Speech to text · اردو
Upload a voice note, a call recording or a video and get Urdu 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 Urdu script, right to left, with English words such as order and check written the way Urdu writers spell them.
Upload a voice note, call recording or video in Urdu, 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 Urdu script, 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 Urdu text back in Urdu script. 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 Urdu, 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 clip was rendered by Pāṇini TTS and streamed to Valmiki STT twice: as a clean recording and as an 8 kHz phone-quality copy. The transcripts are shown exactly as they came back, errors included. Tested 24 October 2026. These are synthetic clips, not recorded calls.
Same transcript in both phone-quality runs.
Word for word.
No public benchmark includes Valmiki STT, so we do not publish a table comparing it with other services.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 Urdu 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 Urdu
Urdu is written right to left in Perso-Arabic script, and everyday Urdu borrows English freely: order, check, delivery. Valmiki STT returned Urdu script in every run of our test clip and wrote the English words the way Urdu writers do, as آرڈر and چیک.
Spoken Hindi and Urdu are close, so the script a transcriber picks matters. On our clip, Valmiki chose Urdu script every time. We have not tested speech that sits between the two, so check your own recordings. The only slip: the phone-quality runs wrote السلام علیکم as سلام علیکم.
Dialects and mixing
Urdu in Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad (Deccan) and Lucknow shares a written standard but not an accent, and in Pakistan most people speak Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto or Saraiki at home and Urdu with an accent from it. Our test sentence is neutral Urdu. Valmiki STT has one Urdu language, so test a recording from your own city.
A Lahore voice note often moves between Urdu and Punjabi in the same sentence. Valmiki STT detects language switches without a setting, but Punjabi spoken in Pakistan is written in Shahmukhi, the same script as Urdu, and we have not tested whether it keeps Punjabi words as Punjabi. Roman Urdu, the way most Pakistanis type in chats, is available in the uploader's Roman script tab.
Use cases
Urdu voice notes from family, a customer or a rider stuck at a gate. Upload the .opus file and read the Urdu, or switch to Roman Urdu or English.
Urdu drama clips, religious talks, news and vlogs. For your own channel, download the MP4 from YouTube Studio and use the SRT file as a start on captions.
Interviews for journalism and research in Pakistan and India, and recorded meetings. Upload parts of up to 10 minutes after a free sign-up and download a Word file.
Order and cash-on-delivery calls for e-commerce and courier teams. Read what each customer confirmed instead of listening again; at volume, send the recordings to the API.
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 Urdu (اردو) under Languages in its settings, then tap the microphone on the keyboard. It types Urdu script.
2. iPhone
Add the Urdu keyboard in Settings, then General, Keyboard, Keyboards. If your iPhone offers dictation for Urdu, a microphone key appears on that keyboard.
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 Urdu is not offered there, save the voice note and upload it above.
4. Microsoft Word
Word's Dictate does not list Urdu (checked October 2026). Voice-type in Google Docs instead (Tools, then Voice typing, then Urdu (Pakistan) or Urdu (India)) and download it as a Word file.
5. Windows
Windows 11 voice typing does not list Urdu (checked October 2026). On a PC, use Google Docs voice typing in Chrome or Edge.
For recordings longer than a minute, use the uploader above.
API
Send a recording to POST /v1/transcribe and read the Urdu 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("urdu-call.wav", "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"]) # السلام علیکم، میرا آرڈر ابھی تک نہیں آیا۔ ...16print(result["duration_seconds"], "seconds of audio")About Rs 1.45 a minute (Rs 87.20 an hour of audio); ₹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 Urdu 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 Urdu 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 Urdu 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 Urdu transcript when you open the tab, and you can copy it or download it like the transcript. Check names, amounts and dates against the Urdu text, because a word misheard in Urdu carries into the English.
Yes. The uploader's Roman script tab shows the transcript as Roman Urdu, in English letters. The API returns Urdu script, as it did in every run of our test clip, so convert the text yourself if your system needs Roman Urdu.
Our test sentence came back word for word on the clean recording; the phone-quality runs shortened السلام علیکم to سلام علیکم and got the rest right. That is one sentence, not a benchmark; test recordings like yours, with your callers' accents.
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.
Urdu script, in every run of our test clip, including the English words (آرڈر, چیک). Spoken Hindi and Urdu are close, so if your speakers mix both, check a few of your own recordings.
Related
Need the reverse? Turn Urdu text into speech with Pāṇini TTS, free to try without an account.
Answering Urdu phone calls rather than transcribing them? See Urdu voice agents.
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.