance
Transcriptions help meet legal requirements for accessibility, ensuring adherence to regulations like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When your video is transcribed, it supports inclusivity for the hearing impaired. Repurposed audio invites a large audience to experience your brand’s messaging in a way they can consume it. Using a good-quality camera during your live streams ensures that the audio and video are clear, which is crucial for creating accurate and effective transcriptions.
Enhanced comprehension
People learn and grasp ideas in different ways. Viewers may watch a video but find it easier to read a transcript for better comprehension. This holds for noisy environments and makes it easier for people whose first language may not be the stream’s language to enjoy your live stream content.
Feedback and analysis
Transcriptions offer insights too. Creators can use them to analyze viewer interactions and sentiments to improve audience engagement and future content.
In the world of ecommerce usage of transcription tools is quite beneficial as it can be repurposed for various content marketing strategies. Additionally, incorporating transcriptions into your live product demos or webinars can enhance customer engagement and improve content accessibility.
Real-time engagement
Live streams can be hard to follow along, especially for moderators. Often, many ideas are shared and explored. Moderators with access to live transcriptions can easily sift through text to find answers or details to answer audience questions.
The ability to offer instant feedback transforms the audience experience. If you’re hosting a live stream and pitching an offer, answering a question about the benefits or value of your offer can lead to a quick and easy sale. Additionally, creating engaging short-form video content from your live streams can help capture highlights and key moments, making it easier to share and promote your content across various platforms, attracting a wider audience.
Types of Video Transcription Tools
Transcription tools come in different forms, from automated software to hybrid models that rely on software and human editing, and professional transcription services. This breakdown shows what’s available today and what each offers.
Automatic Transcription Tools
These tools use AI and machine learning algorithms. They automatically transcribe video and audio content into text and are a fast and efficient transcription option.
Manual Transcription Tools
Manual transcription tools require human intervention. People can transcribe video content accurately because they understand language and use features like adjustable playback speed and keyboard shortcuts to capture what’s said.
Real-Time Transcription Tools
Real-time transcription tools provide instantaneous conversion of audio into text during live streaming. They can also be used to transcribe recorded video playback. These tools are valuable for live events, meetings, and webinars.
Hybrid Transcription Services
Hybrid transcription services include professional transcription by humans combined with automated transcription tools—which tends to be the go-to method for most video marketing agencies due to both accuracy and flexibility. This approach delivers accurate and high-quality transcripts and could be considered the best of both worlds.
Speech Recognition Software
Speech recognition software converts spoken words into text, often in real time. It’s mostly used for dictation, and voice commands, but is easily a smart and effective solution for transcription.
Top 10 Video Transcription Tools for Live Streaming
As promised, here’s a list of the 10 best transcription software tools worth considering. Some offer live transcription as a feature, while others allow you to import your file for quick turnaround.
1. Descript
Descript has been around for years and comes with some of the most cutting-edge features you’ll find in a transcription tool. It can automatically identify speakers, transcribe audio in 22 languages, and offers a convenient online sync service so your team can work your content together too.
This makes it perfect for podcasting, live streaming, and transcribing recorded audio and video. It also comes with built-in video editing tools to save time you’d spend exporting and importing media. And if you need to record your screen, it can do that too.
Key features:
- Transcription
- Video editing and screen recording
- Clip creations
- Podcasting editing
- AI voice cloning
Price: Descript offers several plans starting with a free option and a $12 plan. They also offer an Enterprise plan.
2. Otter
Otter.ai’s what you’d turn to for a well-rounded solution. They’ve managed to identify and create use cases for business, sales, education, and media. And that makes their solution powerful. Features like automated transcriptions speed up content creation, and the ability to share and edit content with the rest of your team makes it flexible and convenient for highly-productive teams.
Key features:
- Identify speakers
- Transcript sharing
- Automated transcription that can be edited by your team
- Browser of iOS and Android options available
- Syncs with Dropbox in real time
Price: Otter.ai offers several plans including a free plan and a Pro option for $16.99. Business and Enterprise plans are available too.
3. Sonix
Sonix is one of the most comprehensive transcription options available. It boasts over 60 features, including audit logs, control over user quotas, the ability to customize folders, save and copy content, use an embeddable media player, burn-in subtitles, and so much more.
Key features:
- Automated transcription
- Automated translation
- Automated subtitles
- Storage and organization functionality
- Share and publishing
- Collaborate with teams
- Search
- AI analysis
- Security
- Admin tools
Price: Sonix’s plans start at $10 for a pay-as-you-go service, with hourly options and subscriptions as your needs grow.
4. Rev
If you’re still not completely sold on the idea of AI-only transcription, Rev is likely the solution for you. Rev offers human translation starting as low as $1.50 per minute, as well as the option to include English closed captions if you’d like that for your video. But what’s impressive is that they also offer fluently translated Global Subtitles in 38+ languages, which come with a 99%+ accuracy promise.
Key features:
- AI transcription
- Human transcriptions
- AI captions
- Human captions
- Global subtitles
Price: Rev offers a free 14-day trial alongside AI transcription plans that start from $0.25 per minute.
If you’ve found it hard to move from recording to polished transcription in the shortest time possible, GoTranscribe could help. Its simplified approach should help streamline or repurpose workflow models while helping you create some of your best work. You can share transcripts, export media in various formats, and even leverage advanced speech-to-text capabilities.
Key features:
- Share transcriptions
- Export files in several formats
- Advanced speech-to-text capabilities
Price: Starting at $12/hour.
6. oTranscribe
Want something free and open-source? OTranscribe is just that and you’ll love how easy it is to use. You can control playback, add interactive timestamps to recordings, export your text in markdown, plain text, or Google Docs. And did I mention this is all free?
Key features:
- Media playback
- Interactive timestamps
- Autosave
- Export to different formats
- Video and audio support
- Open source
Price: Free
7. Fireflies
Fireflies is known all over the world over as a powerful meeting note taker. It’s AI-based and automatically records and transcribes meetings. These capabilities make a powerful transcription tool for any form of video or audio. It can capture both forms of media, add closed captions, and provide collaboration scripts too. And if you need to inject more detail, FireFlies also allows you to add sound bites, thread, and reactions to transcripts.
Key features:
- Video conferencing bot
- Chrome Browser recorder
- Storage sync
- Zapier integration
- Smart search
- Topic trackers
- Add sound bites, threads, and reactions
- Embeddable player
Price: Get started for free; paid plans start at $18 per seat/month.
8. SpeedScriber
Mac-only tool, anyone? SpeedScriber is downloadable transcription software. It’s as simple as you need it to be too. You can import audio and video, transcribe your files in a few minutes, edit transcriptions to correct pronunciation, and export your finished transcription into PDF, .docx, and even Apple Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Key features:
- Supports audio and video
- Editing capabilities
- Transcriptions in minutes
- Export in multiple file formats
Price: Get your first 15 minutes free and pay $0.50 per minute with lower per-minute rates for longer media.
9. Notta
Notta’s packed with a collection of features you’ll find especially useful. You’re able to translate media into over 50 languages. It also comes with a scheduler that can integrate with your video conferencing platform for specific meetings. Its transcription capabilities are just as powerful too.
Convert your podcast, interview, and more, with high accuracy, and share them in various formats. And if you’re working with extremely long-form content, it comes with a summarizer that can shorten your content to make it easily digestible.
Key features:
- Web app, mobile apps, and a Chrome Browser extension
- Transcription
- Translation
- Recording
- Summarizer
- Scheduler
- Notta Bot
Price: Free plan with paid options starting at $14.99 per month. Business and Enterprise options are available.
10. Maestra
Looking for a video transcription tool with a twist? Maestra can transcribe, and add captions and voiceovers. Its AI-generated voices can feature your voice, which can also be cloned, or a different voice from its library. As a transcription tool, you’re able to convert audio and video to text and do so for over 125 languages.
Maestra fits into the content tools category because it is built to enable content production. So, if you’re looking for something that helps you produce more than transcripts, this could be a good pick.
Key features:
- AI voice generation
- Subtitle generation
- Transcription in over 125 languages
- Integration with YouTube for transcript generation
- AI dubbing
Price: Starting at $10/hour with $5 per hour, per month subscription options and an Enterprise plan.
How to Choose the Right Transcription Tool
You’re shortlisting tools and need to know what matters most. Here’s my list of what I’ve found to be important elements to consider when transcription tool shopping.
Flexibility
You may be a live streamer, however, there’s a good chance that you’d like to get the most value for money from your transcription tool. Most tools on our list are versatile and can be applied in several ways. But not all solutions are made equal. As you shop around, have a list of what you’re after on hand.
It helps to think about the way you create content and the formats of content you produce. Also, consider how to streamline the work you do and how a transcription tool can help. For example, a tool like FireFlies was originally designed to transcribe meetings but can handle live streams too.
Transcription Speed and Turnaround
Faster is always a win, however, speed can lead to sacrificing quality — depending on the nature of the service. A simple way to determine how fast the turnaround of your transcription tool should be is by comparing it to your content production model.
Establish the perfect window for content creation and see which tools match or can deliver transcriptions faster.
Accuracy
As with the speed of the tool you choose, accuracy is just as important. It’s hard to come by an automated tool that offers 100% accuracy for transcriptions due to several factors. These include language, tone of voice, annunciation of speakers, the quality of recording equipment, and any background interference.
That said, small inaccuracies aren’t a big deal. It’s always a good idea to run through your transcripts at least twice with a human eye for editing and formatting that could make a positive impact on your readers.
Features
While there’s a broad spectrum of tools available, some of the most important features you should be on the lookout for include:
- Identify different speakers
- Support for different accents
- The ability to pick up speech amidst background noise
- Automated punctuation
Together, these features help streamline content repurposing because it’s easier to make sense of what’s been transcribed.
Cost
We all have some sort of budget and, ideally, you want to find a tool that fits yours. Most tools offer free trials and some free plans. If you’re budget-sensitive, it may help to revisit your list of requirements for a tool or shortlist of tools that aren’t as feature-rich but can do the job. And as your budget improves, you can always pick a better solution.
Conclusion
Transcription software helps streamline content creation, support SEO, and position your brand for access by larger audiences. This guide shows that picking the right tool is possible with a clear idea of what you need to support your business model. In your search for the perfect fit, keep our list of considerations in mind and you’ll find it easier to pull the trigger.
FAQs
Why should live streamers use transcription tools?
Transcription tools offer live streamers a way to cater to broader audiences by converting their video into text-based content.
How much do transcription services cost?
Transcription services costs vary depending on the kind of service and the content you’d like transcribed. For example, long-form content will require more time and resources to transcribe compared to short-form content. And if you’re using human-only or hybrid transcription services, there is a fee for human labor involved.
Can I use transcription tools on any streaming platform?
Some transcription tools work on all live streaming platforms, however, most are only able to transcribe recorded video and audio.,
How do I integrate a transcription tool into my live-streaming setup?
Most transcription tools provide detailed instructions for integration into live-streaming setups. For example, FireFlies works with a plugin to allow it to attend Zoom calls as a participant and record all audio from your meeting.
Do transcription tools work in multiple languages?
Yes, some transcription tools work in multiple languages. They can understand and successfully convert speech into text.