Fact · Languages and accents
The Whisper README says its default setting selects the turbo model, and that the default works well for transcribing English.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“The default setting (which selects the `turbo` model) works well for transcribing English”
openai/whisper: README (raw text), OpenAI, GitHub (openai/whisper), 2026, Translation section of the README.
Open the original- What it measures
- The README describes the default model for the command-line tool and the Python package. The same paragraph says the turbo model is not trained for translation tasks.
- What it does not show
- The default can change between releases of the package. Check the README of the version you installed before you rely on it.