Aria · Transcribe a file
Use case
Transcribe an audio file on your Mac, without uploading it
Drop the file into Aria and read the text a moment later. The transcription runs on your Mac, so an interview, a lecture, a voice memo or a call recording never leaves the machine — and there is no per-minute meter running.
What you can drop in
| Audio | MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG |
| Video | MP4, MOV — the soundtrack is transcribed |
| Speaker labels | Optional, computed on the Mac |
| Languages | 25 European languages, and the transcript keeps the language spoken |
| Network | None, with the local engine |
How it goes
- Open Aria and go to file transcription.
- Drop the file in. Long recordings work; they simply take longer.
- Read, correct, copy or export. Words you fix are learned, so a name that recurs stops coming out wrong.
Why do it on the machine
Online transcription services are fast and usually cheap. They are also a copy of your recording on someone else's disk, subject to their retention policy and their next change of terms. For a client call, a medical appointment, a journalistic interview or anything under an agreement, that copy is the problem — not the price.
With Aria's local engine, the file stays where it is. No account, no upload, no queue, no minutes to buy. The trade is time: a long recording takes longer than it would on a cloud model, and your Mac's fan may tell you so.
Getting a better transcript
- The recording matters more than the model. A phone on a table in a café will defeat any transcription tool. A microphone near each speaker changes everything.
- Teach it the names first. Adding recurring proper nouns to the dictionary before a long file saves more editing than any setting.
- Split very long files if you want to work through them in passes rather than waiting for the whole thing.
- For one difficult file, switch to a cloud engine with your own API key. You pay the provider directly, and it stays your decision, file by file.
Where this is not the right tool. Aria transcribes files you already have — it does not join a meeting, does not record what plays through your speakers, and does not produce subtitles with timecodes for video editing. For subtitle work on long media, a dedicated tool like MacWhisper is the better fit.
Questions
Is anything uploaded?
Not with the local engine. The file is read from disk and transcribed on the Mac. A cloud engine only sees the file if you deliberately pick one.
How long can a file be?
There is no hard limit. Longer files take proportionally longer on the local engine. On the free plan the transcribed words count against the 2,000-a-week allowance, so a long recording usually wants Pro.
Does it separate speakers?
Yes, locally. It is good on a clean two- or three-person recording and degrades on a noisy room with many voices; expect to fix a few labels.
Can I get timestamps or subtitles?
Aria gives you the transcript with speaker labels. For subtitle files with precise timecodes, use a tool built for that.
Keep the recording on your Mac
Free up to 2,000 words a week. €5 once for unlimited, on three Macs.