Turn any audio into clean, structured notes
Voice memos, seminar recordings, podcasts, interviews, office hours — upload the file and Scholarly transcribes it, then writes organized notes you can actually study from.
Free to start · No credit card · 70+ languages
Updated June 2026
How do I convert an audio file to notes?
Upload the audio file to Scholarly — MP3, M4A (iPhone voice memos), WAV, WebM, or OGG, plus video files like MP4. Scholarly transcribes it with timestamps, then generates structured notes: headings by topic, definitions, examples, and key takeaways. The transcript stays attached, so you can verify any detail against the original audio, and the notes can become flashcards or a quiz in one click.
- 1Upload the audio file (or a video — Scholarly uses its audio track).
- 2Scholarly transcribes it, then writes organized notes with topic headings and timestamps.
- 3Review the notes, then generate flashcards, a quiz, or ask the AI chat about the recording.
One tool for every recording you collect as a student
If it's spoken and you can save it as a file, Scholarly can turn it into notes.
Voice memos
The 20-minute memo you recorded explaining a topic to yourself before an exam — turned into an outline you can actually revisit.
Lecture recordings
Full class sessions, including 2–3 hour seminars. Get notes organized by topic instead of a wall of raw transcript.
Seminars & tutorials
Discussion-heavy sessions where arguments, counterexamples, and themes matter more than slides.
Podcasts
Course-relevant episodes become structured notes you can search and cite instead of vague memories of "that one episode."
Interviews & fieldwork
Research interviews and oral histories transcribed with speaker turns, then summarized by theme for your write-up.
Office hours & study groups
The places where the real explanations happen — captured, transcribed, and condensed into the points that matter.
What do the notes look like?
Here's the shape of the notes Scholarly generates from a typical recording — a student's 38-minute exam-review voice memo on enzyme kinetics.
enzyme-kinetics-review.m4a
38:12 · voice memo · transcribed and structured by Scholarly
Michaelis–Menten model02:10
- Reaction velocity rises with substrate concentration but saturates at Vmax — the enzyme's active sites become the bottleneck.
- Km is the substrate concentration at half of Vmax; a low Km means high affinity between enzyme and substrate.
- Assumes steady state: the enzyme–substrate complex forms and breaks down at equal rates.
Competitive vs. non-competitive inhibition14:45
- Competitive inhibitors bind the active site — raising substrate concentration can outcompete them, so Vmax is unchanged but apparent Km rises.
- Non-competitive inhibitors bind elsewhere and lower Vmax; extra substrate can't rescue the reaction.
Lineweaver–Burk plots27:30
- Double-reciprocal plot turns the Michaelis–Menten curve into a straight line — easier to read Vmax and Km from intercepts.
- Inhibition types are distinguishable by how the lines pivot: same y-intercept for competitive, same x-intercept for non-competitive.
Every heading keeps its timestamp, so you can jump back to the original audio when a detail matters. From here, one click generates flashcards or a practice quiz from the same recording.
What audio formats can I upload?
MP3, M4A (the format iPhone voice memos use), WAV, WebM, and OGG upload directly. Video files like MP4 and MOV work too — Scholarly transcribes the audio track and ignores the picture. Long files are fine, including multi-hour seminar recordings.
How is Audio to Notes different from transcription?
Transcription gives you the verbatim record — every sentence, in order. Notes are the condensed version: organized by topic, with definitions and takeaways pulled out. If what you mainly need is the verbatim text with timestamps and speaker turns, use Lecture Transcription instead. Audio to Notes runs the same transcription underneath, then does the organizing for you — and keeps the transcript attached either way, so you never lose the source.
How good is the result on messy, rambling audio?
Better than you'd expect, with honest limits. Spoken explanations are naturally repetitive and out of order — that's exactly what the note-generation step fixes, because it organizes by topic rather than by the order things were said. A rambling 40-minute memo usually becomes a tight one-page outline.
What genuinely hurts quality is bad audio, not bad structure: a microphone far from the speaker, heavy crosstalk, or loud background noise degrade the transcript the notes are built on. For anything high-stakes, check critical numbers and terms against the timestamped transcript — it takes seconds, and you're verifying against what was actually said.
What can I do after the notes are generated?
The recording becomes a source in your Scholarly workspace, so everything builds on it without re-uploading: generate spaced-repetition flashcards or a practice quiz from the notes, ask the AI chat questions and get answers that cite the exact passage of the recording, or combine it with your PDFs and slides into one study set for the exam.
Audio to notes FAQ
What audio files can I convert to notes?
MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM, and OGG audio files, plus video files like MP4 — Scholarly uses the audio track. That covers voice memos, lecture recordings, seminar audio, podcasts saved as files, and interview recordings.
Do iPhone voice memos work?
Yes. iPhone voice memos are M4A files, which upload directly. Share the memo to your computer or upload it from the phone's browser — no conversion needed.
How long can the audio be?
Multi-hour recordings are fine, including 2–3 hour seminars. Longer files take a bit more time to transcribe, but you don't need to split them.
Does it handle multiple speakers?
Yes. The transcript separates speaker turns, so a seminar discussion or interview doesn't collapse into one undifferentiated block of text.
What do the generated notes include?
Topic headings with timestamps, definitions of key terms, the examples used in the recording, and a set of takeaways — organized by topic rather than the order things were said. The full transcript stays attached for verification.
Can I make flashcards or a quiz from the audio?
Yes. Once the notes are generated, one click creates spaced-repetition flashcards or a practice quiz from the same recording — no copying text between tools.
What languages are supported?
Scholarly transcribes audio in 70+ languages, and you can generate the notes in a different language than the recording — useful for studying in your second language.
Is Audio to Notes free?
Scholarly is free to start with no credit card required. Paid plans (from about $12/month) raise limits for longer files and more uploads per day.
Keep exploring
More lecture and audio study tools
Lecture Transcription
Turn lecture audio into searchable, timestamped text.
AI Lecture Recorder
Record live classes and get same-day notes and flashcards.
YouTube to Notes
Paste a video link and get organized study notes.
AI Lecture Notes
Generate clean, structured notes from any lecture.
Recordings in Scholarly
See everything the recording workspace can do.
AI Lecture Recorder Guide
How students use AI to capture and review lectures.
Turn your recordings into notes
Free to start. Upload any audio file and get structured notes, a searchable transcript, and one-click flashcards from the same recording.
Free
- 3 AI Chat messages per day
- 3 AI creations per day
- 1 file upload per day (8MB)
- 5 quiz questions per day
- 1 exam attempt per day
- 15 voice minutes per day
- 32-page PDF to flashcards
- 500 autocomplete words per day
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, make a podcast, create a video lecture or infographic, build slides, make a mind map or study guide, or process a recording.
Ultimate
$144 billed yearly
Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited normal chat & autocomplete
- Unlimited premium model messages
- Unlimited AI creations
- Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)
- Unlimited study sessions
- Unlimited exams & quizzes
- 1000-page PDF to flashcards
- Export to Anki
- Priority support
Pricing in USD. Local currency available in app.
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What students say
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
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This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
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I am currently preparing for a test that covers a substantial amount of material, and I've found that not having to physically write out my flashcards has been incredibly beneficia...
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Scholarly is great for students. I am enrolled in online university and my classes are all PDF based. All I do is upload the PDF and it creates flashcards decks for me. The greate...
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Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with daily limits: AI Chat messages, 3 AI creations per day, research reports, file uploads, quizzes, practice exams, and manual flashcard creation. Upgrade to Ultimate when you want unlimited AI creations and higher limits.
What uses my daily AI creation?
Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, making a mind map or study guide, or processing a recording each use the same daily free AI creation allowance. AI Chat messages, uploads, quizzes, and exams have their own separate daily limits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Do you offer discounts for educators?
Yes, we offer special pricing for educators and educational institutions. Contact us at hello@scholarly.so for details.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new daily actions like AI Chat messages, uploads, quiz questions, and new AI creations. Limits reset every day.
For Educators or Schools
Contact us for special pricing at hello@scholarly.so.