Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
A video is turned into text in Telegram by the Potok bot @potok_now_bot: send a file or a link to YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram and TikTok, and a short transcript arrives as text, a long one as a file, 60 minutes per month for free. Video notes and voice messages in Telegram have their own transcription button on the message, limited without Premium. For typing your own text by voice there is the Potok app.
A video that needs to be turned into text most often comes as a file, a YouTube link or a video note in Telegram. Video notes and voice messages in Telegram itself have a transcription button on the message, and for other videos you need a separate bot, for example the Potok Telegram bot @potok_now_bot. If a voice message came instead of a video, the steps are the same.
How to get text from a video with a bot in Telegram
- Open the bot @potok_now_bot in private messages and press Start (/start): the bot accepts video files and links only in a private chat, not in groups.
- Send a video file (it can be as a document) or paste a link to YouTube, VK Video, RuTube or a direct link to a file.
- Wait for the reply: a short transcript arrives as text right in the chat, a long one as a separate file; the file format (TXT or DOCX) is chosen in advance in the settings.
- Under the text the buttons Summary, Tasks and deadlines, Ask and Other format appear: you can get a short digest, a list of tasks by speaker, an answer to your own question about the recording, or the same text in another format.
- Timecodes
[mm:ss]and speaker markup (Speaker 1, Speaker 2) can be turned on in advance in the bot settings (/settings); by default they are off.
What you get after transcribing a video
- A short recording as text right in the chat, without a separate file.
- A long recording as a file in the chosen format (TXT or DOCX).
- Proofread text: punctuation and capital letters are placed, obvious recognition errors are fixed, but the text is not shortened or retold.
- With the settings turned on, timecodes and speaker labels; the bot does not know names, only the numbers Speaker 1, Speaker 2.
- Buttons under the text: a short summary, a list of tasks by speaker, an answer to your own question through Ask, export in one of six formats: TXT, DOCX, Markdown, PDF, SRT or VTT (the last two are subtitle files).
- A finished transcript can be opened again in the My recordings section. A general overview of the categories of services is in the article audio to text transcription: a comparison of services.
| Service | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Potok bot and web version | 60 minutes per month | 7 days: 249 ₽, 30 days: 449 ₽, one year: 2 890 ₽; included in the Potok app subscription |
| Telegram voice message transcription | without Premium, a few transcriptions per week; with Premium, no limit on their number | — |
| TurboScribe | 3 files a day, each up to 30 minutes | $20/mo (Unlimited, monthly) |
| Tactiq | 10 meeting transcriptions per month | $12/mo (Pro, monthly) |
| Voicee (@Voicee_AI_Bot) | 45 minutes to start | 500 ₽/hour of recording (without a package; cheaper with packages) |
| Voicy (@voicybot) | free; on the Wit.ai engine, recordings of up to 50 seconds | — |
| Audio2Text | 15 minutes per month | 295 ₽/mo (Basic, 500 minutes); 495 ₽/mo (Standard, 1000 minutes); 1245 ₽/mo (Expert, 5000 minutes) |
When the bot cannot handle a video
A recording in another language works too, the bot understands 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically), but it does not translate. It also does not tell speakers apart by name: only Speaker 1, Speaker 2 in the order of the lines. The bot will not pick up a video recording during a call in Zoom or Telemost by itself: the recording must first be saved in the program itself and forwarded as a file. The bot accepts links to Instagram (Reels and posts with video) and TikTok, as well as YouTube, VK Video and RuTube. And most important: the Potok bot is a cloud one, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, video notes and voice messages in Telegram have a transcription button on the message: without Premium a few times a week, with Premium with no limit on the number. Ordinary video files and YouTube links have no such button; the bot @potok_now_bot does this.
60 minutes per month, the limit resets on the 1st. It is a shared counter for voice messages, videos and files sent to the bot in private messages.
How to turn a video into text with a bot in Telegram. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to turn a video into text with a bot in Telegram you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Transcribe your own recording
Forward a voice message, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link to Potok's Telegram bot, and the text arrives in the same chat. 60 minutes per month for free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramPrimary sources: core.telegram.org · www.ixbt.com · developers.sber.ru · t.me
Transcribe a recording in Telegram
Voice messages, video notes, audio and video are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message from any chat, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link. A short recording comes back as text in the chat, a long one as a file; timestamps and speaker labels can be turned on. The buttons give a short summary, tasks and deadlines, an answer to a question about the recording and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT. Large files, up to 2 GB, are easier to upload in the bot's mini app, via the Upload button next to the input field. The bot recognizes 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically); 60 minutes per month are free.