To convert a video to text on a Mac, drop the MP4 or MOV file onto an on-device transcription app — the audio track is extracted and transcribed locally, no upload required. TranscribeAnything handles a 1-hour video in under a minute on Apple silicon and exports plain text, Markdown, PDF, DOCX, HTML, CSV, JSON, or ready-to-use SRT and VTT subtitle files.
A transcript (TXT/Markdown) reads like a document: paragraphs, punctuation, no time codes cluttering the text. A subtitle file (SRT/VTT) is segmented into short timed cues for on-screen display. TranscribeAnything exports both from the same transcription pass — nine formats in all — so you don't choose in advance.
Timestamps in the CSV and JSON exports let editing tools and scripts locate any line to the second — useful for making clips, supercuts, or podcast show notes.
Video files are big. Uploading an hour of 1080p footage to a cloud transcription service means gigabytes up the wire before transcription even starts — and per-minute billing when it does (Rev's AI transcription, for instance, runs $0.25 per audio minute as of mid-2026, about $15 for a single hour). On-device, the audio never travels and the price never changes. TranscribeAnything runs Apple's on-device speech engine at up to 80× realtime, supports 10 languages, and costs $19.99/year for unlimited transcription — the first 5 transcriptions (up to 30 minutes each) are free.