Speech to Text — Dictate Into Your Browser, Free
Talk, and watch the words appear. Voice punctuation, 30+ languages, copy or download the transcript — no signup.
🔒 Runs in your browser — files never uploaded ⚡ No signup 💯 Free
Press Start and allow the microphone.
Recognition is done by your browser's speech service — Chrome and Edge send the audio to Google's or Microsoft's servers, Safari to Apple's. This site never receives the audio or the text. Nothing is stored anywhere.
Dictate text in your browser: press Start, allow the microphone, and speak — the transcript appears as you talk, in any of 30+ languages. Say "comma", "full stop", "question mark" or "new line" to punctuate. Edit the text in place, then copy it or download it as a file. There is no account and nothing is stored on this site.
Recognition uses the Web Speech API, which works in Chrome, Edge and Safari; the audio is processed by the browser vendor's speech service, not by this site.
How to use Speech to Text
- Pick the language you will speak.
- Start dictating and allow the microphone when the browser asks. Speak normally, at a steady pace.
- Punctuate by voice or fix it in the box afterwards — the transcript is editable.
- Stop, then copy or download.
Where the recognition happens
Browsers do not ship a speech recogniser of their own. Chrome and Edge stream the audio to Google's and Microsoft's services; Safari uses Apple's (partly on-device on recent iPhones and Macs). That is why it needs a network connection, why Firefox and most privacy-hardened browsers do not offer it, and why this page cannot promise that nothing leaves your device — it can promise that nothing reaches this site. For confidential material, use an offline dictation tool.
Getting accurate transcripts
- A decent microphone and a quiet room matter more than anything else. Laptop mics work; headsets work better.
- Speak in phrases, not single words, and do not pause mid-sentence — the engine uses context to pick between homophones.
- Set the right language variant; UK and US English differ in vocabulary and spelling.
- Names and jargon will be wrong. Say them, then fix them in the box.
Punctuation
The raw engine output is mostly unpunctuated. With voice punctuation on, the words "comma", "full stop" (or "period"), "question mark", "exclamation mark", "new line" and "new paragraph" become the symbols, and sentence starts are capitalised. Turn it off if you are dictating text that contains those words literally.
Long sessions
Chrome ends a recognition session after a stretch of silence; the page restarts it automatically while you are still in Start mode, so a pause to think does not stop dictation. Very long dictations are best done in a few takes — copy each into your document as you go.
To hear text read back, see text to speech; to check the result's reading level, the readability checker.
Frequently asked questions
Which browsers support it?
Chrome, Edge and Safari (desktop and mobile). Firefox does not implement speech recognition, and some privacy-focused browsers disable it. The page tells you if your browser cannot dictate.
Is my voice sent to a server?
To your browser vendor's speech service, yes — Google for Chrome, Microsoft for Edge, Apple for Safari. That is how the Web Speech API works. Nothing is sent to this site, and this site stores nothing.
Why does it stop by itself?
Chrome ends a session after a period of silence. The page restarts listening automatically while you are in Start mode, so a pause to think is fine. Press Stop when you are done.
How do I add punctuation?
Say it: "comma", "full stop" or "period", "question mark", "exclamation mark", "new line", "new paragraph". Sentence starts are capitalised automatically. Both can be turned off, and the box is editable.
Can it transcribe an audio file or a recording?
No — it listens to the microphone only. Play the recording near the microphone as a workaround, or use a dedicated transcription service for files.