Start with the recording, not the transcript
An Arabic transcript is useful only if it preserves what the speaker actually said. Before running speech recognition, listen to the beginning and one passage from the middle of your recording. Note whether the speech is Modern Standard Arabic, a regional dialect, or a mixture with another language. Write down any names, locations and specialist terms you expect to hear. This short reference list gives you something concrete to check later; it is not a glossary that Transcribana sends to the model.
Use the clearest original file available. Repeatedly converting a low-quality recording to a higher bitrate does not restore missing speech. If music, clipping or overlapping voices cover a word, the model may supply a plausible but incorrect alternative. Keep the original recording alongside the finished text so you can check uncertain passages before quoting them.
Select Arabic and allow the first download
Open the transcription workspace in a current desktop Chrome browser, choose your audio or video file and wait for the local audio-track check. Select Arabic when you already know the spoken language. Auto Detect is useful when you do not know it, but it examines the beginning of the recording; a music-only opening or a speaker who starts in another language can make that decision less representative.
Arabic uses a dedicated recognition model, separate from the general Tiny, Base and Small choices. About 1.33 GB of model weights may need to download on first use. The Arabic path runs through CPU/WASM, not the general WebGPU setting. Allow enough network time and device memory, keep the tab open, and avoid starting several heavy jobs at once. A downloaded model may be cached, but browser eviction or cleared site data can trigger another download. No fixed processing time is promised.
Review meaning before polishing writing
Read the raw result while listening to the recording in your usual media player. Start with negation, amounts, dates and instructions: a small recognition error in one of these can reverse the meaning. Then check proper names and dialect-specific words. If two people speak together, do not assume that a smooth sentence means every voice was captured. Transcribana does not identify speakers reliably or provide speaker labels.
For example, a missing negative word is more important than an absent comma. Keep a separate note of uncertain passages and resolve them against the audio before publishing. Do not add information merely because it would make the sentence read better. Arabic cleanup is limited and deterministic; it is not an Arabic grammar service, a dialect translator or a tool for rewriting the speaker into formal Arabic.
Keep document edits separate from subtitle timing
The readable transcript can be edited manually. Check & Improve offers local suggestions for supported checks, and you choose which changes to accept. The original and working document versions remain separate. Copy Text and TXT use the document version selected in the interface, so check that selection before sharing a corrected version.
SRT, VTT and JSON preserve the original timed recognition segments. Editing a name or punctuation in the readable document does not silently change those exports. This distinction protects timing data, but it also means that a corrected TXT is not proof that your subtitle file contains the same corrections. Open the timed output separately and review both text and synchronization in the destination player or subtitle editor. A segment without a valid timestamp cannot safely become a timed subtitle cue.
Finish with a focused publishing check
Check the beginning, end, pauses and several fast passages. Confirm that Arabic letters display correctly and that numbers or Latin names do not become confusing in right-to-left text. In a subtitle player, watch whether a cue remains visible long enough to read and whether it covers the spoken passage. Estimated timing is a starting point for review, not a guarantee of publication-ready captions.
Download your chosen formats before leaving the page. The working transcript is held in page memory, so navigation or a reload can discard it. For a reproducible quality check, keep the source recording and note the language choice, browser and passages you corrected. Compare the same audio when assessing a later result. Your media stays local during transcription; website and model downloads still make ordinary network requests. Use the Arabic transcription tool linked below to start, and consult the privacy explanation before handling sensitive recordings.