Transcript With Timestamps: What They Are and How to Get One

A transcript with timestamps shows when each part was said, like [00:12:30], so you can go from a quote straight to that moment in the recording. Times can mark each subtitle line, paragraph or word. On TranscribTxt, SRT and VTT downloads are timed on every plan; a paid transcript adds a Word file with a mark on every paragraph.

Short answer: Upload the recording and download the SRT or VTT: every subtitle line gets a start and end time, on every plan, free included. For a time mark at the start of every paragraph, take the Word file; for the start and end of every word, take JSON. Both come with a paid transcript: one recording up to 3 hours is $2, paid once. The plain TXT has no times.

What timestamps in a transcript are

A timestamp ties a piece of text to the moment it was said. There are three kinds:

• Per subtitle line. Each short line, called a cue, has a start and an end time.
• Per paragraph. One mark, like [00:12:30], shows where the paragraph begins.
• Per word. Every word has its own start and end time.

With times, you can replay the right part of a lecture, check a quote against the audio before publishing, cut a video at the exact line, or keep the time next to each coded interview excerpt. Without them, finding one sentence in a long recording means scrubbing through the audio.

A plain-text transcript (TXT) has no times at all.

Timestamp formats: SRT, VTT, Word and JSON

SRT

SRT numbers its cues and writes times as hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds, with a comma before the milliseconds.

214
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,480
So the key point is that demand
dropped before prices did.

Video editors and players open SRT files, and YouTube Studio accepts them as subtitles.

VTT

VTT starts with the line WEBVTT and puts a dot before the milliseconds.

WEBVTT

00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.480
So the key point is that demand
dropped before prices did.

It has the same uses as SRT; our SRT vs VTT post explains the differences.

Word file

Our Word file (.docx) starts every paragraph with the time it begins in the recording.

[00:12:30] So the key point is that demand dropped before prices did. That's what the second chart shows, and it's why the forecast was wrong.

Handy for notes: the mark is plain text, so it stays with the paragraph when you copy it.

JSON

The JSON file lists every word with its start and end in seconds, plus the full text, the language and the duration. For example, "text": "So", "start": 750.12, "end": 750.30 means the word "So" starts 750.12 seconds in, which is 00:12:30 in the recording. Use it for a searchable archive, a research database or your own app. More in our JSON transcript explainer.

How to transcribe audio or video to text with timestamps

1. Drop the file into the uploader above. It takes audio and video such as MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM and AVI, up to 2 GB per file, and your first file needs no account.
2. The spoken language is detected automatically, from 99 languages. You'll see upload progress, then "Transcribing…", then the text and the download buttons. In October 2026, half of the uploaded files were transcribed in 14 seconds or less, and a 145-minute recording took 2 minutes 45 seconds. Times don't include uploading, which depends on your connection.
3. Download the SRT or VTT: every subtitle line gets a start and end time, on every plan, free included.
4. For paragraph marks (the Word file) or word times (JSON), use a paid transcript: one file up to 3 hours for $2, paid once; the $5 Week Pass (7 days, up to 25 hours of audio, never renews); or Pro at $10 a month. Compare them.
5. Longer than 30 minutes? The first 30 minutes come back free, with the same TXT, SRT and VTT downloads, so you can check the text and the times before you pay. The rest can be finished without uploading the file again. More on long recordings.

The transcript has no speaker labels, so add names as you review it. The uploaded file is deleted after processing; a free-preview upload is kept for up to 24 hours so you can finish the file.

How to jump to a moment or cite it

• In a media player. In VLC, choose Playback > Jump to Specific Time (Ctrl+T on Windows and Linux) and enter the hours, minutes and seconds.
• From a paragraph mark. The mark is where the paragraph's first words start, so begin a second or two earlier to hear the lead-in.
• On YouTube. To link a video at a moment, click Share, check Start at, enter the time (for example, 2:30) and copy the link.
• In APA style. A direct quote from a video or other audiovisual work takes a timestamp instead of a page number, for example (Yates, 2019, 1:14). Interviews you ran yourself follow different rules, covered in our guide to citing interviews.
• Before you publish. Play the recording from the mark and check the words. AI transcripts still get some words wrong, most often names and numbers.

Transcripts with timestamps compared (Oct 2026)

Where the times sit, and who gets them:

Competitor details were checked on October 31, 2026 from the pages linked in the table and may have changed since. We are TranscribTxt (RESTART AI LLC) and are not affiliated with the companies named. Trademarks belong to their owners. Found an error? Write to support@transcribtxt.com and we will check and fix it.

Word's Transcribe (checked Oct 31, 2026) needs a Microsoft 365 subscription and covers 300 minutes of uploaded audio a month. Its timestamps play the audio inside the Transcribe pane; Microsoft doesn't say whether they come along when you add the transcript to the document. See our post on whether Word can transcribe audio.

Otter.ai (checked Oct 31, 2026) exports MP3 and TXT on the free Basic plan; Pro and Business add PDF, DOCX and SRT. Its pricing page lists "editable time codes" as a plan feature (check the plan columns) and doesn't say whether a TXT export keeps the times. See our Otter.ai pricing breakdown.

YouTube's automatic captions (checked Oct 31, 2026) are free, but YouTube says their quality may vary and some videos don't get them, for example when the language isn't supported or the sound is poor. See our YouTube transcript guide.

Turn an SRT or VTT file into text, with or without times

Two free tools on TranscribTxt run in your browser: no account, and the file is never uploaded.

• The SRT to text tool turns an SRT or VTT file (ours, or a VTT from Zoom or Teams) into plain text. Cue numbers and times are removed by default. Turn on Keep timestamps and each subtitle gets its own line, starting with its time, like [00:01:23].
• The SRT/VTT converter turns SRT into VTT or VTT into SRT and keeps every cue's exact time.

Which timestamps you need for lectures, interviews and video

• Lecture notes and study: the Word file's paragraph marks. See our lecture transcription guide.
• Interview quotes and research coding: the Word file, or the SRT if you're on the free plan. See our interview transcription guide.
• Subtitles or a video edit: SRT or VTT, from the subtitle generator.
• A searchable archive or your own app: JSON.

Either way, start by uploading the recording and checking the times in the free SRT; the Word file and JSON are there when you need more.