Swahili video to text
Drop in the video file without converting it: MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, AVI, 3GP or a screen recording from your phone. The audio is pulled out on our server, so every timestamp still points to the right moment in the video. If the video is online, choose Import from link and paste a public link from YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, Dropbox or Google Drive, or a direct link to the file; only the sound is downloaded.
The transcript opens beside the player, with the line being spoken highlighted. Click a line to replay it and correct it in place; edits are saved automatically.
Kenyan, Tanzanian and Sheng speech
Swahili is written in Latin script without diacritics, so spelling is straightforward, but the spoken language varies a lot. Tanzanian Swahili on news and in Bongo films tends to be closest to the standard and gives the cleanest drafts. Kenyan speakers, especially in Nairobi, mix in English and Sheng, the street slang that borrows from many languages; slang words are often misheard or written as the nearest standard word.
Code-switching with English is common in interviews, sermons and business videos. English sentences usually come out in English. Congolese and Ugandan Swahili are recognised with the same setting, with more corrections where local vocabulary differs.
Swahili videos people transcribe
Common uploads:
- Church services and sermons posted on YouTube, to share as text.
- News clips, political speeches and interviews, for quotes.
- Bongo film scenes, comedy skits and TikTok clips, for subtitles.
- Lectures, training videos and NGO workshops recorded in East Africa.
- Interviews filmed for research projects and field studies.
Swahili subtitles and exports
Export SRT or VTT to add Swahili subtitles on YouTube or in an editor such as Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or CapCut. Correct the text first; the subtitle file is cut from the edited transcript. DOCX and PDF suit reports and research appendices, and CSV gives each line with its start time, useful when coding interviews.
Accuracy and English
Swahili has less training data than the major European languages. Clear speech gives a usable draft that needs a careful read; sermons with loud music, crowds and fast Sheng need more work. Names of people and places are the usual errors. Speaker labels are available on paid plans and with a Minute Pack.
The transcript stays in Swahili; there is no built-in translation. To read it in English, open the Google Translate link on the transcript, or use the AI prompt export to hand the text to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. For audio-only recordings, see the Swahili audio to text page.