We charge an additional $0.25 per minute for timestamps and an additional $0.25 per minute for verbatim transcription. In extreme cases where the audio is very difficult to understand, we may need to apply a surcharge of up to $1.00 per audio minute. These additional charges are detailed on our pricing page.

Absolutely. We guarantee accuracy of 99% or better, and we also offer a satisfaction guarantee. If we can’t make you happy, we’ll refund for money

Our international customer base ranges from Fortune 500 companies to boutique businesses and individuals, and it includes the following industries and applications

Insurance and Legal

Depositions

Hearings

Recorded statements

General Business

Interviews

Business meetings and conference calls

Recorded phone calls for quality assurance

Seminars and webcasts

Keynote speeches

Financial earnings calls

General dictation

Marketing and Advertising

Video transcription for SEO purposes

Promotional videos for products and services

Market research and focus groups

Product research and usability sessions

Customer satisfaction surveys/interviews

Education/Academia

Online courses and educational videos

University lectures

Research projects/interviews

Social Media

YouTube

Facebook

Podcasts

Sermon transcription

News and Entertainment

Streaming video services (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Video, etc.)

Documentaries

Talk shows

Reality shows

Dictation

General

Letters

Books

Our advertised pricing includes up to four speakers. If there are more than four speakers that must be individually identified, we’ll need to charge extra. The additional charge will be $0.50/minute or higher depending on the number of speakers and nature of the conversation.

Our pricing assumes that the audio is clear and understandable, without too much background noise or crosstalk. If this isn’t the case, we’ll do our best to get it done for you in the time frame you requested, but we may let you know that we need additional time to complete the job. In extreme cases, we may need to charge an additional $1.00/audio minute. In either situation, we’ll give you the option of canceling the order for a full refund.

Yes. Please see our foreign languages page for details.

Yes. Please see our foreign languages page for details.

The following volume discounts are available to customers who have ordered and paid standard rates for at least 15 hours of transcription in any given year, and then continue to submit at least 10 hours of transcription per month.

Turnaround Time Transcription Standard Captions Premium Captions 4 days $0.95/min $1.40/min $3.50/min 72 hour $1.15/min AllTranscriptions 48 hour $1.40/min $2.25/min 24 hour $2.75/min Standard additional rates apply for add-ons such as time stamping or verbatim transcription.

Customers who meet the initial trigger (15 hours prior orders) qualify to have pricing adjusted to the rates shown above. This pricing will apply for the next month, and will continue to stay in place as long as at least 10 hours are ordered per month. If volume falls below 10 hours in any given month, pricing returns to standard levels for the next month. Discount pricing can then be reinstated after at least 10 hours are ordered in any given month. Please contact us for discount pricing if you believe you meet the requirements outlined above. Enrollment in the discount pricing program is not automatic.

Yes. Please contact us for details.

You can trust us with your sensitive data. In order to comply with security requirements of our major customers in the insurance and legal sectors, AllTranscriptions has developed a comprehensive set of policies and procedures governing the protection of private customer data. Please see our Security Pledge for more details.

We accept most common web video formats, including MPEG (.mpg, .mpeg), MPEG-4 (.mp4), Flash (.flv), QuickTime (.mov), Windows Media Video (.wmv), Audio Video Interleave (.avi), HD Digital Video (.mts), Blu-ray (.m2ts), DVD Video Object (.vob), and RealVideo (.rm). Other supported formats include .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, and .webm.

A low-resolution or even a proof version of your video is fine. Our captioners only need to see enough detail to disambiguate the dialogue. In fact, we transcode high-resolution videos down to low-resolution to make them easier to work with in our captioning console. Providing lower resolution versions of your videos will also decrease your upload time, which could be significant depending on the speed of your internet connection.

There is one exception, however. If you are requesting open captions as part of our Premium Captions service, you’ll want to upload a video with resolution at least as high as what you want to receive back from us. We use the video you upload to us as the source, and overlay captions on top of that. The resulting video will be the same resolution as the original video you uploaded to us.

You’ll receive caption files that can be downloaded in any of the industry-standard formats. You’ll also receive a transcript which can be published alongside your video for SEO purposes. If you ordered premium captions, you’ll also have the option of receiving your original video back with burned-in captions (aka open captions).

Yes, you’ll be able to download a transcript at no additional charge. Video transcripts can improve your SEO and help attract visitors to your website. Publish the transcript alongside the video, and every spoken phrase is instantly searchable on the web.

We provide all the the industry-standard formats:

SRT (SubRip Text) DFXP (Distribution Format Exchange Profile) TTML (Timed Text Markup Language) SMPTE-TT (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Timed Text) WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) SCC (Scenarist Closed Captions) ASS (Advanced SubStation Alpha) For Premium Captions, we also offer burned-in, or open captions. That is, you’ll have the option of receiving your original video back with “always on” captions that have been added permanently to the video.

If your project requires a specialized caption format not listed above, please contact us, and we’d be happy to discuss it with you.

Yes. Please contact us, about your special requirements.

Yes. We offer burned-in captions, also known as open captions, at no additional charge when you order Premium Captions. Before placing your order, you’ll need to contact us to advise that you want open captions and work out the presentation and encoding details.

If all you want to do is view the captions on top of the video as it is playing, the best way to do this is to use VLC, a very popular cross-platform free video player. As long as the caption file is in the same folder as the video and has the same base name (without the extension), it should play automatically. Otherwise, just select “Add Subtitle File…” from the “Subtitle” menu on the main toolbar. As part of our Premium Captions service, you’ll have access to our web-based captions viewer

Most caption files formats are plain text, so you can open and edit them in any text editor (e.g. Windows Notepad). You could also use one of the many free caption/subtitle editors, such as Subtitle Edit or Subtitle Workshop. Some caption formats, such as SCC or XML-based formats are more technical in nature, and therefore more difficult for the average person to work with in a text editor. For those cases, you’d be better off using a caption/subtitle editor.

This depends on the platform you are using to host your video. Each platform has its own instructions for uploading captions. The first step is to find those instructions to understand what formats the platform accepts. Then, log into your AllTranscriptions account, and download one of the supported formats. For your convenience, here are some links to caption upload instructions for the more popular video platforms:

Youtube

Facebook

Vimeo

Brightcove

Google Drive

If you are hosting videos on your own website, how you integrate captions will depend on the video player your developers are using. The HTML5

Yes. We charge $1.00/minute to turn your transcript into Standard Captions. The price includes an edit pass of the transcript, and you’ll be able to download caption files in any of our supported formats.

Short Answer Yes.

Long Answer The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required that video programming distributors (television, cable, and satellite service providers) dramatically increase the availability of closed captions. Specifically, the act required that by January 1, 2012, all new non-exempt English and Spanish video programming include closed captions. Furthermore, it required that 75% of all pre-rule non-exempt English and Spanish video programming include closed captions. These requirements were later expanded by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which was signed into law on October 8, 2010. The CVAA is a comprehensive update to federal communications law with the goal making modern communication systems more accessible to people with disabilities. More specifically, the CVAA makes sure that 20th-century accessibility laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are brought up to date with the digital, broadband and mobile innovations of the 21st century. The Act authorizes and requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce a wide range of regulations to make advanced communications services and video programming more accessible. Title II of the act specifically addresses closed captioning requirements. In particular, it requires that video programming that is closed-captioned on TV to also be closed-caption when distributed over the Internet. On March 31, 2014, the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) issued Document FCC-14-12, a report, order, and declaratory ruling aimed at improving the quality of closed captions for the deaf and hard of hearing. In part, the order set quality standards for the accuracy, synchronicity (timing), completeness, and placement of captions. Taken together, these above acts and regulations require that nearly all broadcast TV content re-broadcast internet videos to include high-quality closed captions. AllTranscriptions's Premium Captions satisfy all of these requirements. In particular, they satisfy the following quality standards detailed in FCC Document FCC-14-12: Accuracy: Captions must reflect the dialogue and other sounds and music in the audio track to the fullest extent possible based on the type of the programming, and must identify the speakers. Synchronicity: Captions must coincide with their corresponding dialogue and other sounds to the fullest extent possible based on the type of the programming, and must appear at a speed that can be read by viewers. Program Completeness: Captions must run from the beginning to the end of the program, to the fullest extent possible, based on the type of the programming. Placement: Captions may not cover up other important on-screen information, such as character faces, featured text, graphics, or other information essential to the understanding or accessing of a program’s content.

Short Answer Yes.

Long Answer The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended in 2008, created a comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This includes enforceable standards and requirements for making public business and facilities accessible to people with disabilities. These requirements are codified in Title 42, Chapter 126 and Title 47, Chapter 5 of the United States Code. The following sections of this code are relevant to captions and subtitles: 42 U.S.C. 128182(b)(2)(A)(iii) – Specifies that discrimination includes any failure to provide auxiliary aids necessary to ensure that people with disabilities will have equal access to public accommodations and to the goods and services they provide. 42 U.S.C. 12181(7) – Broadly defines “public accommodations” to include most government facilities or private business that the general public has access to. 42 U.S.C. 12103(1)(A) – Specifies that the definition of “auxiliary aids” includes “effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments.” 47 U.S.C. 611 – Requires that public service announcements provide closed captioning. This requirement was expanded by recent regulations to be much more comprehensive. AllTranscriptions's Standard and Premium Captions satisfy 42 U.S.C. 12103(1)(A) as an effective method of making audible materials accessible to the hearing impaired. They also satisfy 47 U.S.C. 611 for closed captioning.

The first step is to create an account and then sign in. That should take less than a minute. Once you are signed in, click the Upload Files link on the top navigation bar. You’ll have a choice to upload from your computer or from the web. The rest of the upload process is self-explanatory.

Once your files are uploaded, they will appear under My Files in the My Audio and Video tab. Initially, they will be shown as “converting.” Once they have finished converting, ensure that the checkbox to the left is selected for each file you want to order and then select a product on the right (Transcription, Standard Captions, Premium Captions). Click the Go To Checkout button, and enter your credit card info on the next page. Click the Continue button, and then review your order before finally clicking the Submit Order button.

Yes. It takes less than a minute to create an account. Creating an account is free, we won’t ask for a credit card until you make your first purchase.

We accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). We also allow payment by invoice, but there is an application process for that.

At the time you place your order.

Yes. However, there is an application process, and we will begin working on your order only after you have been approved for invoicing. To pay by invoice, change the Payment Method to Pay By Invoice before clicking the Go To Checkout button when placing your order. You will receive via email an application form with further instructions.

The AllTranscriptions website has been thoroughly tested with modern versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Safari on both PCs and Macs. If you are using Internet Explorer, we suggest you use IE9 or later, as we have experienced slower file upload speeds with older versions of IE.

Private customer data is secured using industry-standard algorithms such as AES 256-bit encryption, and access to customer files is only available on an as-needed basis. Our transcribers, proofreaders, and quality control personnel are required to sign a confidentiality agreement which governs the treatment of customer data, including its destruction upon job completion. We do not share customer data or personally identifiable information with outside parties. Your credit card information is securely encrypted, and none of our personnel are able to decrypt the credit card number. To learn more, please see our Security Pledge.

We currently support the following digital audio and video file formats:

Audio: acc, aif, aiff, amr, ape, au, cda, gsm, flac, m4a, mid, mp3, mpga, ogg, raw, shn, sri, vox, wav, and wma.

Video: 3g2, 3gp, avi, flv, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, video, and wmv.

If you have a digital file in a format not listed here, please let us know. We are adding more and more file formats all the time.

We don’t normally accept non-digital formats (e.g. cassette tapes). However, if you have no other means of getting the audio to us, please contact us to discuss.

Create an account, upload files from your computer or the web, select a turnaround time option, provide payment information, and submit your order. When your files are finished, you simply download them from your secure account on the AllTranscriptions website. For more information, see How do I get started? in this FAQ.

In most cases, we can cancel your order and issue a full refund. Please contact us to cancel and provide the appropriate details.

At the time of your cancellation, we will refund your order amount less any costs incurred if your file has already been accepted by a transcriber.

Absolutely! While voice recognition technology gets better every day, it’s still not nearly as accurate as a team of dedicated human transcribers, who can understand accents and slang phrases, handle multiple speakers, and describe sounds: all things that transcription programs can’t do.

AllTranscriptions is constantly evaluating the state of automatic speech recognition technology, and we already take advantage of it as part of our captioning process. As the technology evolves, we will continue to incorporate it into our process where it makes sense to do so.

We use a variety of sources to find freelancers to do transcription work. First and foremost, we have have a dedicated section of our website where transcribers searching for work can discover AllTranscriptions, learn about our onboarding process, and apply for work. We also post jobs on independent crowd-sourcing websites such as Mechanical Turk and Upwork. Finally, we advertise on work-at-home websites and forums. Regardless of where the workers are sourced, they must all go through a vetting and qualification process before being allowed to work on our system. This process includes proving proficiency with transcription, grammar, and the ability to follow style guides and customer instructions. We also require workers to sign a confidentiality agreement. After having successfully completed the vetting and onboarding process, workers are granted the minimum qualifications that give them access to the basic jobs on our system. Many jobs require further qualifications, including such things as background checks and/or proving proficiency at specific skills, such as verbatim transcription, captioning, and editing.

When it comes to AllTranscriptions's corporate priorities, customer satisfaction is at the top of the list. We value happy customers more than anything else. The quality and reliability of our service are the two biggest factors that influence customer satisfaction. That’s why we’ve implemented a multi-tier quality assurance system. Reviewers are the first tier and the foundation of our Q.A. pyramid. They are responsible for ensuring that each customer receives an excellent quality product. Reviewers turn good quality work products into excellent ones, reject poor quality, and return mediocre products for rework. In that sense, they are the “gatekeepers” to the customer, ensuring that only top quality products make it out of the system. The next tier in the pyramid is our Quality Assurance Team. The Q.A. Team members are responsible for ensuring that reviewers are doing their jobs effectively. They regularly perform Q.A. checks on work that has been approved by AllTranscriptions reviewers. If they ever find that the work does not live up to AllTranscriptions's standards, the reviewer is put on probation, and his or her Reviewer qualification is temporarily revoked. Likewise, if a customer submits a rating of less than 4 out of 5, the reviewer is either put on probation or permanently disqualified, depending on the circumstances. Certain trusted members of the QA Team are chosen to spot check the work of other Q.A. Team members. This provides an extra level of assurance that reviewers are receiving sufficient oversight. The AllTranscriptions Operations Team is responsible for ensuring service quality and reliability, customer satisfaction, worker satisfaction and efficiency. As part of fulfilling those responsibilities, the team provides 24/7 customer support, 24/7 worker support, and customer management. Certain members of the Operations Team are also responsible for overseeing the Q.A. Team and spot checking their work (the top tier of the Q.A. pyramid).

We offer Transcription, Standard Captions, and Premium Captions. Our Transcription service provides either clean copy or verbatim transcripts of audio and video recordings, with the choice of 4 days, 72 hour, 48 hour, 24 hour, or same day turnaround. Our Standard Captions service provides captions suitable for most web video applications (e.g. YouTube), with the choice of 1 week or 48 hour turnaround. Our Premium Captions service provides FCC-compliant captions suitable for broadcast TV or commercial streaming services (e.g. Netflix). We also offer Foreign Language Services for transcription, captions, and translation.

A text document that contains a transcript of everything that is spoken in an audio or video file.

A text document that contains a transcript of everything that is spoken in an audio or video file.

24 Hour or better turnaround available

99% Accuracy and all work is guaranteed

Standard Captioning service provides time-synchronized Closed Captions for spoken dialogue that can be toggled on/off by the viewer.

Prices start at $1.50 per minute

48 Hour or better turnaround available

99% Accuracy and all work is guaranteed

Specialized captions for films, TV shows, and documentaries designed to convey everything that you’d hear in a video: dialogue, music, sound effects, etc.

Prices start at $4.00 per minute

One Week or better turnaround available

99% Accuracy and all work is guaranteed

There is no difference in price for transcribing audio or video files. However, if you believe your video file could benefit from captions, the best value is to order Standard Captions. You’ll receive both a transcript and a caption file. The transcript will help increase search traffic, and the captions will make your video more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Captions also increase search traffic and page rank, since they are read and indexed by search engines.

Yes. For an additional charge of $0.25 per minute, AllTranscriptions can provide timestamps at various frequencies or locations, including periodic, paragraph, sentence, and speaker timestamps. To order timestamps, simply select the “request timestamps” link when placing your order. A dialog box will appear allowing you to select the type of timestamp and frequency. Periodic and Paragraph Timestamps are the only choices presented. If you need Sentence or Speaker Timestamps, please select “Paragraph” and then use the “Add Transcriber Instructions” link to specify the exact type of timestamps you need. Learn more.

Yes. We have a team of trained verbatim transcribers who typically work on transcripts for our legal and insurance customers. You can request a verbatim transcript when ordering by entering the word “Verbatim” in the transcriber instructions (the link below the Submit button). There is an additional charge of $0.25/audio minute. Learn more.

Our advertised pricing includes up to five speakers. If there are more than five speakers that must be individually identified, we’ll need to charge extra. The additional charge will be $0.25/minute or higher depending on the number of speakers and nature of the conversation.

We have different refund policies based on the status of your order. Please find below the information on our refund policies.

If you make a request to cancel an order after placing it:

a) If we have processed the files, then no refund will be entertained.

b) If the transcript is partially complete, then we would refund for the remaining portions of the audio/video not transcribed. The partially completed transcript will be delivered. Please note that the transcriber may have completed the transcript in the time that communication is going on, in which case this would be treated as nonrefundable, completed job/order.

c) If we have not initiated transcription, full refund will be made.

Refund policy for difficult audio files:

No refund will be entertained if the transcript has been delivered.
Only cancellation of order for un-transcribed portions of audio/video will be refunded.

Refund policy for quality issues with transcripts:

We maintain very high standards of quality. However, at times, quality issues due happen due to human errors. In such cases, we will rework the transcript for you. It is only if we are unable to rework the transcript that we would issue a 50% refund on the transcripts. The 50% that is being retained would be for the administrative and other incidental costs associated with processing the orders. All claims to be made and settled within three months of transcript delivery.

The above is applicable for all audio/video files.