Getting a French video into text
Upload the video file as it is: MP4, MOV, M4V, WEBM, MKV, AVI or a phone screen recording. There is no need to convert it to audio first; the sound is taken out on our side and the timestamps stay aligned with the original video. If the video is on YouTube or TikTok, choose Import from link and paste the public link instead, and only the audio is fetched.
The transcript opens next to a player. Click any sentence to hear it and fix it in place. That matters in French, where liaisons and elisions make some words easy to mishear.
France, Québec, Belgium and Africa
French from France, Québec, Belgium, Switzerland and West or North Africa all transcribe in standard French spelling; there is no regional setting. Québécois expressions and strong joual, or slang from French rap and street interviews, may be written as the nearest standard words, so check those lines.
Homophones are the main thing to read for: a, à; ces, ses; et, est; and past participles whose agreement you hear only in writing. The model usually picks the right form from context, but a quick read with the player running catches the rest.
French videos people transcribe
Common uploads:
- Cours magistraux and recorded webinars, for notes and revision sheets.
- Interviews filmed for a mémoire, a thesis or a report.
- YouTube, TikTok and Instagram videos, for French subtitles and a written version.
- Recorded Teams and Zoom meetings, for a compte rendu.
- Videos in French watched by learners who want the text alongside.
French subtitles (sous-titres) and exports
Export SRT or VTT to add French subtitles in YouTube Studio, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or CapCut; accents and ç are kept. French typography puts a space before ? ! : and ; and the transcript may not, so if your channel or client follows those rules, apply them while editing.
DOCX and PDF suit a compte rendu or an appendix, TXT pastes anywhere, and CSV gives one row per line with its time for research coding.
Accuracy and English
A clear voice with a decent microphone gives a draft that needs only light edits. Music, crosstalk and distant speakers lower the accuracy, and names are the usual errors. Speaker labels are available on paid plans and with a Minute Pack.
The transcript stays in French. To read it in English, use the Google Translate link on the transcript or the AI prompt export with ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. For audio-only recordings, see the French audio to text page.