OpenAI Whisper: AI Tool

Whisper turns spoken audio into accurate written text. Upload an audio file URL and receive a clean transcription, with optional timestamped subtitle output (SRT or VTT) for video captioning, podcast transcripts, meeting notes, and voice-driven workflows.

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Overview

About this model

Whisper is a robust speech-to-text model that converts spoken audio into accurate written transcripts across dozens of languages. Submit an audio URL and receive a clean transcription, optional segment-level timestamps, or ready-to-use SRT/VTT subtitles, making it ideal for podcasts, meetings, video captioning, and any voice-driven workflow.

1Podcast Transcription: Turn long-form audio episodes into searchable, shareable text.
2Video Captioning: Generate SRT or VTT subtitle files for YouTube, TikTok, and Reels.
3Meeting Notes: Transcribe recorded calls and produce written minutes automatically.
4Content Repurposing: Convert spoken content into blog posts, articles, or social snippets.
5Voice Workflows: Power voice-controlled assistants, dictation tools, and accessibility features.
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Pricing & Value

Cost analysis

muapiapp$0.012 per minute

Pay only for the audio you transcribe, billed per minute with a 1-minute minimum.

Fal.aiNot available

Whisper is not offered as a managed endpoint on Fal.ai.

Replicate~$0.011 per minute

Pricing varies with the underlying GPU; muapiapp offers a flat, predictable per-minute rate.

* Competitor pricing is estimated based on similar model architectures and usage tiers.

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Technical Details

Configuration schema

Audio URLstring

URL of the audio file to transcribe. Supported formats: mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpga, m4a, wav, webm. File must be under 25 MB.

Default Valuehttps://d3adwkbyhxyrtq.cloudfront.net/ai-audio/sample.mp3
Languagestring

Optional ISO-639-1 language code of the input audio (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'hi'). Leave empty for automatic detection.

Default Valueen
Promptstring

Optional context to guide the model's style or to spell out unusual words and proper nouns. Should match the audio language.

Default ValueThe transcript is a podcast about AI startups.
Response FormatEnum (5 options)

Output format. 'json' / 'text' return plain transcripts, 'srt' / 'vtt' return timestamped subtitles, 'verbose_json' includes per-segment metadata.

Default Valuejson
Temperaturenumber

Sampling temperature between 0 and 1. Higher values make output more random; lower values make it more deterministic.

Default Value0
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Implementation Guide

Developer documentation

How to Use Whisper

  1. Provide an Audio URL

    • Pass a publicly accessible link to your audio file in audio_url. Supported formats include mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpga, m4a, wav, and webm. Files must be under 25 MB.
  2. Pick a Response Format

    • json / text return a plain transcript.
    • srt and vtt return timestamped subtitle files ready to drop into a video editor.
    • verbose_json exposes per-segment metadata (start, end, text, language).
  3. (Optional) Tune Recognition

    • Set language to an ISO-639-1 code (e.g. en, es, hi) to skip auto-detection and improve accuracy.
    • Use prompt to bias the transcription toward specific spelling, jargon, or style.
    • Adjust temperature (0.0 - 1.0) — lower is more deterministic, higher is more varied.
  4. Submit and Retrieve

    • Submit the request, then poll the prediction endpoint for the result. Billing is settled per minute of audio processed, so shorter clips cost less.

Common Questions

Frequently asked

What does this model do?

Whisper transcribes audio into written text. It supports many languages and can also produce timestamped subtitle formats.

Which audio formats are supported?

mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpga, m4a, wav, and webm. Each file must be under 25 MB.

How is pricing calculated?

Billing is based on the audio duration, rounded up to the next minute. A 1-minute minimum applies to every request.

Can I get subtitles instead of plain text?

Yes — set `response_format` to `srt` or `vtt` to receive a ready-to-use subtitle file with start and end timestamps for every segment.

Does it auto-detect language?

Yes. Leave the `language` field empty for auto-detection, or specify an ISO-639-1 code to lock the recognition to a known language for better accuracy.