Hear2Text

MKV to Text Converter

Upload an MKV file, such as an OBS screen recording, a gameplay session or an exported video, and get a timestamped transcript you can edit and export. The free plan gives you 120 minutes every week, with no credit card.

Transcribe an MKV file

Paste a link to the file, or press Transcribe to upload it

Free plan: 120 minutes every week. Files up to 500 MB and 6 hours.

Upload OBS recordings and other MKV files as they are

MKV is the default recording format in OBS Studio, because a file survives a crash or power cut mid-recording. You can upload those files as they are, with no remux to MP4 first; find them in the folder set under Settings, Output, Recording Path. Exports from editors and downloaded videos in MKV work the same way. Files can be up to 500 MB and 6 hours long, and 100 languages are detected automatically.

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Get the voice onto the track that is transcribed

OBS can record game audio, desktop sound and your microphone to separate tracks. Only the main track is transcribed, so put your voice there, or export the microphone track as its own audio file and upload that. Game music and sound effects under speech lower accuracy, which is up to 99% on clear audio. A dedicated voice track gives the cleanest transcript.

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Ask questions about your recording

Once the recording is text, ask the AI assistant about it: what was decided in a recorded call, where a tutorial covers a certain setting, or which points a stream kept coming back to. The assistant is part of the paid plans.

  • Summarize a long recording
  • Pull out names, numbers and decisions
  • Find the moment a topic comes up
  • List the topics a recording covers
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How to transcribe an MKV file

From an OBS or editor export to editable text in four steps.

  1. Step 01

    Upload your MKV

    Pick the MKV from your OBS recording folder or editor exports. Up to 500 MB and 6 hours.

  2. Step 02

    Check the voice track

    Make sure your voice is on the main audio track, or export it as its own file. The language is detected automatically.

  3. Step 03

    Review and edit

    Read along with timestamps, fix names and game or product terms, and edit the text in your browser.

  4. Step 04

    Export the transcript

    Download TXT on the free plan, or SRT, VTT, Word and PDF on a paid plan.

Who transcribes MKV files

Anyone who records their screen, calls or streams in MKV and needs the words, not the footage.

  • Video Editors and Streamers

    Editors and streamers working from MKV recordings use the transcript to find the lines worth cutting, and export SRT captions on a paid plan.

  • Media Archivists

    Archivists holding interviews and talks ripped to MKV transcribe them to make old footage searchable by what was said, not just by filename.

  • Students

    Students who screen-record online lectures in OBS turn a one-hour session into notes they can search, and ask the assistant what was covered.

  • Researchers

    Researchers who record online interviews or focus groups with OBS get timestamped text to code and quote, then check quotes against the recording.

What you get with an MKV transcript

  1. Common Audio Codecs Work

    AAC, Opus, MP3, FLAC and other common audio inside MKV are handled. There is nothing to convert before you upload.

  2. Main Track Transcription

    The main audio track is transcribed. Keep your microphone there, or export it on its own, for a clean result.

  3. Long Recordings, Up to 6 Hours

    Upload files up to 500 MB and recordings up to 6 hours on every plan. For bigger video, extract the audio first.

  4. Speaker Labels

    Each voice is labelled Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on, on every plan, which helps with recorded calls and podcasts.

  5. SRT and VTT Export

    Paid plans export SRT and VTT with segment timestamps, plus Word and PDF. The free plan exports TXT.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which audio codecs in MKV are supported?
The common ones all work. MKV is only a container, and what matters is the audio inside it: AAC, Opus, MP3, FLAC, Vorbis and PCM audio are all handled, whatever video codec sits beside them. Recordings made in OBS with its default settings upload as they are. Clear speech matters far more than the codec does.
How do I choose which audio track gets transcribed?
You choose it before uploading, not inside Hear2Text. The main track is the one transcribed. In OBS, open Output settings and make sure track 1 carries your microphone, or record voice to its own track and export it as an MP3 or WAV with an editor such as Audacity or Shotcut. Upload that file, up to 500 MB.
Can I transcribe multiple audio tracks in an MKV file?
No, not in one go. Hear2Text transcribes the main audio track of an MKV file, so a second or third track is ignored. If your voice sits on a separate track, export that track as its own audio file, or mix the voice onto the main track in your editor, then upload that file. Each file can run up to 6 hours.
Does it read subtitles embedded in the MKV?
No, subtitle tracks already inside an MKV are not read or imported. Hear2Text listens to the audio and writes a fresh transcript with timestamps on every segment. On a paid plan you can export that transcript as SRT or VTT and load it into your player or editor as a new subtitle file. The free plan exports TXT.
Is there a file size limit for MKV files?
Yes. Each upload can be up to 500 MB and up to 6 hours long, on every plan. Screen recordings in MKV often pass 500 MB quickly because of the video. Since only the sound is transcribed, extract the audio to MP3 or M4A, or re-export at a lower resolution, and the file shrinks to a fraction of its size.

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