Free tool
Voice message to text
Drop a saved voice note here to turn a voice message to text: read a long WhatsApp or Telegram message in seconds, search it later, or copy the detail you need for your reply, without playing it out loud.
- Free
- Opus, OGG and M4A
- Nothing is stored
Drop your voice message here, or Choose your voice message
MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG or WebM. Up to 30 minutes of each file, 3 free files a day. The language is detected automatically.
Tired of sending voice notes back? NoteOwl’s dictation is free: talk, and it types your reply into any app on your Mac.
How it works
How do you turn a voice message into text?
Save the voice message out of the chat as an audio file, then choose it here. The converter reads Opus and OGG files as well as M4A and MP3, transcribes the message and shows the text, usually within seconds. Copy it wherever you need it.
- 1
Get it out of the chat
Export it from WhatsApp, download it from Telegram on a computer, or move an iPhone audio message into Voice Memos.
- 2
Choose the file
Pick the .opus, .ogg or .m4a file. On a phone, look in Files or Downloads.
- 3
Read, copy, reply
The words appear in paragraphs, each with its time. Copy the part you need to answer.
How do you save a voice message from WhatsApp, Telegram or iMessage?
Each app keeps the file somewhere different. WhatsApp’s Export chat can include the chat’s media, voice notes among them; Telegram on a computer lets you download a voice message; and on an iPhone, Messages can save an audio message to Voice Memos.
- Getting the audio fileExport chat, with media included, puts the chat’s voice notes in the export
- Its own transcriptVoice message transcripts, made on your phone, in selected languages: Settings → Chats
- Telegram
- Getting the audio fileDownload the voice message in Telegram on a computer: it’s an OGG file with Opus sound
- Its own transcriptVoice-to-text, with Telegram Premium
- iPhone Messages
- Getting the audio fileTouch and hold the audio message, tap Save to Voice Memos, then export it to Files as an M4A
- Its own transcriptIn select languages, sent along with the message
| App | Getting the audio file | Its own transcript |
|---|---|---|
| Export chat, with media included, puts the chat’s voice notes in the export | Voice message transcripts, made on your phone, in selected languages: Settings → Chats | |
| Telegram | Download the voice message in Telegram on a computer: it’s an OGG file with Opus sound | Voice-to-text, with Telegram Premium |
| iPhone Messages | Touch and hold the audio message, tap Save to Voice Memos, then export it to Files as an M4A | In select languages, sent along with the message |
What is an Opus or OGG file?
Opus is an open sound format designed for sending speech and music over the internet: it keeps a voice clear in a very small file, which is why chat apps use it. OGG is the container it usually travels in. This converter reads both, as .opus, .ogg or .oga.
Small files are no obstacle here. What decides the transcript is mostly where the message was recorded and how close the phone was to the speaker.
Why are some voice messages hard to transcribe?
They’re recorded on the move: walking, in traffic or in a café, with the phone at arm’s length or half in a pocket. Wind across the microphone and a second conversation nearby do the most damage; casual speech, slang and nicknames come next.
Wind and traffic
A gust across the microphone drowns whole words. Nothing can bring those back, so play that moment again.
Two languages in one message
A message under half a minute is transcribed as one piece in one language. Longer ones are checked about every 30 seconds, so a switch is followed.
Names and nicknames
Friends’ names, places and in-jokes are written the way they sound. Fix them once, in the copy you keep.
Chatter in the background
Another conversation close to the phone can land in the text, because the converter can’t tell which voice sent the message.
When is reading a voice message better than playing it?
Whenever you can’t play sound, need one detail from a long message, or want to keep what was said. Text can be skimmed in seconds, searched later, and pasted into a calendar, a shopping list or a reply.
Turning a voice note to text pays off most when it carries an address, a meeting time or a list of things to pick up: copy the details straight out of the transcript instead of replaying the message three times.
Rather answer by talking, without sending a voice note?
NoteOwl’s dictation is free on your Mac: talk, and it types your words as clean text into any app. Your own voice notes are free as well, saved as searchable text. For saved recordings, NoteOwl transcribes them on your Mac with unlimited transcription.
FAQ
Questions about turning voice messages into text
Is this voice message converter free?
Yes, with no account. Up to 3 voice messages a day can be transcribed, each up to 30 minutes long, which is far longer than most voice notes run.
Does WhatsApp transcribe voice messages itself?
In some languages, yes. Turn on Voice message transcripts in WhatsApp’s settings, under Chats, then touch and hold a voice message and tap Transcribe; the text is made on your phone. For other languages, or to keep the text as a file, use this converter.
Can I transcribe a voice note someone sent me on Telegram?
Yes. Download it from the chat in Telegram on a computer, where it’s saved as an OGG file, and drop that file here. Telegram Premium also turns voice messages into text inside the app.
Does it work on an iPhone audio message?
Yes. In Messages, tap Keep if the message is about to expire, then touch and hold it and tap Save to Voice Memos. Export it from Voice Memos to Files as an M4A and choose it here.
Can I transcribe several voice messages at once?
One file at a time, up to 3 a day. A chat export can hold dozens of voice notes, so start with the longest ones, or the ones you need in writing.
Is the voice message kept after it’s transcribed?
No. The converter sends the sound in short pieces to a cloud AI transcription service, which turns them into text and deletes them. NoteOwl stores nothing: the transcript lives only in this page until you close it.
Can it translate a voice message?
No. It writes the message in the language it was spoken in, and names that language. Paste the text into a translator to read it in another one.
Keep exploring
More audio to text tools
- Audio to text converterTranscribe audio to text free: drop in an MP3, M4A, WAV or other recording and get an AI transcript with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- Phone call transcriptionTranscribe a recorded phone call free in your browser, with times for each part of the call; nothing is stored
- Sermon transcriptionTranscribe a recorded sermon or talk free in your browser, ready for notes, a blog post or captions; nothing is stored
- Academic transcriptionTranscribe research interviews, oral histories and seminars free in your browser, with times for coding and quotes; nothing is stored
- Focus group transcriptionTranscribe a recorded focus group free in your browser, with times for each part of the discussion; nothing is stored
Related
- Free dictation into any appFree, unlimited speech to text in every app on your Mac: tap fn, talk, and the words type at your cursor; one tap polishes them in the right tone for that app
- Voice notes on your MacVoice notes and dictations saved as searchable text on your Mac, with the raw words beside the polished version; free
Talk instead of typing, free on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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