Groq Whisper vs. in-browser Whisper — which one for what
This tool uses Groq's hosted Whisper endpoint via your own free API key. That gives you the accuracy of the large-v3 Whisper model at speeds up to 100× faster than running the same model locally. A 30-minute podcast that takes 15 minutes in-browser transcribes in under 30 seconds here.
The trade-off: your audio does leave your device (goes to Groq's servers), and you need to sign up for a free Groq API key. For public content — podcasts you plan to publish, YouTube uploads, meetings you're happy to share — Groq is the productivity choice. For confidential audio, use the in-browser Whisper tool instead.
Free tier on Groq is generous: several thousand seconds of audio per day for most users. For casual weekly transcription work, you'll never hit the limit.
What you get in the output
The output is a proper SRT file with segment-level timestamps: each subtitle line has an in/out time in HH:MM:SS,mmm format, ready to drop into any video editor, media player, or YouTube upload.
Whisper's segmentation is quite good but not perfect for readability — very fast speech sometimes produces long lines that flash on screen. Consider a light post-edit for polish before shipping.
You can also download the same content as a plain TXT — useful for pasting into ChatGPT for summarization or blog conversion.
Setting up your free Groq API key
Sign up at console.groq.com (free, email + password). Generate an API key from the dashboard. Paste it into this tool once — it's saved locally in your browser and never sent to us; the request goes direct from your browser to Groq's servers.
Since the key never touches our servers, we can't see, store, or misuse it. Rotate the key any time from your Groq dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
Is this tool free?
The tool itself is free. It uses the Groq API, which requires a free Groq account. The free tier is generous for casual use.
Where is my audio processed?
Audio goes directly from your browser to Groq's servers for transcription. The tool operator (us) never sees your audio. If you can't send audio to third parties, use in-browser Whisper instead.
What's the max file size?
Groq accepts up to 25 MB per file. For longer audio, split with any audio editor first.
Which model does it use?
Whisper large-v3 by default — the highest-accuracy model. This gives near-human-level transcription accuracy on clean audio.
Which languages are supported?
All 99 Whisper-supported languages. Leave the language on Auto-detect for best results on unknown audio.
Can I get word-level timestamps?
The output is segment-level (typical for SRT). For word-level timestamps you'd need to call the Groq API directly with the appropriate parameter — reach out if you'd like that as a feature.
