Long Italian recordings to text, from sbobinatura to tesi interviews
Upload an Italian audio or video file of up to 6 hours, such as a lecture you would otherwise sbobinare by hand, a thesis interview or a long meeting, and get every word written out with a timestamp at each paragraph. Recordings of up to 15 minutes are free in full. For a longer file the first part is free and the whole recording is $5, one payment.
- Accented letters à è é ì ò ù kept, elisions like l'ho and dell'anno written normally
- Regional accents from Milan to Palermo written in standard Italian spelling
- Neapolitan, Sicilian and other local languages are not separate entries
- Optional English translation under each Italian paragraph
- One payment of $5 for up to 6 hours; 12 hours with Unlimited
Real output from a demo recording. Click a timestamp to see where it sits in the audio.
Sbobinatura without the hours of typing
Italian students know the sbobinatura: typing out a recorded lezione word for word, often split among classmates. A two-hour lecture takes many hours by hand. Upload the recording and the whole lecture comes back as text, with a timestamp at each paragraph so you can replay a passage the professor went through quickly. Edit it on screen, then download Word or PDF to share with the group.
If you want notes and study cards as well as the text, the Lecture Recording to Notes tool builds them from the same full transcript.
Interviews for a tesi di laurea
Qualitative interviews for a tesi triennale or magistrale have to be transcribed in full for the appendix. The transcript starts a new paragraph labeled "Speaker 1:" or "Speaker 2:" when the speaker clearly changes; rename them to Intervistatore and Intervistato with Find and replace. On long interviews, speaker numbers are assigned per block of about ten minutes and can swap later in the file, so read through once before renaming. If the thesis is in English, or your relatore wants an English version, choose English under "Also translate".
Accents, dialects and what happens to them
Regional Italian, the way a Roman, a Milanese or a Sicilian speaks the standard language, is written in normal Italian spelling with its regional words kept. Local languages and dialects are another matter. Neapolitan, Sicilian, Venetian, Sardinian and Friulian are not entries in the language list. When a speaker slips into dialect, those words may be written as heard, pushed toward Italian or marked [inaudible]. A family recording of a grandmother speaking mostly Calabrese will be harder than a lecture; check the free first part before paying.
Swiss Italian from Ticino and Italian spoken by families in the US, Argentina, Australia or Germany use the same setting, Italian. English or Spanish words mixed in are written in their own language.
Common long Italian recordings
- Lezioni and seminars recorded on a phone or exported from Teams
- Interviews and focus groups for a tesi or a dottorato
- Condominium and company meetings that need a written verbale
- Family recordings and stories from grandparents abroad
How the tool works, what it costs and how your files are handled is on the Long Audio & Video to Text page; prices for every tool are on the pricing page.
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Questions and answers
Can ChatGPT do a sbobinatura of a two-hour lecture?
For a few minutes of clear audio it can help. A two-hour lecture tends to exceed the audio limit of chat assistants or come back shortened, without reliable timestamps. This tool transcribes every part of the file and joins the parts in order.
Does it work for Neapolitan or Sicilian?
They are not entries in the language list. With Italian selected, dialect passages may be written as heard or marked [inaudible], so check the free first part.
What does a full lecture cost?
$5, paid once, for a recording of up to 6 hours. Recordings of up to 15 minutes are free in full. Unlimited costs $19 a week; cancel any time.
Can I download it as Word?
Yes. Word, PDF and TXT downloads include your edits, and SRT or VTT are there if you want subtitles for a video.
Is my recording private?
Only you can see it. It goes to an AI model provider just for transcription and is not used to train models. Without an account, a job is deleted after 7 days; you can delete it yourself before then.