4 Best Ways to Transcribe M4A to Text Automatically (Free & Paid)

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4 Best Ways to Transcribe M4A to Text Automatically (Free & Paid)

Last Updated: 2023. 09. 11

Transcribing M4A to text makes your audio files more shareable, readable, and searchable for target viewers.

So, if you have recorded your podcasts, interviews, lectures, or video project voiceovers in M4A audio format and want to easily transcribe M4A to text for video subtitles, blog posts, newsletters, or other repurposings, we’ve got you covered!

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the 4 best ways to automatically transcribe M4A to text. So, you can use the transcript for your needs.

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Here’s What You Will Learn:

Transcribe M4A to Text by FlexClip Online

Transcribe M4A to Text by OpenAI Playground

Transcribe M4A to Text by Otter.AI

Transcribe M4A to Text by Microsoft 365 Online

Also, read the 4 best podcast intro makers.

Transcribe M4A to Text by FlexClip Online

If you need a versatile M4A to text converter that allows you to seamlessly transcribe M4A to text with up to 90% accuracy and download the M4A transcription as SRT and other subtitle formats for closed captions or even repurpose M4A files into a compelling video with burned-in subtitles, then the user-friendly and feature-rich FlexClip AI video maker shall be one of your go-to choices.

Effortlessly transcribe M4A to text by FlexClip online.

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Best Features to Transcribe M4A to Text by FlexClip:

Utilize the AI auto subtitle generator to transcribe M4A to text in one click. It supports 140+ languages with diverse accents for auto transcription and promises over 90% accuracy.

Automatically transcribe M4A to text by FlexClip AI auto subtitle generator online.

Transcribe M4A Now

Easily edit the M4A transcription and its timecodes and directly download the transcript in SRT, VTT, SSA, ASS, SUB, and SBV formats for closed captions on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or blog posts, translations, and other repurposings.

Edit and directly download the M4A transcription in SRT, VTT, and other 4 subtitle formats.

If you want to repurpose M4A files into a compelling video for YouTube, you can customize the style of M4A transcription for burned-in captions and combine M4A files with 74,000+ royalty-free music tracks and sound effects, 4M+ stock photos and videos, 1,000+ editable text animations and 200+ video transitions and much more.

Easily customize the style of M4A transcription.

Blend your M4A recordings with vast royalty-free audio, image, and video assets.

What distinguishes FlexClip apart from other M4A to text converters is that you can use thousands of expertly designed and fully customizable video templates, covering podcast intros and outros, webinars, business promo & sales, educational videos, birthday/wedding/memorial slideshows, movie trailers, YouTube/TikTok/IG Reels videos, sports & fitness, travel, newscast, etc. With easy drags and drops of your video assets, you can create a captivating video in minutes.

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In addition, as a full-featured AI video maker, FlexClip also empowers you with other time-saving AI tools to help you streamline your video editing process and reclaim tons of valuable time. From the AI video script generator, powered by ChatGPT, to hyper-realistic text-to-speech generator, text-to-image generator, text-to-video generator, image background remover, and audio extractor, etc. you can unlock your creativity and create videos like never before.

Convert text to speech in a breeze by FlexClip’s text-to-speech generator.

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How to Transcribe M4A to Text by FlexClip:

Step 1

Access FlexClip > upload your M4A audio files from your PC, phone, Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, or Google Photos.

Upload your M4A recordings to FlexClip.

Step 2

Set the audio duration that matches the M4A audio length > click the plus sign to add the M4A audio file to the audio track. Now, you can trim or split the audio, adjust the audio’s volume, etc.

Set the video duration and add the M4A recordings to the audio track.

Step 3

Automatically transcribe M4A to text.

Click the Subtitle tab > Auto AI Subtitle > identify the language in the M4A audio file > hit Next > set the style of transcribed text, which can be changed later > hit the Generate button.

Automatically transcribe M4A to text with the click of a button.

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Now, you can playback the M4A recordings > skim through the M4A transcription > correct any typos > click the download button to download the M4A transcription in SRT, VTT, SSA, ASS, SUB, and SBV subtitle formats for closed captions on YouTube, blog posts, translations or other repurposings.

Edit and directly download the M4A transcription in SRT, VTT, and other subtitle formats for other repurposings.

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Step 4

Repurpose M4A recordings into a compelling video. (optional)

Alternatively, you can harness vast royalty-free video assets in FlexClip to transform the M4A recordings into an engaging video for YouTube to reach a wider audience.

Firstly, you can fine-tune the subtitle style, such as text font, text color, text size, color and opacity of text background fill, text alignment, position, boldness, italics, etc.

Fine-tune the style of auto-generated subtitles.

Next, upload your images and videos to FlexClip > click Add as Layer to layer your images or a clip over the black screen > drag the image/video’s corner to fill the screen > you can trim its duration as well.

Add images and clips to add visuals to your M4A recordings and make it more engaging.

Then, click the Text tab > scroll down to choose from 1,000+ readymade and editable text animations for video titles and call-to-actions, such as YouTube/TikTok/IG profile titles, Like, Share, and Subscribe buttons, call-out titles, speech bubbles, lower thirds, quotes, search bars, location titles, etc.

Add editable text animations for video titles and call-to-actions in the video.

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You can easily customize the style of the text or click the Motion tool to animate the text with styles, such as typewriter, cinematic glitter, blur, contrast, burst, fade, bounce, neon, etc. for text reveal. You can trim the duration of text animations as well.

Customize the text style and text animations with ease.

Next, click the Audio tab > choose from 74,000+ royalty-free music tracks and sound effects to bring your video to life. You can layer multiple audio tracks to create a real-world auditory experience for the viewers and easily trim, split the audio tracks, and adjust audio volume or apply fade in/out effects for seamless audio transition.

Add royalty-free music and sound effects to bring your video life.

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Finally, done with the editing, you can click the Export button to save the 1080P MP4 video to your computer or directly share it to YouTube, Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, or TikTok; a clickable link is also available for your blog posts, newsletters or other repurposings.

Easily share and repurpose your video content.

Downside:

The only downside with FlexClip is that currently, you can’t directly save the transcript of the M4A audio file as a TXT or DOCX file to your PC.

Transcribe M4A to Text by OpenAI Playground

Well, if you are a ChatGPT user and your M4A file is no more than 25MB, then a quick and easy way to transcribe M4A to text is using the latest and free speech-to-text feature, provided by OpenAI Playground.

Transcribe M4A to text for free by OpenAI Playground’s speech-to-text feature.

Best Features to Transcribe M4A to Text by OpenAI Playground:

Essentially, OpenAI Playground is an open-source language model that uses ChatGPT-3 to help you transcribe any audio to text for free.

You may also use OpenAI Playground to translate and transcribe audio to text.

You can upload M4A, MP3, MP4, MPEG, MPGA, WAV, and WebM for auto transcription. While the maximum file size is 25MB.

How to Transcribe M4A to Text by OpenAI Playground:

Step 1

Log into your OpenAI’s free account > access OpenAI Playground > click the Speech to Text icon, which is a small microphone.

Access OpenAI Playground and click speech to text tool.

Step 2

Drag and drop your M4A audio file into the pop-up window > ChatGPT-3 will automatically transcribe the audio file for you.

Upload your M4A file to OpenAI Playground.

Step 3

You can copy and paste the AI-generated transcript to TXT or Word file for your blog posts, YouTube transcript, etc.

Copy and paste the transcript of M4A file to TXT or DOCX file.

Downside:

The only downside with OpenAI Playground is that for free users, you only have 256 tokens to use the free M4A to text transcription and the maximum M4A upload is 25MB.

Transcribe M4A to Text by Otter.AI

If your M4A audio file can last up to 40 mins or even hours and you need to transcribe M4A to text for blog posts, documentation of lectures, interviews, webinars, news releases, etc. and then another great workaround to convert M4A to text is using Otter. AI. It’s a professional voice meeting notes and real-time transcription tool that aims to transcribe any audio to text and ease your workload.

Transcribe M4A to text by Otter.

Best Features to Transcribe M4A to Text by Otter.AI:

The moment you upload your M4A to Otter.AI, it can help you auto-transcribe M4A to text and auto-generate keywords, timestamps, and summary of your conversation, which is extremely user-friendly for SEO and creating text-based content on the web.

You can customize the name of each speaker in the M4A audio file and highlight parts of the transcript, adding notes and comments as well.

Connect Otter to Zoom Meeting, Google Meet, or Microsoft Team for real-time transcription.

Save the transcript to TXT, DOCX, PDF, or SRT file.

Adjust the playback speed of M4A audio for checking.

It works both on web browsers and mobile apps (IOS & Android).

How to Transcribe M4A to Text by Otter.AI:

Step 1

Sign up to Otter.AI for free > log into your account > click the Import button to the top right corner > upload your M4A file > Otter will instantly transcribe M4A to text for you.

Step 2

Proofread the transcript > Customize the name of the speakers > browse through the auto-generated keywords and summary to see if any changes need to be made, etc.

Step 3

Click the Three Dots in the top right corner > Export > select the text format (TXT, DOCX, PDF, or SRT) to download the transcript.

Downside:

Currently, Otter.AI only supports English for transcription.

Transcribe M4A to Text by Microsoft 365 Online

Well, if you are a subscribed Microsoft 365 user, luckily you can use its web version Word to auto-transcribe M4A to text online.

Use Microsoft 365 to transcribe M4A to text online.

Best Features to Transcribe M4A to Text by Microsoft 365 Online:

Upload M4A, WAV, MP4 and MP3 for auto-transcription to text.

It supports 80+ languages for audio to text.

Auo-generate exact timestamps, speakers, and text from your audio files and you can customize the details.

Auto-sync the transcript to One Drive.

Adjust the playback speed of M4A audio.

How to Transcribe M4A to Text by Microsoft 365 Online:

Step 1

Visit Microsoft 365 web portal > log into your account > select and create a new Word document > hover to Transcribe option to the right ribbon > click on it.

Step 2

Select the language in your M4A audio file > hit Upload Audio to import your M4A audio file > the auto transcription shall begin.

Step 3

Proofread the auto-generated transcript > customize the name of the speaker > click Add to Document > download the transcript in DOCX format to your PC.

Downside:

The audio-to-text transcription feature is only available to subscribed users.

If your uploaded audio file is longer than 13 mins, Word will tell you that the file is too big to transcribe.

Now, It's Your Move

Converting M4A to text allows you to easily repurpose your audio file for blog posts, newsletters, video projects or news releases, academic documentation, etc. Please feel free to experiment with all the M4A to text converters mentioned above and share this post on your Facebook or Twitter and tell us which one works best for you. Cheers!

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Frank /

Passionate about photography, video-making and travel, Frank is a seasoned copywriter and a beloved father of 2-year-old daughter at FlexClip. He is always keen to share his latest discovery about video marketing and tricks to relive your memories through videos and images.