Lecture Transcription

Lecture transcription that turns into study material

Upload a recording or capture class live. Scholarly transcribes the full lecture — timestamped, searchable, with speaker turns — then builds notes, flashcards, and quizzes from the exact words your professor said.

Explore lecture recordings

Free to start · No credit card · 70+ languages

Updated June 2026

Used by 150,000+ students worldwide
Quick answer

How do you transcribe a lecture?

Upload the lecture audio (MP3, M4A, WAV, or a video file) to Scholarly, or record the class live in your browser. Scholarly transcribes the recording into searchable, timestamped text — a 90-minute lecture is usually ready in a few minutes — and keeps the transcript attached to the recording so you can generate notes, flashcards, and quizzes from it without re-uploading anything.

  1. 1Add the audio: upload a file or press record in Scholarly.
  2. 2Scholarly transcribes the lecture into timestamped, searchable text.
  3. 3Search the transcript to find any term, example, or explanation in seconds.
  4. 4Generate structured notes, flashcards, or a practice quiz directly from the transcript.
How it works

From lecture audio to transcript to study tools

Three steps, one workspace — no copying text between apps.

01

Upload or record

Drop in an existing recording — MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM, or OGG, plus video files like MP4 — or record the lecture live in Scholarly on a laptop or phone.

02

Get the transcript

Scholarly turns the audio into clean, timestamped text and separates speaker turns, so a student's question doesn't blur into the professor's answer. Full 3-hour lectures are fine.

03

Study from it

Generate structured notes, spaced-repetition flashcards, or a practice quiz from the transcript — and ask the AI chat questions that cite the exact lecture passage they came from.

What's supported

Formats, length, and languages

Audio and video formats

MP3, M4A (iPhone voice memos), WAV, WebM, and OGG upload directly. Video files such as MP4 and recorded Zoom sessions work too — Scholarly transcribes the audio track.

Lecture length

Full-length classes are fine, including 2–3 hour seminars. Longer recordings simply take a little more time to process — you can keep working while they finish.

70+ languages

Transcription works in 70+ languages, and you can ask for the notes, summary, or flashcards in a different language than the one the lecture was taught in.

What you get back

A searchable, timestamped transcript attached to the recording — plus everything you build from it: structured notes, summaries, flashcards, quizzes, and cited chat answers.

Deep dive

How accurate is AI lecture transcription?

With clear audio, modern AI transcription is accurate enough to study from without re-listening — including most course terminology, because the underlying models are trained on enormous amounts of academic language.

Accuracy drops in predictable situations: the microphone is far from the speaker, several people talk over each other, or the lecture leans heavily on spoken math ("x sub n plus one") that has no clean text form. Sitting closer to the front, or recording near the speaker, fixes most of it. And because every line of the transcript is timestamped, checking a suspicious term against the original audio takes seconds — you're never guessing what was actually said.

Why transcribe lectures at all?

A 90-minute lecture contains roughly 10,000 spoken words, and the three sentences you need before the exam are buried somewhere inside them. A transcript makes the lecture searchable: type the term, jump to the timestamp, and re-read exactly how your professor explained it — including the example they used that never made it into the slides.

In Scholarly the transcript is also a source, not just a text file. The AI chat answers questions using the lecture itself and cites the passage it pulled from, so "what did she say about boundary conditions?" gets answered from your actual class, not from the internet's general idea of the topic.

What's the difference between lecture transcription and AI lecture notes?

Transcription is the verbatim record — every sentence, in order, with timestamps. Notes are the condensed, reorganized version: headings, definitions, examples, and takeaways. You want both: the notes for review, the transcript for verification and search when a detail matters. Scholarly produces both from one recording, so you never have to choose between them or run the audio through two separate tools.

Can I transcribe a lecture from a video or YouTube?

Yes. Upload the video file directly and Scholarly transcribes its audio track. If the lecture is on YouTube, you don't even need to download it — paste the link into YouTube to Notes and Scholarly pulls the transcript and builds structured notes from it.

FAQ

Lecture transcription FAQ

Can I transcribe recorded lectures?

Yes. Upload the recording — MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM, OGG, or a video file like MP4 — and Scholarly generates a timestamped transcript, usually within a few minutes for a typical lecture.

Can I transcribe live lectures as they happen?

Yes. Use Scholarly's built-in lecture recorder to capture class audio from a laptop or phone; the transcript is generated as soon as you stop recording. Check your school's recording policy and ask your professor first where required.

How long can the lecture be?

Full 2–3 hour lectures and seminars work fine. Longer files take a bit more processing time, but you don't need to split the recording yourself.

Does the transcript have timestamps and speaker turns?

Yes. Every section of the transcript is timestamped so you can jump back to the original audio, and speaker turns are separated so questions from the class don't get merged into the lecturer's explanation.

Can I search the transcript?

Yes. The transcript is fully searchable — find a term, formula, or example without scrubbing through the recording. You can also ask the AI chat about the lecture and get answers that cite the exact passage.

Can the transcript become flashcards or a quiz?

Yes. From the same recording you can generate structured notes, spaced-repetition flashcards, practice quizzes, and summaries — all grounded in what was actually said in class.

What languages does lecture transcription support?

Scholarly transcribes lectures in 70+ languages. You can also generate the notes or flashcards in a different language than the lecture — useful if you study in your second language.

Is lecture transcription free?

Scholarly is free to start with no credit card required, including lecture transcription. Paid plans (from about $12/month) raise the limits for longer files and more uploads per day.

Pricing

Transcribe your next lecture

Free to start. Upload a recording or capture class live, then turn the transcript into notes, flashcards, and quizzes — all in one workspace.

Explore lecture recordings
Save 60% with annual

Free

$0/month
  • 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.

Most Popular

Ultimate

$12/month

$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.

Compare plans

Feature

Free

Ultimate

Normal chat

3/day

Unlimited

Premium chat

Unlimited

AI creations

3/day total

Unlimited

Video lectures

Uses AI creations

Unlimited

File uploads

1/day (8MB)

Unlimited (300MB)

PDF to flashcards

32 pages

1000 pages

Practice questions

5/day

Unlimited

Practice exams

1/day

Unlimited

Voice mode

15 min/day

1 hr/day

Autocomplete

500 words/day

Unlimited

Export to Anki

Included

Support

Standard

Priority

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.

Briana

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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.

Kelvin

Kelvin

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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...

Isabelle

Isabelle

Student

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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Alexandra

Student

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.