Transcribe short audio files

This page demonstrates how to transcribe a short audio file to text using synchronous speech recognition.

Synchronous speech recognition returns the recognized text for short audio (less than 60 seconds). To process a speech recognition request for audio longer than 60 seconds, use Asynchronous Speech Recognition.

Audio content can be sent directly to Speech-to-Text from a local file, or Speech-to-Text can process audio content stored in a Google Cloud Storage bucket. See the quotas & limits page for limits on synchronous speech recognition requests.

Perform synchronous speech recognition on a local file

Here is an example of performing synchronous speech recognition on a local audio file:

REST

Refer to the speech:recognize API endpoint for complete details. See the RecognitionConfig reference documentation for more information on configuring the request body.

The audio content supplied in the request body must be base64-encoded. For more information on how to base64-encode audio, see Base64 Encoding Audio Content. For more information on the content field, see RecognitionAudio.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • LANGUAGE_CODE: the BCP-47 code of the language spoken in your audio clip.
  • ENCODING: the encoding of the audio you want to transcribe.
  • SAMPLE_RATE_HERTZ: sample rate in hertz of the audio you want to transcribe.
  • ENABLE_WORD_TIME_OFFSETS: enable this field if you want word start and end time offsets (timestamps) returned.
  • INPUT_AUDIO: a base64-encoded string of the audio data that you want to transcribe.
  • PROJECT_ID: the alphanumeric ID of your Google Cloud project.

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://speech.googleapis.com/v1/speech:recognize

Request JSON body: 

{
  "config": {
      "languageCode": "LANGUAGE_CODE",
      "encoding": "ENCODING",
      "sampleRateHertz": SAMPLE_RATE_HERTZ,
      "enableWordTimeOffsets": ENABLE_WORD_TIME_OFFSETS
  },
  "audio": {
    "content": "INPUT_AUDIO"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "transcript": "how old is the Brooklyn Bridge",
          "confidence": 0.98267895
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

gcloud

Refer to recognize command for complete details.

To perform speech recognition on a local file, use the Google Cloud CLI, passing in the local filepath of the file to perform speech recognition on.

gcloud ml speech recognize PATH-TO-LOCAL-FILE --language-code='en-US'

If the request is successful, the server returns a response in JSON format:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "confidence": 0.9840146,
          "transcript": "how old is the Brooklyn Bridge"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Go

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


func recognize(w io.Writer, file string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := speech.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer client.Close()

	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(file)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	// Send the contents of the audio file with the encoding and
	// and sample rate information to be transcripted.
	resp, err := client.Recognize(ctx, &speechpb.RecognizeRequest{
		Config: &speechpb.RecognitionConfig{
			Encoding:        speechpb.RecognitionConfig_LINEAR16,
			SampleRateHertz: 16000,
			LanguageCode:    "en-US",
		},
		Audio: &speechpb.RecognitionAudio{
			AudioSource: &speechpb.RecognitionAudio_Content{Content: data},
		},
	})

	// Print the results.
	for _, result := range resp.Results {
		for _, alt := range result.Alternatives {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "\"%v\" (confidence=%3f)\n", alt.Transcript, alt.Confidence)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

Java

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

/**
 * Performs speech recognition on raw PCM audio and prints the transcription.
 *
 * @param fileName the path to a PCM audio file to transcribe.
 */
public static void syncRecognizeFile(String fileName) throws Exception {
  try (SpeechClient speech = SpeechClient.create()) {
    Path path = Paths.get(fileName);
    byte[] data = Files.readAllBytes(path);
    ByteString audioBytes = ByteString.copyFrom(data);

    // Configure request with local raw PCM audio
    RecognitionConfig config =
        RecognitionConfig.newBuilder()
            .setEncoding(AudioEncoding.LINEAR16)
            .setLanguageCode("en-US")
            .setSampleRateHertz(16000)
            .build();
    RecognitionAudio audio = RecognitionAudio.newBuilder().setContent(audioBytes).build();

    // Use blocking call to get audio transcript
    RecognizeResponse response = speech.recognize(config, audio);
    List<SpeechRecognitionResult> results = response.getResultsList();

    for (SpeechRecognitionResult result : results) {
      // There can be several alternative transcripts for a given chunk of speech. Just use the
      // first (most likely) one here.
      SpeechRecognitionAlternative alternative = result.getAlternativesList().get(0);
      System.out.printf("Transcription: %s%n", alternative.getTranscript());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const fs = require('fs');
const speech = require('@google-cloud/speech');

// Creates a client
const client = new speech.SpeechClient();

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const filename = 'Local path to audio file, e.g. /path/to/audio.raw';
// const encoding = 'Encoding of the audio file, e.g. LINEAR16';
// const sampleRateHertz = 16000;
// const languageCode = 'BCP-47 language code, e.g. en-US';

const config = {
  encoding: encoding,
  sampleRateHertz: sampleRateHertz,
  languageCode: languageCode,
};
const audio = {
  content: fs.readFileSync(filename).toString('base64'),
};

const request = {
  config: config,
  audio: audio,
};

// Detects speech in the audio file
const [response] = await client.recognize(request);
const transcription = response.results
  .map(result => result.alternatives[0].transcript)
  .join('\n');
console.log('Transcription: ', transcription);

Python

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import argparse

from google.cloud import speech


def transcribe_file(speech_file: str) -> speech.RecognizeResponse:
    """Transcribe the given audio file."""
    client = speech.SpeechClient()

    with open(speech_file, "rb") as audio_file:
        content = audio_file.read()

    audio = speech.RecognitionAudio(content=content)
    config = speech.RecognitionConfig(
        encoding=speech.RecognitionConfig.AudioEncoding.LINEAR16,
        sample_rate_hertz=16000,
        language_code="en-US",
    )

    response = client.recognize(config=config, audio=audio)

    # Each result is for a consecutive portion of the audio. Iterate through
    # them to get the transcripts for the entire audio file.
    for result in response.results:
        # The first alternative is the most likely one for this portion.
        print(f"Transcript: {result.alternatives[0].transcript}")

    return response

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for Ruby.

Perform synchronous speech recognition on a remote file

For your convenience, Speech-to-Text API can perform synchronous speech recognition directly on an audio file located in Google Cloud Storage, without the need to send the contents of the audio file in the body of your request.

Here is an example of performing synchronous speech recognition on a file located in Cloud Storage:

REST

Refer to the speech:recognize API endpoint for complete details. See the RecognitionConfig reference documentation for more information on configuring the request body.

The audio content supplied in the request body must be base64-encoded. For more information on how to base64-encode audio, see Base64 Encoding Audio Content. For more information on the content field, see RecognitionAudio.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • LANGUAGE_CODE: the BCP-47 code of the language spoken in your audio clip.
  • ENCODING: the encoding of the audio you want to transcribe.
  • SAMPLE_RATE_HERTZ: sample rate in Hertz of the audio you want to transcribe.
  • ENABLE_WORD_TIME_OFFSETS: enable this field if you want word start and end time offsets (timestamps) returned.
  • STORAGE_BUCKET: a Cloud Storage bucket.
  • INPUT_AUDIO: the audio data file that you want to transcribe.
  • PROJECT_ID: the alphanumeric ID of your Google Cloud project.

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://speech.googleapis.com/v1/speech:recognize

Request JSON body: 

{
  "config": {
      "languageCode": "LANGUAGE_CODE",
      "encoding": "ENCODING",
      "sampleRateHertz": SAMPLE_RATE_HERTZ,
      "enableWordTimeOffsets": ENABLE_WORD_TIME_OFFSETS
  },
  "audio": {
    "uri": "gs://STORAGE_BUCKET/INPUT_AUDIO"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "transcript": "how old is the Brooklyn Bridge",
          "confidence": 0.98267895
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

gcloud

Refer to recognize command for complete details.

To perform speech recognition on a local file, use the Google Cloud CLI, passing in the local filepath of the file to perform speech recognition on.

gcloud ml speech recognize 'gs://cloud-samples-tests/speech/brooklyn.flac' \
--language-code='en-US'

If the request is successful, the server returns a response in JSON format:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "confidence": 0.9840146,
          "transcript": "how old is the Brooklyn Bridge"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Go

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


func recognizeGCS(w io.Writer, gcsURI string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := speech.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Send the request with the URI (gs://...)
	// and sample rate information to be transcripted.
	resp, err := client.Recognize(ctx, &speechpb.RecognizeRequest{
		Config: &speechpb.RecognitionConfig{
			Encoding:        speechpb.RecognitionConfig_LINEAR16,
			SampleRateHertz: 16000,
			LanguageCode:    "en-US",
		},
		Audio: &speechpb.RecognitionAudio{
			AudioSource: &speechpb.RecognitionAudio_Uri{Uri: gcsURI},
		},
	})

	// Print the results.
	for _, result := range resp.Results {
		for _, alt := range result.Alternatives {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "\"%v\" (confidence=%3f)\n", alt.Transcript, alt.Confidence)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

Java

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

/**
 * Performs speech recognition on remote FLAC file and prints the transcription.
 *
 * @param gcsUri the path to the remote FLAC audio file to transcribe.
 */
public static void syncRecognizeGcs(String gcsUri) throws Exception {
  // Instantiates a client with GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
  try (SpeechClient speech = SpeechClient.create()) {
    // Builds the request for remote FLAC file
    RecognitionConfig config =
        RecognitionConfig.newBuilder()
            .setEncoding(AudioEncoding.FLAC)
            .setLanguageCode("en-US")
            .setSampleRateHertz(16000)
            .build();
    RecognitionAudio audio = RecognitionAudio.newBuilder().setUri(gcsUri).build();

    // Use blocking call for getting audio transcript
    RecognizeResponse response = speech.recognize(config, audio);
    List<SpeechRecognitionResult> results = response.getResultsList();

    for (SpeechRecognitionResult result : results) {
      // There can be several alternative transcripts for a given chunk of speech. Just use the
      // first (most likely) one here.
      SpeechRecognitionAlternative alternative = result.getAlternativesList().get(0);
      System.out.printf("Transcription: %s%n", alternative.getTranscript());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const speech = require('@google-cloud/speech');

// Creates a client
const client = new speech.SpeechClient();

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const gcsUri = 'gs://my-bucket/audio.raw';
// const encoding = 'Encoding of the audio file, e.g. LINEAR16';
// const sampleRateHertz = 16000;
// const languageCode = 'BCP-47 language code, e.g. en-US';

const config = {
  encoding: encoding,
  sampleRateHertz: sampleRateHertz,
  languageCode: languageCode,
};
const audio = {
  uri: gcsUri,
};

const request = {
  config: config,
  audio: audio,
};

// Detects speech in the audio file
const [response] = await client.recognize(request);
const transcription = response.results
  .map(result => result.alternatives[0].transcript)
  .join('\n');
console.log('Transcription: ', transcription);

Python

To learn how to install and use the client library for Speech-to-Text, see Speech-to-Text client libraries. For more information, see the Speech-to-Text Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Speech-to-Text, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def transcribe_gcs(gcs_uri: str) -> speech.RecognizeResponse:
    """Transcribes the audio file specified by the gcs_uri."""
    from google.cloud import speech

    client = speech.SpeechClient()

    audio = speech.RecognitionAudio(uri=gcs_uri)
    config = speech.RecognitionConfig(
        encoding=speech.RecognitionConfig.AudioEncoding.FLAC,
        sample_rate_hertz=16000,
        language_code="en-US",
    )

    response = client.recognize(config=config, audio=audio)

    # Each result is for a consecutive portion of the audio. Iterate through
    # them to get the transcripts for the entire audio file.
    for result in response.results:
        # The first alternative is the most likely one for this portion.
        print(f"Transcript: {result.alternatives[0].transcript}")

    return response

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Speech-to-Text reference documentation for Ruby.