Can NotebookLM transcribe audio?

Not as a transcript tool. NotebookLM is built to answer questions from the sources you add. You can add an audio recording as one of those sources, and it works from the speech in the recording. That is a different job from producing a transcript you can read, copy or export. For a word-for-word copy, use a transcription tool first, then add the text to NotebookLM if you want to question it.

For the routes that do produce a transcript, read the guide to transcribing with Whisper, ChatGPT or Gemini. The guide covers the trade-offs between a local model and a chat app.

NotebookLM can take audio as a source, which Google announced in 2024

In September 2024, Google announced that users could add public YouTube URLs and audio files to a notebook, alongside PDFs, Google Docs, Slides and websites ¹. Once a recording is a source, you can ask questions about it and get answers that refer back to it.

Google describes search across transcribed audio, not a transcript you can export

The same announcement describes adding audio recordings and having NotebookLM search across the transcribed conversations to locate specific information ². The example is a team project in which the search finds the important points in recordings, rather than having people listen to each one in full. That is the job Google gives the feature: finding and answering, not producing a text file.

Google's announcement does not describe a transcript you can export, and it gives no accuracy figures for the transcribed text. That is a gap in what we could confirm, so do not assume an export exists. If you need the words as text, a transcription tool is the safer choice.

YouTube videos are cited against their transcript

NotebookLM can also analyze a YouTube video. Google says that when you add a video, NotebookLM summarizes key concepts and links its citations to the video's transcript ³. The citations let you check an answer against the source, which is useful for a lecture or a long interview.

A citation is not a full transcript. It points to the part of the source that supports an answer. If the point is to read every word, the citation does not replace reading the transcript itself.

A summary or an answer is not a copy of the speech

A notebook answer is written text. It can summarize, rephrase or combine points from several sources. That helps you study or compare, but it can drop the filler words, false starts and exact wording that a verbatim transcription keeps. Use a notebook answer to decide what to read, then check the words in the recording.

What to use when you need the words

1. Make the copy first. Use how to use Whisper to transcribe audio for a local, private route, or ask a chat model for a word-for-word transcript, as covered in can ChatGPT transcribe audio files.
2. Check the copy. Compare three passages with the recording, starting with names, numbers and technical terms.
3. Then question the text. Add the checked transcript to NotebookLM as a text source, and ask your questions there.
4. Keep the recording. A transcript can drop a word or add one, so the recording stays the reference if an exact quote matters.

For a file in your browser with no account, audio to text transcribes it directly. For the wider choice between tools, see transcription software.

Check the current NotebookLM help before you rely on it

The sources on this page date from 2024, so NotebookLM's current features may differ. Check Google's current NotebookLM help pages for the file types, length limits and export options before you build a workflow around them. If the help pages show a transcript export, follow those steps, and treat this answer as the description of the 2024 launch.

Related questions

• Can ChatGPT transcribe audio files?
• Can Gemini transcribe audio?
• How do you use Whisper to transcribe audio?
• How to transcribe audio to text, in the transcription overview.