Transcribe M4A to text, free, in your browser
Drop an M4A, a voice memo, a Zoom meeting's audio file or a recording from a Mac or a phone, and Burncaps writes down every word as a script. Click any word to correct it, then download a text file in paragraphs, or SRT or VTT subtitles. Text and subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
The file stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone, it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the file itself.
- Free, no sign-up
- Voice memos and Zoom audio
- Text, SRT or VTT
- Click any word to fix it
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
How to transcribe an M4A file
- Find the M4A: a voice memo saved to Files, the audio file in Zoom's recordings folder, or a recording someone sent you.
- Press Try it free above and choose it, or drag the file onto the box. It opens straight on its script, with no video player to wait for.
- Let it listen, then read the script and click any word to correct it; one click changes it everywhere it was heard. Type names, brands and jargon in Names to spell right and our AI spells them right in the script (only the text goes).
- Press Text for a .txt file in paragraphs, or SRT or VTT for subtitles. Tick Times in the Text file first if you want each paragraph to start with its time in the recording, like [00:01:23].
What is inside an M4A, and why it matters past ten minutes
An M4A is an MPEG-4 file with only sound in it: the same kind of file as an MP4 video, without the picture. The sound inside is most often AAC, which is compressed, and it can also be Apple Lossless. Up to ten minutes, any M4A your browser can play opens. Past ten minutes, Burncaps reads the file a piece at a time instead of holding it whole, and that reader takes AAC.
| Sound inside the M4A | Up to ten minutes | Over ten minutes, up to three hours |
|---|---|---|
| AAC | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Lossless | Yes, if your browser can play it | Turned away, with a note naming the files Burncaps reads: trim it to ten minutes, or save it as an MP3 or WAV |
You do not need to check first
Drop the file. If a long M4A holds sound Burncaps cannot read past ten minutes, the page says so and names the files it reads. Voice Memos on a Mac has an Audio Quality setting, "Compressed (for lower-quality, smaller files) or Lossless (for high-quality, larger files)" in Apple's words. Apple's page does not name the sound inside either, so if a long Lossless memo is turned away with that note, its sound is not AAC, and a trim to ten minutes or an MP3 or WAV copy will open.
Zoom's audio file to text
When a meeting is recorded on the computer (Zoom's free and paid accounts can, in the Zoom app for Windows, macOS or Linux), Zoom's help says the video is saved as video[number].mp4 and "the audio-only file (M4A) is named audio[number].m4a". By default the files go to Documents\Zoom on Windows and Documents/Zoom on a Mac. In the Zoom app you can also click Home, then Open recordings, then the Computer recordings tab, and choose View file location from a recording's menu.
Why Zoom's own transcript may not be there
Zoom's page lists audio transcription among the features computer recordings do not support, and sends you to cloud recording for it. So a meeting recorded to the computer has no Zoom audio transcript: drop the M4A here. Zoom's recording settings do offer "Save closed caption as a VTT file" for computer recordings; if that was on, look for that file first. Zoom's page also says a computer recording can include a separate audio track for each participant; if you saved those, transcribe each person's file on its own and you know who said what. A one-hour meeting is a long recording: its first ten minutes are free, and all of it is one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card), or with Captions + Clips or Captions.
Long M4A files: meetings, lectures and interviews
Up to ten minutes, an M4A's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free (the text then ends at the last pause before ten minutes), and all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial, or with Captions + Clips or Captions. A phone takes the same recordings as a computer.
How long it takes, and where the sound goes
On a 2020 MacBook with 8 GB of memory, 90 minutes of English were heard on the device in 8.8 minutes with WebGPU (5 October 2026); slower machines take longer. Our speech service is much quicker: before a recording over ten minutes is heard, a computer asks once which way to listen, each with its time, while your speech-service allowance covers it. The service gets short pieces of sound and passes them to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it; on a phone the sound goes there unless you keep it on the phone. Transcribe without uploading shows how to check every request yourself.
Got the MP4 too? Captions and clips
Captions burned into the picture and Clips work on a picture, so they need the video file, such as Zoom's video[number].mp4 of the same meeting. Drop the video and Burncaps makes a captioned video from its words in 60 styles, free for 2 videos every 30 days with no watermark. Or choose Clips, and Burncaps finds the best moments of a talk, webinar or interview and cuts each into a ranked, captioned 9:16 clip; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited. Transcribe video to text is the same job from the MP4.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
How do I convert an M4A to text for free?
Drop the M4A on this page, or press Try it free and choose it. Burncaps hears it and writes every word as a script; correct any word with a click, then press Text for a .txt file, or SRT or VTT for subtitles. Text and subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
What is an M4A file?
An MPEG-4 file with only sound in it: the same kind of file as an MP4 video, without the picture. The sound inside is most often AAC, which is compressed, and it can also be Apple Lossless.
Why will a long M4A not open?
Over ten minutes, Burncaps reads an M4A only when it has AAC sound inside. Past ten minutes, an M4A with other sound inside, such as Apple Lossless, is turned away with a note naming the files Burncaps reads; trim it to ten minutes, or save it as an MP3 or WAV.
Where does Zoom save its M4A audio file?
For a meeting recorded on the computer, Zoom's help says the audio-only file is named audio[number].m4a, beside the video[number].mp4, and that recordings go by default to Documents\Zoom on Windows and Documents/Zoom on a Mac (read 3 November 2026).
How long can the M4A be?
Up to ten minutes, a recording's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free, and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card) or on a paid plan.
Is my M4A uploaded?
The file itself stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone (short pieces of sound to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it).
Does it say who is speaking?
No. The Text file holds the words in paragraphs and does not name or label who is speaking. If you saved Zoom's separate audio track for each participant, transcribe each person's file on its own and you know who said what.
Where Zoom's and Apple's facts come from
Read on their own help pages on 3 November 2026, and rechecked monthly: Zoom Support, Starting a computer recording (updated 13 October 2025 by Zoom), Managing computer recordings (updated 26 February 2026) and Enabling or disabling computer recording (updated 15 October 2026); Apple's Export a Voice Memos recording to Files on iPhone and Change settings in Voice Memos on Mac.
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.