Voice Recording Transcription — Voice Memos to Text

Transcribing Voice Recordings from Any Device

Voice recordings come from many sources — iPhone Voice Memos (saved as M4A), Android voice recorder apps (typically OGG or MP3), Windows Voice Recorder (M4A), Mac QuickTime recordings (M4A), and dedicated recording devices (WAV or MP3). Exactum handles all of these formats natively. You never need to convert files before uploading, which saves a step that other tools often require.

Simply upload your voice recording file to the Exactum dashboard. The AI processes the audio in seconds, generating a full text transcript with timestamps. For recordings with multiple speakers (interviews, meetings, focus groups), diarization technology automatically identifies and labels each speaker. The result is a clean, readable transcript where you can see exactly who said what.

You can also add custom vocabulary before transcribing to improve accuracy for technical terms, proper names, and industry-specific jargon. This is especially useful for medical, legal, and technical voice recordings where specialized terminology is common. Custom terms are saved to your account so they apply automatically to future transcriptions.

Live Microphone Transcription

Beyond uploading pre-recorded files, Exactum supports real-time transcription from your browser microphone. Click "Record" and watch the transcript appear word-by-word as you speak. This uses WebSocket streaming for minimal latency. The experience feels natural — words show up almost as fast as you say them.

Live transcription is ideal for meetings, interviews, lectures, and brainstorming sessions where you want a running transcript without the overhead of recording and uploading later. The final transcript includes full speaker detection, timestamps, and can be analyzed by AI just like uploaded recordings. You can pause and resume recording without losing context.

For best results with live recording, use a dedicated microphone or headset. The AI handles background noise well, but clearer audio produces more accurate transcripts. You can record sessions of any length on paid plans. When the session ends, the complete transcript is available for export, analysis, and sharing immediately.

Live Recording and Real-Time Transcription

Real-time voice transcription opens up workflows that pre-recorded files cannot match. During a live meeting, you can see the transcript forming on screen, making it easy to verify that key points are captured accurately. If someone speaks too quickly or mumbles, you can ask them to repeat while the meeting is still in progress rather than discovering gaps hours later.

The real-time engine uses WebSocket streaming to deliver words to your screen with sub-second delay. Speaker diarization works during live sessions as well, labeling each participant as they speak. This is particularly useful for multi-person meetings where knowing who made which commitment matters for follow-up.

After a live recording session ends, the full transcript is immediately available for AI analysis. Summaries, key points, action items, and chapters are generated just as they would be for an uploaded file. You can export the transcript and share it with meeting participants within minutes of the session concluding.

Live recording works directly in your browser with no additional software or plugins. Grant microphone access when prompted, click record, and the system handles everything else. The recording is processed entirely in the cloud, so it works on any computer, Chromebook, or tablet with a modern browser.

Organizing Your Voice Transcriptions

As your library of voice transcriptions grows, organization becomes essential. The Exactum dashboard provides a centralized workspace where every transcript is stored, timestamped, and searchable. You can sort by date, duration, or word count to quickly find a specific recording.

The full-text search function works across all your transcriptions simultaneously. Type a keyword or phrase and Exactum highlights every occurrence across your entire transcript history. This is invaluable for professionals who transcribe dozens of voice recordings per month and need to locate specific conversations or quotes.

Transcript history retention depends on your plan. Free accounts retain transcripts for 7 days, Basic and Starter plans for 30 days, and Creator and Studio plans retain history indefinitely. For long-term archival, you can export transcripts at any time as TXT, PDF, or DOCX files to your local storage.

For teams and organizations, the combination of search, export, and integration features creates a knowledge management system powered by voice. Sales teams can search across all client call transcripts, researchers can locate themes across interview recordings, and managers can review meeting action items — all from a single dashboard.