Wistia Video Transcription: Complete Guide

Wistia is built for business video—marketing content, sales enablement, training videos, and product demos. Unlike consumer platforms, Wistia's transcription features are designed around lead generation, analytics, and professional workflows.

This guide covers how to transcribe Wistia videos effectively, whether you're using their built-in tools or external services for better control.

Quick Navigation

• Wistia's Transcription Features
• When to Use External Transcription
• Downloading Videos from Wistia
• External Transcription Process
• Uploading Captions to Wistia
• Interactive Transcripts
• Marketing and Sales Use Cases
• FAQ

Wistia's Transcription Features

According to Wistia's Help Center, transcription and captioning options are available across their plans.

Automated Transcripts (All Paid Plans)

What's Included:

• Automated transcripts included free on all current Wistia paid plans
• Computer-generated with approximately 95% accuracy
• Completed in minutes after upload
• Editable within Wistia's interface

Features:

• Transcripts and captions sync together—edits to one update the other
• Toggle captions on/off per video
• Searchable transcript text
• Transcript translations available on paid plans

Professional Transcripts (Additional Cost)

Via 3Play Media Integration:

• Human-reviewed with 99% accuracy
• Standard turnaround: 4 business days
• Rush option: 1 business day (additional fee)
• Higher accuracy for critical content

Manual Caption Upload

Available On: All Wistia plans

Process:

1. Create or obtain an SRT file
2. Go to video customize page
3. Click "Captions" in left sidebar
4. Upload SRT file
5. Select language
6. Save and publish

When to Use External Transcription

External transcription makes sense when:

Scenario	Why External?
Free Wistia plan	No automated transcripts
Need multiple formats	TXT, SRT, VTT, JSON
Multiple speakers	Speaker identification (diarization)
Content repurposing	Editable text file
Offline documentation	Standalone files
Custom workflow	Integration with other tools

Cost Comparison

Wistia Automated Transcripts:

• Included on paid plans (no per-video cost)
• 95% accuracy (computer-generated)
• Tied to Wistia platform

Wistia Professional Transcripts (3Play Media):

• Additional per-video cost
• 99% accuracy (human-reviewed)
• 1-4 business day turnaround

External Transcription:

• Pay per file (BrassTranscripts: $2.50-6.00 per file)
• Works with any Wistia plan including free
• Immediate results (1-3 min per hour)
• Multiple formats included

Downloading Videos from Wistia

Standard Download Process

1. Navigate to your video in your Wistia account

2. Click "Video Actions" dropdown (top right of video)

3. Select "Download"

4. Choose quality:

   • Original: Full quality source file
   • HD 1080p: Good balance of quality and size
   • HD 720p: Smaller files, adequate for transcription
   • SD: Smallest, sufficient for audio extraction

5. Wait for download (large files may take time to prepare)

Download Considerations

File Size:

• Original quality can be very large
• For transcription, 720p is usually sufficient (audio quality matters more than video)
• Smaller files upload faster to transcription services

Permissions:

• You can download videos you've uploaded
• Team members may need download permissions enabled
• Embedded videos on other sites can't be downloaded without account access

Extracting Audio Only

If your video file is too large:

1. Download the video at any quality
2. Use a tool like FFmpeg or VLC to extract audio:

   ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec mp3 audio.mp3
   

3. Upload the smaller MP3 file for transcription

External Transcription Process

Step 1: Prepare Your File

Supported Formats: MP4 (from Wistia), MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC

Limits:

• Maximum file size: 250MB
• Maximum duration: 2 hours

Step 2: Upload and Transcribe

Using BrassTranscripts:

1. Go to brasstranscripts.com
2. Upload your Wistia video/audio file
3. Review the 30-word preview
4. Check detected speaker count
5. Complete payment

Step 3: Download Transcripts

After processing (1-3 minutes per hour of video):

Download all formats:

• SRT: For Wistia caption upload
• TXT: For content repurposing, blog posts
• VTT: Alternative caption format
• JSON: For custom integrations, data analysis

Step 4: Review and Edit

Before uploading to Wistia:

1. Open the SRT file in a text editor
2. Review for accuracy
3. Fix brand names, technical terms
4. Adjust speaker labels if needed
5. Save changes

Uploading Captions to Wistia

Standard Upload Process

1. Open your video in Wistia
2. Click "Customize" (left sidebar)
3. Click "Captions"
4. Click "Upload captions"
5. Select your SRT file
6. Choose language (e.g., English)
7. Click "Save"

Caption Settings

After upload, configure display options:

• Default on/off: Whether captions show by default
• Position: Bottom of video (standard)
• Style: Wistia applies consistent styling

Editing Uploaded Captions

If corrections are needed after upload:

1. Go to Captions settings
2. Click "Edit" next to your caption track
3. Make changes in Wistia's editor
4. Save changes

Or upload a corrected SRT file to replace the existing one.

Interactive Transcripts

Wistia offers interactive transcripts that display the full text alongside the video, allowing viewers to click any line to jump to that moment.

Enabling Interactive Transcripts

1. Ensure captions are uploaded/generated
2. Go to Customize → Timeline Actions
3. Enable "Transcript" widget
4. Choose display position (below video recommended)

Benefits of Interactive Transcripts

For Viewers:

• Scan content quickly
• Click to jump to relevant sections
• Read while watching
• Accessible for deaf/hard-of-hearing users

For SEO:

• Full transcript text visible to search engines
• Increases keyword density on page
• Improves time on page
• Supports accessibility compliance

For Analytics:

• Track which sections viewers click
• Identify most-accessed content
• Optimize future videos based on engagement

Marketing and Sales Use Cases

Marketing Videos

Product Demos

• Transcripts ensure technical accuracy
• SEO benefits from detailed product terminology
• Accessibility for all potential customers
• Repurpose into feature documentation

Webinar Recordings

• Full transcripts for post-event content
• Create blog posts from sessions
• Extract quotes for social media
• Build searchable content library

Brand Videos

• Captions for social media sharing
• Consistent messaging verification
• Translation for global markets
• Archive for brand governance

Sales Enablement

Sales Training

• Transcripts support different learning styles
• Searchable training library
• Extract key talking points
• Track completion through accessibility

Customer Testimonials

• Quote extraction for case studies
• Accurate attribution
• Repurpose across channels
• SEO content from customer stories

Product Updates

• Document feature announcements
• Create written change logs
• Sales team reference material
• Customer communication support

Customer Education

Tutorial Videos

• Searchable how-to content
• Step-by-step text references
• Support multiple learning preferences
• Reduce support ticket volume

Onboarding Videos

• New user documentation
• Accessible to all customers
• Translate for global customers
• Reference material for users

FAQ

Does Wistia index transcript text for search?

Within your Wistia account, yes—you can search video content by transcript text. For external search engines (Google), the interactive transcript feature exposes text on your webpage, making it indexable.

Can I get transcripts from Wistia's auto-captions?

Wistia's auto-generated captions can be exported as SRT files. Go to the video's caption settings and look for download/export options. The text is available, though formatting may need adjustment for non-video uses.

How do captions affect Wistia video engagement?

According to various studies, videos with captions see higher completion rates. Wistia's analytics can show you engagement metrics with and without captions enabled to measure impact for your specific audience.

What about videos longer than 2 hours?

For very long videos (training series, full webinars):

1. Split the video into segments
2. Transcribe each segment
3. Upload separate SRT files
4. Wistia handles chapter markers separately if needed

Can I automate transcription for new Wistia uploads?

Wistia's automated transcription (on all paid plans) handles this automatically. For external transcription, you'd need to build an automation using Wistia's API to trigger transcription when new videos are uploaded.

How do multilingual captions work?

Wistia supports multiple caption tracks per video. Upload separate SRT files for each language, designating the language for each. Viewers can switch between languages in the player controls.

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Related Resources:

• Video Transcription Complete Guide
• Choosing Transcript Formats
• ADA Compliance Guide

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Ready to transcribe your Wistia videos? Upload your video and get SRT captions ready for Wistia in minutes. Works with any Wistia plan.