Discover the top transcription software tailored specifically for Mac users. From accurate speech-to-text conversion to seamless editing features, presenting a tool designed to enhance your transcription workflow on macOS.
Continue reading to unlock efficiency and accuracy like never before. But first,
Janet Gogo Wellington
5 features to look for when choosing transcription software for Mac
A transcription software for Mac is a specialized computer program that helps you convert spoken audio or video content into written text.
When choosing your Mac transcription software, prioritize these factors to ensure top-notch experience and productivity:
- Accuracy of transcription
- Compatibility
- Ease of use
- Time-saving features
- Security and privacy
1. Accuracy of transcription
The primary goal of transcription software is to convert audio or video into accurate text. Look for software that offers high accuracy rates, as this will save you time and minimize the need for extensive editing and proofreading.
Neha Kulshreshtha
2. Compatibility
Ensure that the software is fully compatible with your Mac operating system version. Check if it supports the audio and video file formats you commonly use to integrate the software functions with your existing workflow seamlessly.
3. Ease of use
Opt for software with a user-friendly interface and intuitive controls to make transcription more enjoyable and less work. Look for keyboard shortcuts, customizable hotkeys, and easy navigation to enhance your transcription speed and efficiency.
4. Time-saving features
Consider software that offers time-saving features such as automatic timestamps and speaker identification and the ability to increase or decrease audio playback.
Neha Kulshreshtha
5. Security and Privacy
Ensure your software prioritizes security and privacy, offering encryption options and secure data handling to protect your valuable content.
What is the best transcription software for Mac?
Keeping the above factors in mind and other capabilities, here's a tool that does it all—Fireflies, a leading AI notetaker transcription software.
With Fireflies, you can:
- Generate 90%+ accurate transcripts with timestamps within minutes
- Keep your data secure with unmatched security and privacy policies
- Transcribe video, audio recordings, and live meetings
- Collaborate better and increase productivity
- Transcribe files in 30+ languages and 3 English accents
- Review files in minutes with its 5-part AI-generated summary
- Quickly search important information with its powerful search features and chatbot assistance
- Save money with its flexible, affordable pricing
Let's look at each of these points in more detail.
1. Generate 90%+ accurate transcripts with timestamps within minutes
Fireflies transcribes your audio or video content with 90%+ accuracy and timestamps. It can also identify voices and allows you to add speaker labels to your transcriptions easily. The speaker labels are automatically generated if you invite Fireflies to transcribe your online meetings.
2. Keep your data secure with unmatched security and privacy policies
Fireflies follows the highest security standards to protect your data and privacy. It is GDPR and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and encrypts all your data at rest and during transit.
This ensures the privacy of your voice data because no one can access your recordings, unlike manual transcribers, who need to listen to your audio file to create transcripts.
Its database is housed in a Virtual Private Cloud with AWS, while the servers are hosted on Google Cloud.
Sam Udotong
3. Transcribe video, audio recordings, and live meetings
Upload any video or audio file in MP3, MP4, M4A, or WAV format to generate accurate transcripts in minutes.
You can download the transcript in PDF, DOCX, SRT, VTT, or JSON format.
Apart from recordings, Fireflies can also record and transcribe all your online meetings—Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams, Webex, etc.
Depending on your auto-join preferences and meeting settings, Fireflies will automatically join your meeting as a silent attendee to record, transcribe, and summarize the conversation.
You can easily access the recording and transcription of the meeting or your multimedia file via Fireflies Notebook.
Vibhanshu Dixit
4. Collaborate better and increase productivity
Even in its free version, Fireflies offers advanced collaboration features like:
- Soundbites: Create shareable audio snippets from the highlights of your audio
- Thread: Add and reply to comments within the transcript
- Playlist: Create a collection of soundbites and related audio from multiple files in one place
It also seamlessly integrates with around 50 video conferencing and productivity tools like Notion, Slack, Aircall, Salesforce, and Zoom. It also offers an API for building custom integrations.
Arlen Cruz
5. Transcribe files in 30+ languages and 3 English accents
Fireflies can create transcripts in over 30 languages, including French, Arabic, Spanish, and Vietnamese (more on the way), making it one of the most inclusive automated transcription software.
It also supports 3 English accents: UK, US, and Australian.
All you have to do is choose your preferred language before uploading, and Fireflies will transcribe it in that language. However, Fireflies does not support multiple languages in the same file at the moment.
Medha
6. Review files in minutes with its 5-part AI-generated summary
Apart from the accurate transcription, Fireflies also generates a 5-part AI summary of your audio/video file. It includes:
- Keywords: The most important keywords used in the conversation.
- Overview: A gist of the content in a few paragraphs.
- Outline: An outline of the content with timestamps.
- Bullet-Point Notes: Main points condensed into bullet points.
- Action Items: The list of conversation bits that requires further action.
Instead of going through the entire transcript or listening to the whole audio, you can simply read the AI-generated summary and understand the gist of the audio within seconds.
7. Quickly search important information with its powerful search features and chatbot assistance
Fireflies provides different search capabilities for finding information across all your voice conversations.
Use the global search to search across all your meetings and multimedia files. Look for the search bar on the top of your Fireflies dashboard.
Fireflies will list all the meetings with those words. You can even filter the search based on your preference.
Use the transcription search bar to find information in a particular file or meeting. Just type the word, and Fireflies will pull up all the instances where the word is mentioned.
On top of it, Fireflies offers advanced Smart search features that allow you to quickly filter out important information from a particular recording using AI filters, speaker, topics, and Sentiment filters.
Alternatively, you can also leverage Fireflies ChatGPT-powered chatbot to find any information shared in the file. Simply ask Fireflies chatbot, AskFred, your question, and the bot will answer it in just a few seconds.
You can also ask the bot to write emails, articles, blog posts, and social media posts from your transcripts.
You can also use AskFred for Web, available in the Fireflies Chrome extension, to quickly extract information from any website, wikis, emails, YouTube videos, etc.
8. Save money with its flexible, affordable pricing
"Our constant goal was how to make this system more and more affordable for our end users." Krish Ramineni, the CEO of Fireflies, talks about the future of voice and transcription.
Transcription service providers typically charge $1.30 to $3.50 per minute.
Meanwhile, you can create up to three transcriptions and store 800 minutes of data at zero cost with Fireflies’ Free plan.
And, if your requirements are more, you can get more transcription and storage credits at just $10/seat/month, billed annually—still cheaper than most transcription software or service providers.
Medha
How to use Fireflies in Mac
Now that you're convinced with Fireflies' transcription capabilities and features, here's a step-by-step guide on using it on Mac.
First, log into your Fireflies account. You can sign up using your Outlook or Google Calendar if you're a new user.
During this process, you must grant Fireflies permission to access your calendar.
As aforementioned, Fireflies is highly secure and only accesses your calendar metadata like email and user preferences. Also, all your data is end-to-end encrypted.
Now that you have an active account, let’s look at how to create transcripts with it on your Mac.
How to transcribe an audio or video recording on Mac
Follow these steps to transcribe a recording with Fireflies:
Step 1: Look for Uploads on the left side of the Fireflies dashboard. Click on it.
Upload the recording you want to transcribe. You may drag and drop the file or select the files to upload the file from your computer.
Once uploaded, you can see the file transcribed at the bottom of the same upload page.
Step 2: Open, review, and finalize the transcript
The transcription process can take a few seconds to minutes, depending on the file size. Once done, you’ll receive an email notification from Fireflies.
You can access the file from the same Uploads section or the My Meetings channel in your Fireflies Notebook.
For the sake of an example, we’ve uploaded a podcast recording of our co-founder, Krish.
Click on the file to see the transcription on the right side.
You can now review the transcript, add speaker labels and make edits, if any. That’s it! Your transcript is ready.
How to transcribe a live conversation on your Mac
Use Fireflies to create a transcript of a live meeting by inviting Fred, its AI meeting assistant, to your meetings. You can invite the bot in 4 ways:
- Allow Fireflies to auto-join your conversation as a silent attendee
- Invite fred@fireflies.ai to your meeting
- Add Fireflies to a live meeting directly from Fireflies Dashboard
- Use the Fireflies Chrome extension to auto-record conversations
1. Set Fireflies to auto-join your conversation as a silent attendee
Configure Fireflies meeting settings and allow Fred to join your calls.
Here's how you can configure your meeting settings from the dashboard.
2. Invite fred@fireflies.ai to your meeting
While sending out invitations to your meeting, add fred@fireflies.ai to your guest list. Ensure the invite has the meeting link.
Fireflies bot Fred will automatically join the meeting to record and transcribe it. You can later find the recording and transcript in your Fireflies Notebook.
3. Add Fireflies to a live meeting directly from Fireflies Dashboard
Click on the Add now under the Add to live meeting section on your Fireflies Dashboard.
A pop-up will appear. Enter your meeting name, meeting URL, and preferred language. Fireflies will automatically join the live meeting within 1-2 minutes.
4. Use the Fireflies Chrome extension to auto-record meetings
Using the Fireflies Chrome extension, you can record the meeting directly from your Chrome browser.
Install the Fireflies Chrome extension and sign in with Google; the auto-capture feature is on by default.
Now, open and attend any Google Meet meeting from your Chrome browser; that’s it.
You can find the recording in your Fireflies Notebook.
Medha
Final note,
Given the level of security, ease of use, and other features that enable effortless collaboration and productivity, Fireflies takes the crown as the best transcription software for Mac.
Also, Fireflies being a web-based tool, you never need to worry about compatibility issues—have a stable internet connection? You’re good to go!
So, why settle for less when you can have the best? Get Fireflies today and become the transcription wizard on Mac!
