openai-whisper

You can transcribe audio locally by running the Whisper CLI, which processes files offline and produces text outputs without requiring an external API key. This ensures data privacy by avoiding cloud services.

Yes, Whisper supports translation via the --task translate option and allows you to specify various output formats using the --output_format option for your speech-to-text files.

Yes, offline transcription requires the whisper binary to be installed. On the first run, the system automatically downloads and stores the necessary models in the ~/.cache/whisper directory.

Yes, you can select a specific model for local transcription by using the --model option when executing the Whisper CLI, allowing you to balance processing speed and accuracy.

Local transcription using the Whisper CLI is the best way to handle privacy-conscious workflows for lectures, meetings, and podcasts, as it processes audio entirely offline without uploading data to external servers.

Whisper stores downloaded models in ~/.cache/whisper on the first run to enable fully offline transcription. This local caching ensures subsequent speech-to-text processing does not require an internet connection.