Terms of use

What this service does

TranscriptWorks does two separate things, and they work differently enough that most of this page is about telling them apart.

Converting a subtitle file happens inside your browser. You choose a file, your browser reads it and writes the new one, and it is never sent to us.

Getting a transcript from a video uses our servers. You give us a link or an audio file, we fetch the captions or transcribe the audio, and we keep the result at its own address so you can come back to it.

TranscriptWorks never produces a video or audio file.

Files you convert

Conversion runs entirely in your browser. We do not receive the file, so we cannot store it, read it, or hand it to anyone — including if we were asked to.

This is a consequence of how the tool is built rather than a promise about our conduct, which is the only kind of privacy claim worth making.

What you may transcribe

Only content you own, or have permission to transcribe, or are otherwise entitled to transcribe under the law that applies to you. You are responsible for knowing which of those applies.

We do not check, and we are not in a position to. If you do not have the right to transcribe something, do not submit it here.

Transcripts we hold

A transcript is kept at its own address so the link keeps working. It is never listed on this site, never linked from anywhere, and never included in search — see removing a transcript.

The address is unguessable, but it is not a password. Anyone you send it to can read the transcript.

A transcript nobody opens for 90 days is deleted automatically. Opening it starts the 90 days again.

Limits

Converting subtitle files is free and unlimited. It costs us nothing, so there is nothing to meter.

Transcription has a daily limit in minutes, because it uses our servers. The number is shown before you start a job, never discovered afterwards.

We may change the limit. We will not charge you without asking first, and there is nothing on this site to buy today.

What we do not promise

Transcription is done by software and it makes mistakes, particularly with names, accents, overlapping speech and background noise. Check anything that matters before you rely on it.

We do not guarantee the service is available, and we may take it down or change it. If it is unavailable, your files are unaffected — conversion never depended on us, and a transcript you have already downloaded is yours.

Contact

A working contact address goes here before launch. This is the one item on this page that is not a drafting question: a site that holds transcripts needs a route for asking that one be removed, and that route has to exist on the day the first transcript does.