MP4 is the everyone-format for video: phone recordings, exported edits, screen captures, Zoom recordings, downloaded YouTube videos. When the MP4 contains spoken word and you want the text out of it, MP4-to-text is the job. Upload your MP4, audio is auto-extracted and transcribed, download the text file. Works on any MP4 — resolution, bitrate, codec, length all auto-handled.
Why MP4 specifically
MP4 is the most-searched-for video format because it's what virtually every modern recording tool defaults to. iPhone and Android camera apps record MP4. Zoom Cloud Recording exports MP4. Most screen recorders default to MP4. Exported edits from Final Cut, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve all output MP4 by default. "MP4 to text" is the dominant search query for the video transcription job; we make sure the workflow is explicit for that format. Other formats (MOV, MKV, WebM) all transcribe identically through the same pipeline.
How it works
Upload your MP4 file. Audio is auto-extracted (the video stream is ignored — speech recognition only operates on audio). The audio is processed through Whisper-class speech recognition. Output is plain UTF-8 text with paragraph breaks. Free tier handles MP4s up to ~60 minutes; Pro handles multi-hour MP4s in one pass.
For other video formats
MOV (QuickTime), MKV (Matroska), WebM, AVI, WMV, FLV all work the same way through the Video to Text tool. If your file isn't MP4 specifically, just use that one — same engine, same output, no quality difference. For unusual formats, convert to MP4 first with ffmpeg one-liner: ffmpeg -i input.weirdformat output.mp4.
Frequently asked questions
What MP4 codecs work?
All of them — H.264, H.265 (HEVC), VP9, AV1, even older codecs. The video codec is irrelevant for transcription since speech recognition operates entirely on the audio track. The audio codec inside the MP4 (AAC, MP3, AC3, etc.) is also auto-handled. You don't need to re-encode the MP4 before upload regardless of how it was originally produced.
Is there a length limit on MP4 transcription?
Free tier handles MP4s up to ~60 minutes. Pro handles multi-hour MP4s in a single pass. For longer files on free tier, either upgrade to Pro or split with any video editor (ffmpeg one-liner: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -t 1800 -c copy first_30min.mp4 takes the first 30 minutes). Quality and accuracy don't change with length.
How accurate is MP4 transcription?
92-97% on clean recordings (single mic, native or fluent speaker, quiet room). Lower on phone-shot video where the camera mic is far from speakers (85-92%) or noisy backgrounds (70-85%). Same Whisper-class model accuracy as audio-only — MP4 doesn't hurt the recognition. For challenging MP4 audio, extract just the audio first (ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec mp3 audio.mp3), run cleanup (Adobe Podcast Enhance, Krisp, Auphonic), then upload the cleaned audio.
Can I transcribe screen recordings (e.g., OBS, QuickTime, screen captures)?
Yes — screen recordings export as MP4 and work identically. Async screen-recorder exports, OBS captures, QuickTime screen recordings, Windows Game Bar captures, all transcribe the spoken voiceover. The visual screen content is ignored (the speech recognition doesn't do OCR on the screen) — only the spoken voiceover is captured. For the verbal commentary on a screen recording, this is exactly what you want.
What about MOV / MKV / WebM files?
All work identically through the same pipeline — see Video to Text for the format-agnostic page. There's no quality difference between MP4 and other video formats for speech transcription; the choice of video container affects file size and editing workflow more than transcription accuracy. For obscure formats, convert to MP4 first with ffmpeg.
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
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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.