Because you can rely on us to consistently provide affordable, fast, accurate transcriptions and captions with world-class customer support.
We have a proven track record of providing highly accurate transcriptions and captions to a wide range of industries. Since we began operations in 2008, we have transcribed millions of minutes for thousands of happy customers. Customer satisfaction is our top priority. That’s why we guarantee 99% or better accuracy, provide an easy and smooth ordering process, and offer 24/7 customer support. To learn more about our corporate commitments to our customers, please read the message from our CEO.
We offer clean copy and verbatim transcription. Clean copy is lightly edited to remove filler words, false starts, repeated words, etc. Verbatim is an unabridged word-for-word account, including every utterance and non-verbal sound. Timestamps can be ordered with either type. Learn more.
We offer standard and premium captions. Standard Captions provide a cost-effective solution for making your videos more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Premium Captions are specialized captions for films, TV shows, and documentaries that are designed to convey everything that you’d hear in a video, including dialogue, music, sound effects, etc. They also satisfy FCC regulations for broadcast video.
Prices start at $1.30 per audio minute for transcription and $1.50 per video minute for captions. We also offer foreign language transcription and translation, which has a separate pricing structure.
Click here for our Pricing Pledge.
We charge an additional $0.25 per minute for timestamps and an additional $0.35 per minute for verbatim transcription. In extreme cases where the audio is very difficult to understand, we may need to apply a surcharge of up to $1.00 per audio minute. Click here for our “no gotcha’s” Pricing Pledge.
Standard turnaround time options are 12 hour and 24 hour. We can also provide turnaround times as fast as two hours upon request.
Standard turnaround time options are: 48 hour, and 1 week.
Due to the detailed nature of this work, our standard offering is 1 week turnaround time. If you need faster than that, please contact us to discuss your needs.
Absolutely. We guarantee accuracy of 99% or better, and we also offer a satisfaction guarantee. If we can’t make you happy, we’ll refund your money.
Our international customer base ranges from Fortune 500 companies to boutique businesses and individuals, and it includes the following industries and applications:
Please click here for our Legal Services page to find out more!
Our advertised pricing includes up to four speakers. If there are more than four speakers that must be individually identified, we’ll need to charge extra. The additional charge will be $0.50/minute or higher depending on the number of speakers and nature of the conversation.
Our pricing assumes that the audio is clear and understandable, without too much background noise or crosstalk. If this isn’t the case, we’ll do our best to get it done for you in the time frame you requested, but we may let you know that we need additional time to complete the job. In extreme cases, we may need to charge an additional $1.00/audio minute. In either situation, we’ll give you the option of canceling the order for a full refund.
Yes. Please see our foreign languages page for details.
Yes. Please see our foreign languages page for details.
Yes, but please contact us ahead of time if you need 48 hour delivery on files longer than 3 hours or 12 or 24 hour delivery on files longer than 30 minutes.
Our pricing is best in the industry for the high-quality and accuracy we provide. We do provide custom programs for high-volume users and enterprise engagements. Please contact us to discuss your project.
Yes. Please contact us for details.
We consistently win on accuracy, speed, and price over Rev.com. Please see our Speechpad vs. Rev comparison.
You can trust us with your sensitive data. In order to comply with security requirements of our major customers in the insurance and legal sectors, Speechpad has developed a comprehensive set of policies and procedures governing the protection of private customer data. Please see our Security Pledge for more details.
Yes. Our enterprise customers often require NDAs. If you need for us to sign an NDA, please contact us.
The two example transcripts below were transcribed by Speechpad. The first one was transcribed in clean copy format (lightly edited to remove filler words, false starts, repeated words, etc.). The second was transcribed in verbatim format (unabridged, word-for-word account, including every utterance and non-verbal sound).
There is no difference in price for transcribing audio or video files. However, if you believe your video file could benefit from captions, the best value is to order Standard Captions. You’ll receive both a transcript and a caption file. The transcript will help increase search traffic, and the captions will make your video more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Captions also increase search traffic and page rank, since they are read and indexed by search engines.
Yes. For an additional charge of $0.25 per minute, Speechpad can provide timestamps at various frequencies or locations, including periodic, paragraph, sentence, and speaker timestamps. To order timestamps, simply select the “request timestamps” link when placing your order. A dialog box will appear allowing you to select the type of timestamp and frequency. Periodic and Paragraph Timestamps are the only choices presented. If you need Sentence or Speaker Timestamps, please select “Paragraph” and then use the “Add Transcriber Instructions” link to specify the exact type of timestamps you need. Learn more.
Yes. We have a team of trained verbatim transcribers who typically work on transcripts for our legal and insurance customers. You can request a verbatim transcript when ordering by entering the word “Verbatim” in the transcriber instructions (the link below the Submit button). There is an additional charge of $0.35/audio minute. Learn more.
Our advertised pricing includes up to five speakers. If there are more than five speakers that must be individually identified, we’ll need to charge extra. The additional charge will be $0.25/minute or higher depending on the number of speakers and nature of the conversation.
The following video shows an example of what you would get if you ordered Speechpad’s Standard Captions. The captions should appear by default after you begin playing the video. If not, click the “CC” on the video player to turn them on. The text box below the video shows you the SRT file for those same captions. SRT is just one of many formats you can download once the captions have been created. You could then use the SRT file to allow various players and video hosting services to present captions with your video (see compatibility list below).
1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,177 In this lesson, we're going to be talking about finance. And 2 00:00:06,177 --> 00:00:10,009 one of the most important aspects of finance is interest. 3 00:00:10,009 --> 00:00:13,655 When I go to a bank or some other lending institution 4 00:00:13,655 --> 00:00:17,720 to borrow money, the bank is happy to give me that money. But then I'm 5 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:21,480 going to be paying the bank for the privilege of using their money. And that 6 00:00:21,660 --> 00:00:26,440 amount of money that I pay the bank is called interest. Likewise, if I put money 7 00:00:26,620 --> 00:00:31,220 in a savings account or I purchase a certificate of deposit, the bank just 8 00:00:31,300 --> 00:00:35,800 doesn't put my money in a little box and leave it there until later. They take 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,822 my money and lend it to someone else. So they are using my money. 10 00:00:40,822 --> 00:00:44,400 The bank has to pay me for the privilege of using my money. 11 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,700 Now what makes banks profitable is the rate 12 00:00:48,700 --> 00:00:53,330 that they charge people to use the bank's money is higher than the rate that they 13 00:00:53,510 --> 00:01:00,720 pay people like me to use my money. The amount of interest that a person pays or 14 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:06,640 earns is dependent on three things. It's dependent on how much money is involved. 15 00:01:06,820 --> 00:01:11,300 It's dependent upon the rate of interest being paid or the rate of interest being 16 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:17,898 charged. And it's also dependent upon how much time is involved. If I have 17 00:01:17,898 --> 00:01:22,730 a loan and I want to decrease the amount of interest that I'm going to pay, then 18 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:28,040 I'm either going to have to decrease how much money I borrow, I'm going to have 19 00:01:28,220 --> 00:01:32,420 to borrow the money over a shorter period of time, or I'm going to have to find a 20 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,279 lending institution that charges a lower interest rate. On the other hand, if I 21 00:01:37,279 --> 00:01:41,480 want to earn more interest on my investment, I'm going to have to invest 22 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,860 more money, leave the money in the account for a longer period of time, or 23 00:01:46,860 --> 00:01:49,970 find an institution that will pay me a higher interest rate.
The following video shows an example of what you would get if you ordered Speechpad’s Premium Captions. The captions should appear by default after you begin playing the video. If not, click the “CC” on the video player to turn them on. The text box below the video shows you the SRT file for those same captions. SRT is just one of many formats you can download once the captions have been created. You could then use the SRT file to allow various players and video hosting services to present captions with your video. See compatibility list below.
WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.665 - [Gwen] What's happening to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia? 00:00:02.665 --> 00:00:07.287 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% A new study finds that one of the world's great natural wonders and its largest 00:00:07.287 --> 00:00:10.995 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% coral system is in decline. Researchers at the Australian 00:00:10.995 --> 00:00:15.592 Institute of Marine Science say the reef has lost half of its coral cover 00:00:15.592 --> 00:00:20.739 over the past 27 years. There are multiple causes, including a destructive 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:24.464 kind of starfish shown here. We look at what's behind it 00:00:24.464 --> 00:00:28.451 and what's at stake in Australia and around the world with Nancy 00:00:28.451 --> 00:00:33.839 Knowlton, a coral reef biologist and the chair of Marine Science at the Smithsonian 00:00:33.839 --> 00:00:36.850 National Museum of Natural History right here in Washington. Welcome. 00:00:36.850 --> 00:00:38.810 - [Nancy] Thanks. 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:42.857 - How has all of this coral died off? Do we know what's causing it? 00:00:42.857 --> 00:00:44.928 Is it all that starfish we just saw? 00:00:44.928 --> 00:00:49.570 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% - It's actually not all the starfish. Starfish is about 42%, typhoons, big 00:00:49.570 --> 00:00:54.120 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% strong, storms another 48% and then coral bleaching is the remaining 10%, which is 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:55.750 caused whenever the water gets too hot. 00:00:55.750 --> 00:00:58.240 - So this is human-caused? 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.530 - Yes, most of it is human-caused. I mean, a coral reef naturally goes 00:01:02.530 --> 00:01:05.039 through cycles of up and down, but it shouldn't be declining 00:01:05.039 --> 00:01:07.550 by half over the course of 27 years. 00:01:07.550 --> 00:01:11.768 - I feel like we have talked before about the declining coral cover but 00:01:11.768 --> 00:01:16.882 I'm wondering whether it's now picking up speed or whether this is just a natural 00:01:16.882 --> 00:01:19.793 deterioration that we should just be used to. 00:01:19.793 --> 00:01:25.160 - No, this is not a natural deterioration and it's not natural in Australia and 00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:28.476 it's not natural around the world where we've seen similar declines in 00:01:28.476 --> 00:01:31.472 a variety of places. In the Caribbean, for example, we've lost 80% 00:01:31.472 --> 00:01:34.093 of the living coral just in the last 30 years. 00:01:34.093 --> 00:01:37.660 And it's also not as if the Australians have been ignoring the 00:01:37.660 --> 00:01:42.210 Great Barrier Reef. That's an iconic reef for their society and their economy, 00:01:42.210 --> 00:01:46.070 and so they place quite a few measures to actually take care of it and 00:01:46.070 --> 00:01:51.230 so losing half of it in 27 years despite that effort is actually quite shocking. 00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:54.800 - So when you say it's human-caused, do you mean what we do with our waters, 00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:58.740 what we do with our fishing, what we do with our run-off from agricultural causes? 00:01:58.740 --> 00:02:03.744 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% - All of those things have a big role to play. As you mentioned 00:02:03.744 --> 00:02:07.700 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% this voracious predatory starfish has caused a lot of the death on 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:12.455 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% coral reefs and that starfish is almost like a locust on reefs when it 00:02:12.455 --> 00:02:16.680 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% gets out of control. A swimmer can see 100 or even over 1000 in a 20-minute 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:20.760 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% swim when you have an outbreak going on and they can kill up 00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:24.999 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% to two-thirds of a reef just in a year when that happens. Now what causes 00:02:24.999 --> 00:02:30.040 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% that is now increasingly well-understood and in fact information from the 00:02:30.040 --> 00:02:34.692 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% Great Barrier Reef is why we understand it. On one hand, it's really 00:02:34.692 --> 00:02:37.581 important to have healthy fish communities there, because the fish eat the 00:02:37.581 --> 00:02:42.693 starfish and keep them under control. And then you have to really worry about 00:02:42.693 --> 00:02:46.330 water quality, because if there's too much nutrients in the water, then what happens 00:02:46.330 --> 00:02:50.538 is the baby starfish, when they're developing, do extra well 00:02:50.538 --> 00:02:52.754 and then there's a big swarm of them as a result. 00:02:52.754 --> 00:02:55.347 - Is there any evidence that this is happening besides just the 00:02:55.347 --> 00:02:57.660 Great Barrier Reef? Is it happening around the world as well? 00:02:57.660 --> 00:03:02.630 - Well, we've known about outbreaks of starfish since the 1960s, and 00:03:02.630 --> 00:03:05.181 it's quite clear from looking at the dynamics that this can't 00:03:05.181 --> 00:03:09.469 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% be a natural phenomenon. And as I mentioned, we've seen the declines 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:15.054 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% in the Caribbean. We've seen the declines all throughout the Pacific. Now that said, 00:03:15.054 --> 00:03:19.600 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% there actually are places remote from human activities where the 00:03:19.600 --> 00:03:23.770 reefs are still really healthy. For example, in the Northern Line islands 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:27.580 where they're protected by the United States, several of those 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:31.287 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% islands, and there the cover of coral is very healthy. 00:03:31.287 --> 00:03:35.550 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% Their fish populations are amazing and you still see healthy corals but when there's 00:03:35.550 --> 00:03:38.040 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% a lot of interaction with people, then you get problems. 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:41.920 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% - If I'm an average American who may never get to see the Great Barrier Reef 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:45.360 unfortunately, why should I care about this? Why is it important? 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.167 - Well, reefs, in general are incredibly important in the oceans. 00:03:48.167 --> 00:03:51.719 Something like one-quarter of everything that lives in the ocean lives with coral 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:54.472 reefs which is amazing when you think of the fact that if 00:03:54.472 --> 00:03:56.773 you took coral reefs and squashed them down into just one place, 00:03:56.773 --> 00:04:00.323 it's only about the size of Texas or France. And then they're also worth 00:04:00.323 --> 00:04:02.860 quite a bit of money. And in the Australian context, for 00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:07.710 example, over 5 billion Australian dollars and about 50,000 jobs every year. 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:10.770 - So how do you stop this die off? What are we supposed to be doing about it? 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:15.180 - Well, there are a couple of things that we can do. One is that we 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:19.750 can continue the regulations on fishing. The Great Barrier Reef, one-third of it is 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:24.050 protected from all fishing, and that's very important for controlling this 00:04:24.050 --> 00:04:27.613 crown-of-thorns starfish and then they have to do a better job 00:04:27.613 --> 00:04:33.320 with water quality. It's been modeled in a way that suggests that although 00:04:33.320 --> 00:04:38.030 now we get outbreaks about every 15 years before European 00:04:38.030 --> 00:04:42.430 agriculture was established, it was closer to 50 to 80...once every 50 to 80 years. 00:04:42.430 --> 00:04:46.430 And so that's a big increase. Those are things that the 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:50.970 Australians can do and are doing but in a global sense, we also have to do something 00:04:50.970 --> 00:04:55.426 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% about carbon dioxide, because local protection buys you a lot of very valuable 00:04:55.426 --> 00:04:59.860 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% time, but in the final analysis, if we don't stop global warming and stop 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:04.480 line:72% position:50% align:middle size:100% ocean acidification, even the local efforts, heroic as they are in 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.020 the case of the Great Barrier Reef, won't be enough. 00:05:06.020 --> 00:05:10.599 - Is it possible for coral to regrow itself, to regenerate itself? 00:05:10.599 --> 00:05:12.050 It seems to me I've read that somewhere. 00:05:12.050 --> 00:05:15.080 - Yeah, corals are actually sort of like plants and you can break them into 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:18.020 little pieces just the way you might separate something in your garden and 00:05:18.020 --> 00:05:20.310 plant them in different places and they regrow so they're 00:05:20.310 --> 00:05:22.899 quite flexible in that way. If the conditions are good, corals will 00:05:22.899 --> 00:05:26.593 grow and some of them actually grow fairly fast, although many of them 00:05:26.593 --> 00:05:29.539 are fairly slow. You can sort of think of them as trees in a way. 00:05:29.539 --> 00:05:34.955 - So if you can find some way to stop the die off, then they can come back? 00:05:34.955 --> 00:05:38.500 - Absolutely. I mean, coral reefs in many parts of the world routinely get battered 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:41.024 by typhoons and hurricanes and cyclones but they come 00:05:41.024 --> 00:05:42.514 back when the conditions are good. 00:05:42.514 --> 00:05:46.839 - Nancy Knowlton of the Smithsonian, I don't know why I can't say that tonight, 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.283 Museum of Natural History. Thank you for helping us out. 00:05:50.283 --> 00:05:52.000 - Thank you.
We accept most common web video formats, including MPEG (.mpg, .mpeg), MPEG-4 (.mp4), Flash (.flv), QuickTime (.mov), Windows Media Video (.wmv), Audio Video Interleave (.avi), HD Digital Video (.mts), Blu-ray (.m2ts), DVD Video Object (.vob), and RealVideo (.rm). Other supported formats include .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, and .webm.
A low-resolution or even a proof version of your video is fine. Our captioners only need to see enough detail to disambiguate the dialogue. In fact, we transcode high-resolution videos down to low-resolution to make them easier to work with in our captioning console. Providing lower resolution versions of your videos will also decrease your upload time, which could be significant depending on the speed of your internet connection.
There is one exception, however. If you are requesting open captions as part of our Premium Captions service, you’ll want to upload a video with resolution at least as high as what you want to receive back from us. We use the video you upload to us as the source, and overlay captions on top of that. The resulting video will be the same resolution as the original video you uploaded to us.
You’ll receive caption files that can be downloaded in any of the industry-standard formats. You’ll also receive a transcript which can be published alongside your video for SEO purposes. If you ordered premium captions, you’ll also have the option of receiving your original video back with burned-in captions (aka open captions).
Yes, you’ll be able to download a transcript at no additional charge. Video transcripts can improve your SEO and help attract visitors to your website. Publish the transcript alongside the video, and every spoken phrase is instantly searchable on the web.
We provide all the the industry-standard formats:
For Premium Captions, we also offer burned-in, or open captions. That is, you’ll have the option of receiving your original video back with “always on” captions that have been added permanently to the video.
If your project requires a specialized caption format not listed above, please contact us, and we’d be happy to discuss it with you.
Yes. Please contact us, about your special requirements.
Yes. We offer burned-in captions, also known as open captions, at no additional charge when you order Premium Captions. Before placing your order, you’ll need to contact us to advise that you want open captions and work out the presentation and encoding details.
If all you want to do is view the captions on top of the video as it is playing, the best way to do this is to use VLC, a very popular cross-platform free video player. As long as the caption file is in the same folder as the video and has the same base name (without the extension), it should play automatically. Otherwise, just select “Add Subtitle File…” from the “Subtitle” menu on the main toolbar. As part of our Premium Captions service, you’ll have access to our web-based captions viewer.
Most caption files formats are plain text, so you can open and edit them in any text editor (e.g. Windows Notepad). You could also use one of the many free caption/subtitle editors, such as Subtitle Edit or Subtitle Workshop. Some caption formats, such as SCC or XML-based formats are more technical in nature, and therefore more difficult for the average person to work with in a text editor. For those cases, you’d be better off using a caption/subtitle editor.
This depends on the platform you are using to host your video. Each platform has its own instructions for uploading captions. The first step is to find those instructions to understand what formats the platform accepts. Then, log into your Speechpad account, and download one of the supported formats. For your convenience, here are some links to caption upload instructions for the more popular video platforms:
If you are hosting videos on your own website, how you integrate captions will depend on the video player your developers are using. The HTML5 <video> element is a popular choice for modern websites. You can use the <track> element to add captions. There is plenty of documentation on the internet for how to use these elements. You might want to start with this article from Mozilla: Adding Captions and Subtitles to HTML5 Video. The HTML5 <track> element requires captions to be in WebVTT format. You can download that format from the Speechpad website after logging into your account.
Yes. We charge $1.00/minute to turn your transcript into Standard Captions. The price includes an edit pass of the transcript, and you’ll be able to download caption files in any of our supported formats.
Yes.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required that video programming distributors (television, cable, and satellite service providers) dramatically increase the availability of closed captions. Specifically, the act required that by January 1, 2012, all new non-exempt English and Spanish video programming include closed captions. Furthermore, it required that 75% of all pre-rule non-exempt English and Spanish video programming include closed captions.
These requirements were later expanded by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which was signed into law on October 8, 2010. The CVAA is a comprehensive update to federal communications law with the goal making modern communication systems more accessible to people with disabilities. More specifically, the CVAA makes sure that 20th-century accessibility laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are brought up to date with the digital, broadband and mobile innovations of the 21st century. The Act authorizes and requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce a wide range of regulations to make advanced communications services and video programming more accessible. Title II of the act specifically addresses closed captioning requirements. In particular, it requires that video programming that is closed-captioned on TV to also be closed-caption when distributed over the Internet.
On March 31, 2014, the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) issued Document FCC-14-12, a report, order, and declaratory ruling aimed at improving the quality of closed captions for the deaf and hard of hearing. In part, the order set quality standards for the accuracy, synchronicity (timing), completeness, and placement of captions.
Taken together, these above acts and regulations require that nearly all broadcast TV content re-broadcast internet videos to include high-quality closed captions.
Speechpad’s Premium Captions satisfy all of these requirements. In particular, they satisfy the following quality standards detailed in FCC Document FCC-14-12:
Yes.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended in 2008, created a comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This includes enforceable standards and requirements for making public business and facilities accessible to people with disabilities. These requirements are codified in Title 42, Chapter 126 and Title 47, Chapter 5 of the United States Code. The following sections of this code are relevant to captions and subtitles:
Speechpad’s Standard and Premium Captions satisfy 42 U.S.C. 12103(1)(A) as an effective method of making audible materials accessible to the hearing impaired. They also satisfy 47 U.S.C. 611 for closed captioning.
The first step is to create an account and then sign in. That should take less than a minute. Once you are signed in, click the Upload Files link on the top navigation bar. You’ll have a choice to upload from your computer or from the web. The rest of the upload process is self-explanatory.
Once your files are uploaded, they will appear under My Files in the My Audio and Video tab. Initially, they will be shown as “converting.” Once they have finished converting, ensure that the checkbox to the left is selected for each file you want to order and then select a product on the right (Transcription, Standard Captions, Premium Captions). Click the Go To Checkout button, and enter your credit card info on the next page. Click the Continue button, and then review your order before finally clicking the Submit Order button.
Yes. It takes less than a minute to create an account. Creating an account is free, we won’t ask for a credit card until you make your first purchase.
We accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). We also allow payment by invoice, but there is an application process for that.
At the time you place your order.
Yes. However, there is an application process, and we will begin working on your order only after you have been approved for invoicing. To pay by invoice, change the Payment Method to Pay By Invoice before clicking the Go To Checkout button when placing your order. You will receive via email an application form with further instructions.
The Speechpad website has been thoroughly tested with modern versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari on both PCs and Macs.
Private customer data is secured using industry-standard algorithms such as AES 256-bit encryption, and access to customer files is only available on an as-needed basis. Our transcribers, proofreaders, and quality control personnel are required to sign a confidentiality agreement which governs the treatment of customer data, including its destruction upon job completion. We do not share customer data or personally identifiable information with outside parties. Your credit card information is securely encrypted, and none of our personnel are able to decrypt the credit card number. To learn more, please see our Security Pledge.
We currently support the following digital audio and video file formats:
Audio: acc, aif, aiff, amr, ape, au, cda, gsm, flac, m4a, mid, mp3, mpga, ogg, raw, shn, sri, vox, wav, and wma.
Video: 3g2, 3gp, avi, flv, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, video, and wmv.
If you have a digital file in a format not listed here, please let us know. We are adding more and more file formats all the time.
We don’t normally accept non-digital formats (e.g. cassette tapes). However, if you have no other means of getting the audio to us, please contact us to discuss.
Create an account, upload files from your computer or the web, select a turnaround time option, provide payment information, and submit your order. When your files are finished, you simply download them from your secure account on the Speechpad website. For more information, see How do I get started? in this FAQ.
In most cases, we can cancel your order and issue a full refund. Please contact us to cancel and provide the appropriate details.
At the time of your cancellation, we will refund your order amount less any costs incurred if your file has already been accepted by a transcriber.
Absolutely! While voice recognition technology gets better every day, it’s still not nearly as accurate as a team of dedicated human transcribers, who can understand accents and slang phrases, handle multiple speakers, and describe sounds: all things that transcription programs can’t do.
Speechpad is constantly evaluating the state of automatic speech recognition technology, and we already take advantage of it as part of our captioning process. As the technology evolves, we will continue to incorporate it into our process where it makes sense to do so.
We use a variety of sources to find freelancers to do transcription work. First and foremost, we have have a dedicated section of our website where transcribers searching for work can discover Speechpad, learn about our onboarding process, and apply for work. We also post jobs on independent crowd-sourcing websites such as Mechanical Turk and Upwork. Finally, we advertise on work-at-home websites and forums.
Regardless of where the workers are sourced, they must all go through a vetting and qualification process before being allowed to work on our system. This process includes proving proficiency with transcription, grammar, and the ability to follow style guides and customer instructions. We also require workers to sign a confidentiality agreement. After having successfully completed the vetting and onboarding process, workers are granted the minimum qualifications that give them access to the basic jobs on our system.
Many jobs require further qualifications, including such things as background checks and/or proving proficiency at specific skills, such as verbatim transcription, captioning, and editing.
When it comes to Speechpad’s corporate priorities, customer satisfaction is at the top of the list. We value happy customers more than anything else. The quality and reliability of our service are the two biggest factors that influence customer satisfaction. That’s why we’ve implemented a multi-tier quality assurance system.
Reviewers are the first tier and the foundation of our Q.A. pyramid. They are responsible for ensuring that each customer receives an excellent quality product. Reviewers turn good quality work products into excellent ones, reject poor quality, and return mediocre products for rework. In that sense, they are the “gatekeepers” to the customer, ensuring that only top quality products make it out of the system.
The next tier in the pyramid is our Quality Assurance Team. The Q.A. Team members are responsible for ensuring that reviewers are doing their jobs effectively. They regularly perform Q.A. checks on work that has been approved by Speechpad reviewers. If they ever find that the work does not live up to Speechpad’s standards, the reviewer is put on probation, and his or her Reviewer qualification is temporarily revoked. Likewise, if a customer submits a rating of less than 4 out of 5, the reviewer is either put on probation or permanently disqualified, depending on the circumstances. Certain trusted members of the QA Team are chosen to spot check the work of other Q.A. Team members. This provides an extra level of assurance that reviewers are receiving sufficient oversight.
The Speechpad Operations Team is responsible for ensuring service quality and reliability, customer satisfaction, worker satisfaction and efficiency. As part of fulfilling those responsibilities, the team provides 24/7 customer support, 24/7 worker support, and customer management. Certain members of the Operations Team are also responsible for overseeing the Q.A. Team and spot checking their work (the top tier of the Q.A. pyramid).
Go to the Speechpad Worker Website and click the Register link. Before you do, however, please be sure to read the rest of this FAQ to make sure that transcription work is a good fit for your skillset. Speechpad is very selective in choosing which transcribers are qualified to work for us. If you are not fluent in English, good with grammar, and a fast typist, you will likely struggle with completing the jobs to the quality our clients expect.
All jobs are priced per audio minute. For transcription jobs, the pay ranges from $0.25/min for entry-level work to as high as $1.00/min for jobs requiring more experience. Captioning jobs pay between $.30/min and $1.00/min. Review jobs range from $0.20/min for entry-level work, up to $1.00/min for premium captions review. Please keep in mind that review jobs are made available by invitation only for workers who have consistently produced high-quality transcripts and/or captions. How much you earn per hour depends on how fast you are able to transcribe. An experienced transcriptionist could typically finish 15 to 20 audio minutes per elapsed hour. An experienced reviewer should be able to finish 40 minutes of review work per elapsed hour.
First and foremost, you must be fluent in English and good with grammar. You should be able to understand various accents and dialects. You should be able to type at least 40 words per minute. You can find out how fast you type by searching for typing speed test. In addition, you should be detail-oriented and comfortable searching the web to find the correct spelling of proper nouns and technical terms.
You only need a computer and internet connection, but we highly recommend headphones as well. If you are using a Windows-based computer, we suggest getting a foot pedal. We recommend the Infiniti Foot Control – IN-USB-2. The Infiniti Foot Control – IN-USB-1 and the Start-Stop® UNIVERSAL Transcription System will both work as well. Once you have the foot pedal, you can download Speechpad’s Foot Control software to allow you to use the foot pedal with our transcription and captioning consoles.
You can work as much or as little as you like, and you are free to set your own schedule. We do require, however, that before starting a job, you ensure that you have allotted sufficient time to complete it.
Workers are paid every Tueday for all files that were approved as of midnight, Monday GMT and Friday for all files that were approved as of midnight, Thursday GMT.