You have audio. You want the words from it as text. Drop an MP3, WAV, M4A or any common audio format into the converter and get clean plain-text transcription back. Useful when the downstream consumer is a script, a search index, or any tool that wants flat UTF-8 strings rather than structured Markdown. For AI input where structure helps, use the Markdown variant.
How "Audio to Text" actually works here
Every audio file goes through the same Whisper-class speech recognition pipeline as our Markdown converter, but the structural formatting (H2 sections, timestamps) is stripped at the end. Output is flat plain text — paragraphs separated by blank lines, no other structural markers. Copy-paste-ready, search-indexable, ready for any tool that wants UTF-8 string input.
Format support
MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AAC, WebM, AMR — basically every common audio container. File size limit on the free tier is generous enough for typical podcast episodes and interviews; Pro tier handles multi-hour recordings without splits. Audio quality matters more than format: a 64kbps MP3 transcribes just as accurately as a 320kbps version for speech content.
Single file workflow
Paste the file in, click convert, get the text back. For batch transcription of large back-catalogues (hundreds of files), use openai-whisper or faster-whisper locally — same model class, MIT-licensed, runs on CPU or GPU, processes hundreds of hours overnight. mdisbetter's web tool is the right choice for one-at-a-time conversions where the per-file workflow is acceptable.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Audio to Text and Audio to Markdown?
Audio to Text gives you flat UTF-8: paragraphs, no headings, no timestamps in the output. Audio to Markdown splits at topic shifts as ## H2 sections, keeps punctuation and paragraphing, and embeds timestamps inline. Neither identifies speakers. Use Text for plain-text scripts, search indexing, or NLP pipelines that don't need structure; use Markdown when structure matters (AI input, show notes, interview transcripts).
How accurate is the transcription?
92-97% word accuracy on clean recordings (single mic, native or fluent English speaker, quiet background). Phone-quality audio, accented speech, or noisy environments see 5-15% lower accuracy. Same Whisper-class model as the major commercial transcription services, including the OSS Whisper that everyone uses.
What audio formats work?
MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AAC, WebM, AMR — every common container. The audio is auto-converted to the format the speech recogniser needs internally. Format choice doesn't affect accuracy; bitrate and recording quality do.
Is there a length limit?
Free tier handles typical podcast episodes and interviews (up to ~60 minutes per file). Pro handles multi-hour recordings without splits. For files much longer than 60 minutes on free tier, split before upload (Audacity, ffmpeg, any audio editor handles this in under a minute).
Free Audio to Text vs paid services — what's the catch?
No catch — our free tier covers most personal use. The catch with "free transcription" elsewhere is usually watermarks, mandatory account creation that hands your email to a marketing pipeline, output truncated to N minutes with "go pro for the rest" walls, or quietly uploading your audio to a training dataset. We don't do any of those. Audio is processed in memory and deleted immediately after conversion.
Your AI doesn't read PDFs directly. It first has to extract the text, decode the layout, ignore the metadata — before it can even start answering. A Markdown file removes all of those steps. Your AI reads it instantly. So you get faster responses, more accurate results, and zero information lost along the way.
Size-wise, it's 100 to 500 times lighter for the same content. A 15 MB PDF becomes a 30 KB .md file. So your AI knowledge base can hold hundreds of documents instead of a handful.
MDisBetter brings 19 free tools together for that — documents, videos, audio, web pages and prompts.
How does it work?
Drop a PDF, a video, an audio file or a URL. MDisBetter extracts the content and gives you a clean Markdown file. So you can send it to your AI, add it to your project files, or store it in your knowledge base — without losing anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert a PDF to Markdown for free?
Upload your PDF to MDisBetter, click Convert, and get structured Markdown in seconds. No signup, no installation — it works directly in your browser. The free plan includes 50 credits per month.
Why is Markdown better than PDF for AI?
Markdown reduces token usage by up to 95% compared to PDF. AI models like ChatGPT and Claude process Markdown far more efficiently because it contains only content structure — no fonts, no layout data, no binary overhead.
What file types can MDisBetter convert?
MDisBetter converts PDF, Word (.docx), plain text, YouTube videos (transcript), audio files (MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC, WEBM), and any web page URL to clean Markdown.
Is MDisBetter free?
Yes, free to start. The free plan includes 50 credits per month. All processing happens securely — your files are never stored.
Can I extract a YouTube transcript as Markdown?
Yes. Paste the YouTube video URL, click Convert, and get the full transcript structured as Markdown with headings and timestamps. Perfect for feeding video content to AI tools.
PDF → Markdown
Faithful and structured conversion of your documents
Text to MD, EPUB to MD, MD to PDF, MD Cleaner, Merger, Chunker, Token Counter, Context Builder
Free
—
Word to MD
0.5 credit
per page
Excel to MD
0.5 credit
per conversion
Single URL Scrape
0.5 credit
per call
Site Crawl
1 credit
per page
Translate
1 credit
per 10 000 chars (min 1, free re-translation on cache hit)
Prompt Optimizer
1 credit
per call
System Prompt Generator
1 credit
per call
Audio to MD
2 credits
per minute
Video to MD
2 credits
per minute
YouTube to MD
2 credits
per minute
Image OCR
4 credits
per image (0 on cache hit)
PDF to MD
4 credits
per page
PPTX to MD
4 credits
per slide
Questions
Yes! You get 50 credits every month to use any tool. Basic tools like MD Cleaner or Token Counter cost just 0.5 credit per use. When you run out, credits reset the next month or you can upgrade for more.
Wait for your monthly reset or upgrade to a higher plan. Credits renew on your billing date each month.
Yes, cancel anytime with one click. No questions asked. You keep access until the end of your billing period.
Pro gives you 30,000 credits for $29 — that's 30x more credits than Starter for just 3x the price. Every credit costs less, so you get far more value per dollar.