Speech to text · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Upload a voice note, a call recording or a video and get Punjabi text back. It is free for files up to 2 minutes without an account (3 files a day); longer files need a free account. Download the result as text, Word or subtitles. The transcript is in Gurmukhi, with English words such as parcel and check written in Gurmukhi too.
Upload a voice note, call recording or video in Punjabi, or record yourself. Free up to 2 minutes a file, 3 files a day, no account.
Upload MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC, AMR, a WhatsApp voice note (.opus or .ogg) or an MP4 or MOV video, or record up to 2 minutes from your microphone. Switch between Gurmukhi, Roman script and an English translation (made by Vyas, our language model, when you open the tab), then copy the text or download TXT or DOCX, plus SRT subtitles for uploaded files. No account needed for files up to 2 minutes, 3 a day.
Drop in an audio or video file and get Punjabi text back in Gurmukhi. It reads MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC and AMR audio, WhatsApp voice notes (.opus and .ogg) and MP4 or MOV video, and the file is decoded on our server, so it works the same on an iPhone. You can also record from your microphone. There is no language menu: Valmiki STT, the speech recognition model behind it, works out that the speech is Punjabi, including English words in the middle of a sentence.
Copy the transcript, or download it as a TXT file or a Word document. For an uploaded file you also get an SRT subtitle file to load into YouTube Studio or a video editor. Long recordings after sign-up cost $0.00525 per minute of audio, billed by the second, the same for every language.
Real transcripts
Each sentence was read by Veer, a Pāṇini TTS voice, and sent to Valmiki STT as a file: twice as the clean recording and twice as an 8 kHz phone-quality copy (squeezed down to 8 kHz and back, the way a phone line does it). The transcripts are shown exactly as they came back, errors included. Tested 25 October 2026. These are synthetic clips, not recorded calls.
Same transcript in all four runs. It wrote ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓ ਕਿ (tell me) as ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓਗੇ (will you tell), dropping ਕਿ, and spelled the greeting the formal way, ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ.
Identical to the clean runs, in both phone-quality runs.
No public benchmark includes Valmiki STT, so we do not publish a table comparing it with other services. Judge it on audio like yours instead. Play each clip above and compare what was said with what came back, word by word. Then upload a recording of your own that is close to what you will really transcribe: the same kind of phone line or microphone, the same speakers, the same mix of Punjabi and English. Count the words that changed meaning, not the spelling variants, and try the 8 kHz case if your audio comes from calls.
About Punjabi
Punjabi is tonal, though Gurmukhi spelling hides it: letters such as ਘ and ਧ are written like breathy consonants but spoken as plain ones with a change of pitch. A transcriber has to hear the tone and still spell the word the written way. On our test sentence, Valmiki STT spelled every Punjabi word correctly, including the doubled consonant in ਤੱਕ and the nasal ਨਹੀਂ, and wrote parcel and check in Gurmukhi as ਪਾਰਸਲ and ਚੈੱਕ.
All four runs, clean and 8 kHz, were identical, and all four made the same change: ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓ ਕਿ (tell me whether) became ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓਗੇ (will you tell), with ਕਿ gone. The meaning survives, but it is not what was said. The greeting came back in its formal spelling, ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ, where we had written the everyday ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ.
Dialects and mixing
Our test sentence is Majhi-style Punjabi, the standard of Amritsar and Lahore. Doabi (Jalandhar), Malwai (Ludhiana, Bathinda) and Puadhi differ in words and verb endings, as in ਆਊਗਾ versus ਆਵੇਗਾ (will come). Valmiki STT has one Punjabi language and no regional setting, and we have not tested the regional forms, so try recordings from your own area.
In Pakistan, Punjabi is written in Shahmukhi, a Perso-Arabic script shared with Urdu, and Punjabi speakers there often slide into Urdu. We tested Indian Punjabi in Gurmukhi only; for Pakistani Punjabi, test whether the transcript comes back as Punjabi in Shahmukhi, as Urdu, or as Gurmukhi before you rely on it.
Use cases
Voice notes between Punjab and families in Canada, the UK and Australia, or from a travel or visa agent. Upload the .opus file and read the Gurmukhi, or open the English tab for relatives who do not read it.
Punjabi music interviews, kirtan and katha, farming channels and vlogs. For your own channel, download the MP4 from YouTube Studio and use the SRT file as a start on Gurmukhi captions.
Interviews for journalism and research in Punjab, and recorded meetings. Upload parts of up to 10 minutes after a free sign-up and download a Word file.
Calls for courier, immigration and education agencies, where applicants and families ask about status. Read what each caller asked instead of replaying the call.
Voice typing
Voice typing is a different job from transcribing a file: you speak and the words appear as you go. Sonex Labs has no voice-typing keyboard or app, so for that, use the tools already on your phone or computer.
1. Android phone (Gboard)
Install Gboard, add Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) under Languages in its settings, then tap the microphone on the keyboard.
2. iPhone
Add the Punjabi keyboard in Settings, then General, Keyboard, Keyboards. If your iPhone offers dictation for Punjabi, a microphone key appears on that keyboard; if not, record a voice memo and upload it here.
3. WhatsApp
To type a message by voice, tap the microphone on your keyboard, not the voice-note button in WhatsApp; the keyboard writes the words into the chat box. WhatsApp can also show a transcript under a received voice message in some languages (Settings, then Chats, then Voice message transcripts). If Punjabi is not offered there, save the voice note and upload it above.
4. Microsoft Word
Word's Dictate does not list Punjabi, and Google Docs voice typing does not list it either (both checked October 2026). Voice-type on your phone and paste the text into Word.
5. Windows
Windows 11 voice typing does not list Punjabi (checked October 2026). On a PC, record the audio and upload it here.
For recordings longer than a minute, use the uploader above.
API
Send a recording to POST /v1/transcribe and read the Punjabi text from the reply. There is no language parameter. $0.00525 per minute of audio, billed by the second.
1# pip install requests2import requests34with open("punjabi-voice-note.ogg", "rb") as audio:5 r = requests.post(6 "https://api.sonexlabs.com/v1/transcribe",7 headers={8 "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",9 "Content-Type": "audio/wav", # audio/mpeg, audio/ogg (WhatsApp notes), audio/mp4 ...10 },11 data=audio,12 )13r.raise_for_status()14result = r.json()15print(result["text"]) # ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ ਜੀ, ਮੇਰਾ ਪਾਰਸਲ ਹਾਲੇ ਤੱਕ ਨਹੀਂ ਆਇਆ। ...16print(result["duration_seconds"], "seconds of audio")About ₹0.50 a minute (₹29.93 an hour of audio), at exchange rates from open.er-api.com, 25 October 2026. Live streaming, limits and error codes are on the speech to text API page, and plans are on pricing.
FAQ
Yes, for short files. The uploader on this page turns Punjabi audio into text with no account for files up to 2 minutes, 3 files a day. For longer files, sign up free and transcribe files of up to 10 minutes and 10 MB each in the dashboard or through the API; that costs $0.00525 a minute, billed by the second, so a 10-minute recording costs about 5.25 US cents.
There is no app to install. The uploader works in the browser on a phone too: open this page on Android or iPhone, pick a voice note, recording or video from your files, and read the Punjabi text. For typing by voice as you speak, use your phone keyboard's microphone, as described in the voice-typing steps above.
Yes. It runs in a current browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari on a Windows PC or a Mac, and Safari or Chrome on an iPhone or Android phone. Files are decoded on our server, so an iPhone voice memo, a WhatsApp .opus note or a MOV video works the same as on a PC. There is nothing to install.
Long-press the voice note in WhatsApp and share or export it to your files; on Android, received voice notes are also kept as .opus files in WhatsApp's media folder. Upload the .opus or .ogg file here and the Punjabi text appears. Notes up to 2 minutes need no account.
Upload the audio, then open the English tab above the transcript. Vyas, our language model, translates the Punjabi transcript when you open the tab, and you can copy it or download it like the transcript. Check names, amounts and dates against the Punjabi text, because a word misheard in Punjabi carries into the English.
Yes. The uploader's Roman script tab shows the transcript in English letters, the way Punjabi is often typed in chats and song lyrics. The API returns Gurmukhi, as it did in all four runs of our sample.
On our test sentence, every word but one phrase was right, the same in all four runs: ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓ ਕਿ came back as ਦੱਸ ਦਿਓਗੇ. That is one sentence, not a benchmark; test recordings like yours, especially if your speakers use Doabi or Malwai forms.
Without an account, 2 minutes per file and 3 files a day. With a free account, up to 10 minutes and 10 MB per audio file in the dashboard or the API, billed by the second. For anything longer, split the recording into parts of 10 minutes or less and send each one; the API takes the same limit.
We have not tested Pakistani Punjabi. Indian Punjabi came back in Gurmukhi on every run, and there is no setting to choose the script. Test a recording of your own if you need Shahmukhi.
Related
Need the reverse? Turn Punjabi text into speech with Pāṇini TTS, free to try without an account.
Free for files up to 2 minutes without an account. Longer files, with a free account: $0.00525 per minute of audio, billed by the second.