Automatic Transcription of the Audio | AI transcription
Podigee offers the option of running an audio transcription algorithm (AI) when encoding.
We save this transcript once as a JSON and once as a VTT file on our servers. The URLs to the files are shown as a link tag via <podcast:transcript> in your RSS feed.
What can the transcription algorithm do?
The algorithm attempts to convert spoken words into text and summarize sections of speech in the text into time units.
Once the transcript has been created, it can be called up in the " Transcript" tab in the episode settings and edited in the transcript editor. This is what the created text document looks like in the transcript editor, without manual editing:
In the editor, there is the option of simply listening to short passages again and editing the text directly at this point, otherwise confusing text passages can sometimes occur.
You also have the option of downloading the transcript directly as a text file. A downloaded transcript can look like the following image, for example.
🤖 What automatic transcription (still) can't do
Automatic transcription is a powerful tool – but it has its limits.
Even though speech recognition keeps improving, it still struggles with technical terms, unclear pronunciation, or poor audio quality.
Even high-quality studio recordings with clearly spoken standard language can contain recognition errors.
That’s why: Manual editing is always necessary.
A fully accurate transcript generated by AI alone isn’t possible (yet).
The good news: Editing an automatic transcript takes far less time than transcribing everything manually – so you still save a lot of effort.
Does transcription cost extra and how do I activate it?
❗️ If the transcription option is activated, it will be applied to every newly encoded episode. There is no free re-encoding within 7 days for a transcription. If you want to re-encode an episode that has been transcribed, you should first disable this feature.
Before publication and as the default setting at Publish..:
After publication via Update audio file:
What does the transcript look like in the web player and the Podigee blog?
Podigee Web-Player:
Podigee Blog of the episode, with speaker:
.., without speaker:
Why Transcripts Matter
Podcasts aren’t searchable – transcripts make them searchable.
By turning speech into text, transcripts unlock entirely new possibilities:
🔍 Find Content
With a transcript, you can search for keywords – within a single episode or across your entire podcast.
👂 Improve Understanding
Great for language learners or people with hearing impairments: reading along helps with comprehension.
📊 Analyze Speaking Time
Who spoke how much? With speaker labels, you can easily track and evaluate speaking time.
Best Practice
- High audio quality
- Clear speech
- Avoid talking over each other
These things help make your transcripts more accurate.