Does the output use kanji, hiragana, or both?

The model outputs the script that best matches what was spoken. Native Japanese words appear in their standard kanji/hiragana mix; loanwords appear in katakana. This matches how Japanese is normally written.

Can it transcribe anime and drama audio?

Yes, with caveats. Clean dialogue is well-handled. Overlapping dialogue, background music, and exaggerated emotional delivery (screaming, whispering) reduce accuracy — typical of any speech recognition system.

What about Osaka-ben (Kansai dialect)?

Strong Kansai dialect (大阪弁) will be transcribed as Standard Japanese in most cases. The meaning comes through, but regional flavor (e.g., "なんでやねん") may be normalized to standard equivalents ("なぜですか").

Transcribe Japanese Audio to Text — Free & Instant

Where Japanese audio transcription is used

Japanese business meetings, conferences, and earnings calls (large enterprise market)
Anime, drama, and YouTube content creator transcripts
University lectures and Japanese-language-learning material
Call center and customer support audio for Japan-market services

Challenges of transcribing Japanese audio

Three writing systems mixed in a single sentence (kanji, hiragana, katakana) — output scripts the system hears, which may not match authorial intent
Pitch-accent and minimal vowel reduction in casual speech make homophone errors (e.g., "橋" / "箸" / "端" all "hashi")
Honorifics and keigo (sonkeigo, kenjōgo, teineigo) are heard as plain speech in the audio — output reflects what was said, not the politeness level

Tips for best results

For business and formal content, the model handles keigo accurately as spoken. If you need written honorifics marked, that's a manual post-editing step
Katakana loanwords (e.g., "ビジネス", "テクノロジー") are transcribed in katakana as expected — no normalization to kanji
Long silences and filler words ("えーと", "あのー") are preserved in the output — useful for conversation analysis, less so for clean transcripts

Supported audio formats

Upload any audio file in mp3, mp4, wav, m4a, ogg, flac, webm format, up to 25 MB. Files are processed securely and never stored on our servers.

Frequently asked questions

Does the output use kanji, hiragana, or both?: The model outputs the script that best matches what was spoken. Native Japanese words appear in their standard kanji/hiragana mix; loanwords appear in katakana. This matches how Japanese is normally written.
Can it transcribe anime and drama audio?: Yes, with caveats. Clean dialogue is well-handled. Overlapping dialogue, background music, and exaggerated emotional delivery (screaming, whispering) reduce accuracy — typical of any speech recognition system.
What about Osaka-ben (Kansai dialect)?: Strong Kansai dialect (大阪弁) will be transcribed as Standard Japanese in most cases. The meaning comes through, but regional flavor (e.g., "なんでやねん") may be normalized to standard equivalents ("なぜですか").

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