Transcribe French Audio to Text
Upload an interview, podcast, lecture or meeting recording and the AI detects French on its own. Get word-level timestamps, fix tricky homophones, then download TXT, SRT, VTT or JSON on a paid plan.
Transcribe French Audio to Text Features
EchoWave's French transcription is used by journalists, podcasters, students and francophone creators around the world.
French speech to text
Built to transcribe French audio the way French is actually spoken
French is full of liaison, elision and contractions, so word boundaries blur and generic tools mangle them. EchoWave keeps apostrophes intact (j'ai, l'équipe, qu'est-ce que) and holds word timestamps through every contraction. It transcribes video as well as audio, like our video to text tool, and pairs with the French subtitle generator when you want captions instead of a document. For other languages, start at convert audio to text. Related: French to English subtitles.
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86
subtitle translation languages
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4
transcript download formats on paid plans
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176
caption styles for burned-in subtitles
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20
video formats accepted
What you get
French transcription that goes past a wall of text
Everything runs inside a full video editor, so the transcript stays connected to the media it came from.
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Automatic French detection
There is no language dropdown to set before you start. The speech recognition listens to the recording and identifies French on its own, which also helps with recordings that slip between French and English. If the first pass ever guesses wrong, a manual source language override is available after transcription.
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Word-level timestamps
Every word in the transcript carries its own timecode, so a quote in minute 43 takes two clicks to find. Contractions and elisions like l'histoire and j'y stay aligned to the audio instead of drifting. Click any word and the playhead jumps straight to it.
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Edit the transcript, cut the recording
Delete a sentence from the text and the matching stretch of media disappears from the timeline. Silence removal is automatic, and you can strike the euh, ben and en fait moments right in the transcript. It is the fastest way to tighten a rambling French interview without scrubbing waveforms.
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Full French orthography, rendered correctly
Accented characters and ligatures come through intact: é, è, ê, ç, î, ù and œ all render in the transcript, in exported files and in burned-in captions. Guillemets and apostrophes survive too. If you caption with a custom brand font, upload one with complete accented glyph coverage through the brand kit.
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Translate the French text into 86 languages
Once the transcript exists, translate the subtitle text into English or any of 86 languages, or show French and a translation together as bilingual subtitles. That dual view suits French learners and francophone channels with international viewers. Translation is a Pro feature and changes the text only; it does not re-voice the audio.
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Four download formats, plus SRT and VTT import
On a paid plan, take the text out as TXT for documents, SRT or VTT for video players, or JSON with word timings for developers. You can also import an existing SRT or VTT file and correct it against the audio.
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French video works the same way
Upload MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM or any of 20 accepted video formats and transcribe the audio track directly, with no separate extraction step. The video to text page covers that flow in detail. Podcasters who film episodes can build show notes with the podcast transcript generator.
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Record French, then transcribe it
The built-in recorder studio captures voice memos, screen recordings and webcam takes without leaving the browser, teleprompter included. Dictate notes in French and turn them into text in the same session using the voice to text flow.
How it works
How to transcribe French audio to text
Four steps take you from a raw French recording to a corrected, exportable transcript.
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Upload your French recording
Drag in an MP3, WAV or M4A audio file, or a video in MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM and 16 other accepted formats. Files open in the editor. Nothing to install; EchoWave runs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
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Transcribe French audio automatically
Open the captions panel and start auto transcription. The AI detects French by listening, then returns a transcript with a timecode on every word. There is no language list to scroll; detection is automatic, with a manual override available afterwards if you need it.
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Proofread the tricky parts
Scan for proper nouns, brand names and homophones such as a and à, or ou and où, the classic places French recognition slips. Click any word to hear the exact moment it was spoken. Edits update the subtitle cues at the same time.
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Export text, subtitles or video
On a paid plan, download the transcript as TXT, SRT, VTT or JSON. Or style the captions with one of 176 presets and export a subtitled MP4; free video exports are HD 720p with a small removable EchoWave badge.
Who uses it
What people transcribe in French
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French podcast episodes
Publish a transcript alongside each episode so search engines can read what was said and listeners can skim it. Timestamped quotes drop straight into social posts and show notes.
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Journalist interviews
Turn an hour of French interview tape into searchable text, then verify any quote by clicking the word and hearing it in context. Timestamped citations make fact-checking easier to defend.
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Lectures and language study
Students transcribe French lectures into revision notes, and French learners check their listening against a written version. Bilingual subtitles put the French line and an English translation on screen together.
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Meetings and user research
Transcribe French client calls and research sessions so decisions and objections live in a document instead of someone's memory. Reading the text beats re-listening to an hour of audio to find one answer.
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Francophone creator content
The French-speaking audience spans France, Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland and much of West Africa, over 300 million people. Burned-in captions with word-by-word highlighting keep that audience watching with the sound off.
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Oral history and field recordings
Researchers working with francophone interviews archive them as text, with word timings preserved in the JSON file on a paid plan. Corrections made against the audio keep the archive faithful to the speaker.
Compare
How EchoWave compares
| Feature | EchoWave | Kapwing | HappyScribe | Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic French language detection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word-level timestamps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Transcript export formats | yes (paid plans: TXT, SRT, VTT, JSON) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit video by editing the transcript | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Full video editor included | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Styled caption presets for burned-in subtitles | yes (176) | Yes | limited | No |
| Subtitle translation | yes (86 languages, Pro) | Yes | yes (paid) | yes (paid) |
| Bilingual dual subtitles | Yes | No | No | No |
| Human transcription service | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Speaker labels | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | No | Yes |
| Free plan with exports | yes (720p, watermark badge) | yes (watermark) | trial only | No |
Based on each tool's public pages as of July 2026. Features and plans change, so check current pricing before you choose.
Turn French recordings into text you can use
Transcripts, subtitles and text-based editing live in one browser editor, so the words stay linked to the audio they came from. Start free and edit your first French transcript today.
How creators use EchoWave in real projects
About the EchoWave team
EchoWave is a browser-based video and audio editor built by Lemon Vault LLC since 2018. The people who build the editor write these guides and test every step in the production app before publishing.
Transcribe French Audio to Text FAQ
How do I transcribe French audio to text for free?
Upload your recording to the EchoWave editor, open the captions panel and run auto transcription. The AI detects French automatically and returns a transcript with word-level timestamps that you can correct, then download as TXT, SRT, VTT or JSON on a paid plan. The editor is free to use in any modern browser, with paid plans adding file downloads and higher-quality video exports.
How accurate is AI transcription for French audio?
Accuracy tracks audio quality more than anything else: one clear speaker close to the microphone transcribes very well, while crosstalk, background noise and mumbled liaison drag results down. The usual fixes in French are homophones (a and à, ou and où), proper nouns and numbers. Word-level timestamps make review quick because you can click any doubtful word and hear it.
Does it understand Quebec, Belgian, Swiss and African French?
Yes. Detection listens to the speech itself rather than asking you to pick a regional variant, and the recognition model is trained on a broad range of French speech. Expect to review region-specific vocabulary, from Quebec anglicisms to Belgian and Swiss numbers like septante and nonante, since that is where any model needs the most human help.
Can I translate the French transcript into English?
Yes, subtitle translation, a Pro feature, covers 86 target languages, English included. You can also display bilingual subtitles with the original French and the translation on screen at the same time. Translation applies to the text only; EchoWave does not dub or re-voice the audio.
What audio and video formats can I upload?
Common audio formats such as MP3, WAV and M4A are accepted, along with 20 video formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI and TS. Video is transcribed straight from its audio track, so there is no need to extract the audio first.
Can I get French subtitles instead of a plain transcript?
Yes. On a paid plan the same transcript downloads as SRT or VTT subtitle files, and on any plan you can burn styled captions directly into the video using any of 176 caption presets, including word-by-word karaoke styles. The French subtitle generator page walks through that caption workflow step by step.
Will French accents and special characters survive export?
Yes. Accented letters like é, ç and ù, the œ ligature and guillemets all render in the editor and carry through to TXT, SRT, VTT and JSON exports. If you burn captions with a custom font from your brand kit, pick one with complete accented glyph coverage so nothing falls back to a substitute character.
Can I edit the audio or video by editing the French transcript?
Yes, that is text-based editing: delete a sentence in the transcript and the matching media is cut from the timeline. Automatic silence removal tightens long pauses, and you can remove hesitations in the text. Echo, the built-in AI assistant, can make these edits on command and sets a checkpoint first so everything reverts in one click.
Do I need to select French before transcribing?
No. There is no upfront language picker; the AI identifies the spoken language on its own, which keeps the whole flow to a couple of clicks. If a noisy recording is ever detected as the wrong language, you can set the source language manually after transcription.
Ready to transcribe your French audio?
Upload a recording, fix the tricky words, and take the text away as TXT, SRT, VTT or JSON on paid plans; free video exports are 720p MP4 with a small removable badge.
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