How to transcribe audio to text on a Mac (offline)

How can I transcribe an audio file on a Mac without the internet?

Use an app that runs a speech recognition model on your Mac. For recordings made in Voice Memos, Apple's own transcripts work on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later. For any other file, such as an interview, a lecture or a video, a local transcription app like SayWrite or MacWhisper turns it into text on your Mac, with timestamps, and the audio never leaves it.

Option 1: Voice Memos (recordings you make in it)

On a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later, Voice Memos can transcribe speech in its recordings. Open a recording and click the transcript button to read along; selecting a word jumps the playhead to that spot, and you can search recordings by what was said. Apple notes that audio transcription isn't available in every country or region. It's the easiest option if you record in Voice Memos to begin with.

Option 2: SayWrite's Files (any audio or video file)

SayWrite is a dictation app, and its Files section transcribes recordings with the same on-device model it uses for dictation, NVIDIA's Parakeet on the Neural Engine.

1. Install SayWrite and download the speech model once (about 465 MB).
2. Open SayWrite and choose Files in the sidebar, or Transcribe a File from the Dock menu.
3. Drop in an audio or video file: MP3, M4A, WAV, AIFF, CAF, MP4, MOV and more.
4. Read the timestamped segments; click one to copy it, or Copy All.
5. Export as .txt, .md or .srt subtitles.

It's fast: a 26-second clip transcribes in well under a second on an M5 Pro once the model is loaded. Long files are split into segments automatically. SayWrite keeps the transcript text and timestamps and never saves the audio. It transcribes English only.

Option 3: MacWhisper (file-focused, many languages)

MacWhisper is built around file transcription. It runs Whisper models locally, supports more than 100 languages, can record meetings, and offers speaker recognition. There's a free version and a one-time Pro license. If you transcribe multilingual interviews or need to know who said what, it's the stronger choice. Compare the two in SayWrite vs MacWhisper.

Which option should you use?

How do I know it's really offline?

Disconnect from every network and transcribe a short file. If you get text, the model ran on your Mac. Cloud transcription services, including many web tools and meeting assistants, upload your audio instead, which matters for interviews, client calls and anything confidential. Our guide to private, offline dictation covers the same test for live dictation, and the SayWrite security page lists every network connection the app makes.

Tips for accurate transcripts

• Record close to the speaker. Distance and room echo cost more accuracy than any model choice.
• Use a lossless or high-bitrate recording when you can; heavily compressed phone audio is harder.
• Split very long recordings into parts if you only need a section.
• Skim the transcript against the audio for names and numbers, which are the most common errors.
• Export .srt to caption a video, or .md to drop straight into notes. For live speech instead of files, see voice to text on a Mac.