Which audio and video formats can Dictop transcribe and export?

Quick answer — November 3, 2026: Dictop imports audio and video recordings on Mac and through sharing on iPhone and iPad. Start with a common MP3, M4A or WAV recording; on Mac, you can also import MP4, MOV, M4V and AVI videos. Your recording needs readable audio and a compatible speech model. Results are text you can copy or share. Automatic speaker labels, a timed transcript and SRT/VTT subtitle export are not available in this workflow.

Choose Dictop when you want a recording turned into editable text for notes, a draft or a document. Before importing an interview or video, check both the input and the output you need: recognizing speech and producing ready-to-use subtitles are different jobs.

Which files can you bring in?

Start with the recording you already have. Two files with the same extension can contain differently encoded audio, so try one representative file with your chosen model before processing a collection. Being able to select or share a file does not guarantee that its audio can be read.

Recording or requirement	What to expect
MP3, M4A or WAV	Good starting choices for a voice recording. If one fails, check that the file contains readable speech and try exporting a fresh copy.
MP4, MOV, M4V or AVI on Mac	Dictop extracts the first audio track into a temporary M4A file before transcription. The audio track must be readable.
AAC, AIFF/AIFC, AC3 or FLAC on iPhone or iPad	Try sharing the recording to Dictop. Its audio must be readable for conversion and transcription; some encodings may need conversion in another app first.
A video without an audio track	Cannot provide speech for transcription.
A video with several audio tracks	On Mac, extraction uses the first audio track. Prepare a separate audio file if you need another track.

Changing a filename extension does not convert the recording. If import fails, export the spoken audio as a conventional WAV or M4A recording from an application that can read the source, then try that file.

Select the speech model and language before importing. File compatibility can differ between local Whisper, local Parakeet and cloud speech models, so repeat your sample check if you change models. Cloud processing also needs a connection and available cloud time.

What differs between Mac and iOS?

On Mac, use drag and drop or Finder’s Transcribe with dictop Services action. File results are not pasted automatically. Enable Save transcriptions, plus Save while searching or editing if applicable, so the result remains available. The file transcription walkthrough covers those steps.

On iPhone and iPad, share a recording to Transcribe with Dictop. Shared audio is converted to mono, 16 kHz WAV when possible. If conversion fails, Dictop tries the original file, which may still fail during transcription.

Send up to ten files at a time on mobile; only the first ten are processed. Each incoming file must be at most 100 MB (100,000,000 bytes). For shared recordings, this limit applies after attempted conversion. A compressed recording can expand into a WAV above the limit even when its original file is smaller. If that happens, divide the recording into shorter files and share those.

Successful mobile batch transcripts are saved to history automatically. On Mac, file transcription follows the history settings described above.

Which transcript outputs are available?

Copy and Share send transcript text. In the note editor, choose Original, Replaced or LLM when those versions are available; the selected version determines the shared text. Mobile history’s quick Copy/Share actions use the latest available processed version. See searching and reusing history.

To create a TXT, Word or PDF document, copy the transcript into a document editor and save it in the format you need. Dictop shares text rather than offering a document export menu.

Dictop does not automatically label speakers or provide word-by-word or passage timestamps in saved notes. A note’s creation date and duration do not give you timed captions. SRT and VTT subtitle exports are not available. Dictop still gives you editable text to review and reuse in notes, drafts and documents. Review the original transcript before applying a summary, and keep the source recording separately for checking names, numbers and unclear passages.